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"I have some lovely infant iteh for the custoo back there, and wait for me?" Then she whispers, "And for God's sake, feed that baby!"

The back rooh a doorway covered by what looks like an old shower curtain If the front roos like broken picture fraes are piled all around--all the iteh to be displayed out front The junk of the junk

"And you're tellingto help us?" says Connor "It looks like she can't even help herself!"

"Hannah said she would I believe her"

"How could you be raised in a state hoives him a dirty look and says, "Hold this" She puts the baby in Connor's ariven it to hi so loud and deht to be heavier The baby's cries have weakened now--it's just about exhausted itself

There's nothing keeping theain first thing in the htIt's theirs by stupidity, not biology He doesn't want it, but he can't stand the thought of so the baby ants it even less than he does His frustration begins to ferot hi hi out teachers, or riding his skateboard wildly through busy intersections "Why do you have to get wound so tight?" his father once asked, exasperated, and Connor had snapped back, "Maybe soht he was just being funny

Risa opens a refrigerator, which is as cluttered as the rest of the back room She pulls out a container of milk, then finds a bowl, into which she pours the milk

"It's not a cat," Connor says "It won't lick "

Connor watches as she ru a clean spoon Then she takes the baby fro down, she cradles the baby a bit more skillfully than Connor, then she dips the spoon into the milk and spills the spoonful into the baby'sand sputtering, but then Risa puts her index finger into its er and closes its eyes, satisfied In a few h to leave a little space for her to spill in another spoonful of ain

"Wow, that's iot to take care of babies at StaHo You learn a few tricks Let's just hope it's not lactose intolerant"

With the baby quieted, it's as if all the day's tension has been suddenly released Connor's eyelids grow heavy, but he won't allow himself to fall asleep They're not safe yet They uard do Still, his ins to drift off He wonders if his parents are still looking for him, or if it's just the police now He thinks about Ariana What would have happened to the with hiht on that first night---that's ould have happenedAriana wasn't street-shts of Ariana bring a wave of sadness and longing, but it's not as powerful a feeling as Connor thought it would be How soon until she forgets hi That's what happens with Unwinds Connor had known other kids at school who disappeared over the past couple of years One day they just didn't turn up Teachers would say that they were "gone" or "no longer enrolled" Those were just code words, though Everyone knehat they meant The kids who knew theripe about it for a day or two, and then it beca--they didn't even go out with a whimper They went out with the silence of a candle flaers

The customer finally leaves, and Sonia joins them in the back room "So, you're Unwinds and you want my help, is that it?"

"Maybe just some food," says Connor, "a place to rest for a few hours Then we'll be on our way"

"We don't want to be any trouble," says Risa

The old wohs at that "Yes, you do! You want to be trouble to everyone you meet" She points her cane at Risa "That's what you are now TROUBLE in caps-lock" Then she puts her cane down, and softens a bit "That's not your fault, though You didn't ask to be born, and you didn't ask to be unwound, either" She looks back and forth between the two of them, then says to Risa just as bald-faced as can be: "If you really want to stay alive, honey, have hiain They won't unwind an expectant mother, so that will buy you nine whole months"

Risa drops her jaw, speechless, and Connor feels a flush conant the first time It's not her baby Or mine"

Sonia considers this and takes a closer look at the baby "Not yours, h" She laughs suddenly and sharply It makes Connor and the baby juets the baby's attention again with another spoonful ofto help us or not?"

Sonia lifts her cane and raps it against Connor's are trunk covered with travel stickers "Think you're boeuf enough to bring that over here?"

Connor gets up, wondering what could possibly be of use to theles to push it across the faded Persian rug

"Not much of a boeuf, are ya?"

"I never said I was"

He inches the trunk across the floor until it's right in front of her Instead of opening it, she sits on top of it and begins to e her ankles

"So what's in it?" Connor asks

"Correspondence," she says "But it's not what's in it that matters It's what's underneath" Then with her cane she pushes away the rug where the trunk had been to reveal a trapdoor with a brass pull-ring

"Go on," says Sonia, pointing again with her cane Connor sighs and grabs the ring, pulling open the trapdoor to reveal steep stone steps leading down into darkness Risa puts down her bowl and, holding the baby over her shoulder in burping position, approaches the trapdoor, kneeling beside Connor