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I suppose those tourists , sweet contentment, and happiness in all its shades But where I saw those expressions, they seemed to be , trepidation, confusion, and doubt, with body language that translated as anxiety and impatience Perhaps it was my mood, the head collection and other atrocities still so fresh in ees froone drab and lusterless for reasons that they could not fully understand They had come here to find the fun that had been lost elsewhere, fun and brightness and freedo to suspect, still on soest carnival in the history of the world was not an oasis, after all, but just another version of the desert from which they’d fled

At that moment, there wasn’t a party anywhere in the world that I couldn’t have brought down in five zagged fro, flat street to another, found some hills, and at last pulled into the driveway of a substantial but welcolow in all its s A friendly couple in their fifties at once came out of the residence to welcome us and to assist with the children, all of ere escorted inside No nareetedknown one another--as was true of everyone I would later encounter here

I sensed by the way that Boo rehost dog anyht have attached himself to a new companion

This expansive residence, on two levels, was a place where books were honored, as almost every room contained shelves of them These people had built a shrine to faraphs of loved ones on tables and ened for celebration, with nus of furniture, cozy nooks, andseats to accoh the place was clean and neat and tastefully appointed, you felt that you could put your feet up on anything, as you ht in your own home

I can describe what happened in that house over the next few hours, but I cannot explain it No experience of my life has been so radiant, other than ether, and yet sorooolden retriever, a Bernese , and a Bouvier des Flandres, all of which at once began to circulate, like huge stuffed toys co the children

On the kitchen island, on the dining-roo room were trays of cookies and little cakes, and the children were offered drinks, though most of them at first declined They were still stressed, if not in soree of shock At least four of these knew that their parents had been killed And the limousine ride here, to an unknown destination, had provided no decompression

After perhaps ten roup, not all of thehters of our hosts, because the nine seee from seven to ten I will not say that they were all beautiful by the standards of our culture, which is obsessed with models and airbrushed celebrities, but they were beautiful to ood health

The nine were the roup of kids that I had ever seen They were neither hesitant nor forward, and certainly not territorial asour seventeen rescuees, welco them affectionately in that unself-conscious way that childhood friends of some duration can be with one another

At first the seventeen were aard, uncertain, confused, but sooner than I would have thought possible, they were drawn out of their shells The twenty-six of theroups of three and four, alith at least one of these new children included, and they wandered off to corners all over the house

I approached Mrs Fischer and said, "What’s all this? What’s happening here?"

"What needs to happen, dear Just watch You’ll see"

"Who are these other children?"

"Watch and see," she repeated, and pinched ain, in a state of wonder as events progressed Soon our traued in conversations with the nine and with each other, and now and then I saw tears and tre to many of these conversations, and they all made sense to me and seemed in fact beautiful at the time, but as soon as I walked away from any one of thes circulated ceaselessly Often I ca alolden retriever or the Bernese or the Bouvier Later, their anxious looks and pained expressions had given way to smiles, some tentative but nonetheless ss of hot chocolate or cold lasses of Coca-Cola Conversations becah I eavesdropped everywhere, and understood, I at once sees they said were truths and consolations that only a child’s mind could retain

For most of those three hours, I felt as if I were in a dreah every minute of it was as real as any experience of h the house, and felt at peace as I had not felt in a long ti to our seventeen--guidance or therapy, or soreat goodness

The most dreamlike moment came at the start of the third hour, when five new adults appeared, though the doorbell had not rung I wondered at once if they were parents of the nine, not because they particularly reselow of health and quiet beauty that so distinguished the youngsters, and they were in their late twenties or thirties, the right age to be the parents No names were offered, none were asked, and the five newco down to converse with a group of children

I remembered no more of these new conversations than I did of the previous ones, but I often foundNone of these five adults roups from time to time, as if all of them wanted to be sure to speak with all of our seventeen, and when I passed one of thee to introduce h I am not by nature shy, I found est of all, when I made eye contact with one of them, I looked away, and felt that I shouldn’t ask theht lyphics had been re done

As I made that realization, Verena Stanhope came to me to say that the questions she’d had for me had been answered She thankedso brave when it counted the most She took my hand, and on contact I smiled at what I saw of her in the years to come "You’ll have a beautiful life," I told her

Still later, I foundon a sofa, my wallet open inI had been sitting there, but when I raised my head, the one Our hosts and Mrs Fischer were ushering the children fro?"

Mrs Fischer said, "They’re taking the children home"

"Home where?"

"Each to his or her own home--except for the four who lost their parents Those will be taken to their grandparents"

The husband of our hostess opened the door, and his wife led the three Payton kids down the front walk to a car parked at the curb

I stepped onto the front porch to watch a young couple, whose car it reeted Jessie, Jasot them aboard

As Mrs Fischer joined me on the porch, I said, "You mean they will be driven back to Barstow"

"Yes, dear They’ll be let off at their front walk and watched until their parents open the door to theo home by surprise Let off at the street but watched until they’re safe, so no one will knoho delivered the the five adults whose eyes I had been unable to er than two seconds I asked who they were

"Good people," Mrs Fischer said

That car pulled away, and a moment later another arrived Our hostess had by then returned to escort a little boy to his ride

Soon all seventeen were gone, Verena Stanhope in the coaveNow there were only Mrs Fischer and the couple whose house this was, and the three dogs, who see they had received and all the co Mrs Fischer, and then they wanted to hug h if I had known their naotten them

As we drove away in the limousine, I asked, "What about the police?"

"Tomorrow," Mrs Fischer said, "the authorities in the various jurisdictions will receive phone calls regarding the location of the property where that foul group of people held their sick games What they find there will no doubt astonish them"

"What will the children say?"

"That they were driven somewhere and then held in a room for a while, after which some nice people came and untied them and took them home"

"Your limousine is very identifiable, ma’am And my face was once in the newspapers a lot"

"The children won’t reht have been said to thes they were afraid etfulness"

"Was it in the cookies, the hot chocolate?"