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She see, yet she fights boredogests that she dreads falling into an inescapable well of despair

Laceworks of firelight flutter across the grass, and across Moongirl, dressing her as if she is an unholy bride

A light appears in the middle

Someone has awakened

Sheer curtains deny a clear view, but judging by the ht and by the amorphous shadows, smoke already roils in the room

The house is pier-supported Evidently, the flaht tongues flickering, hissing poisonous fuh the floor

Harrow thinks he hears a muffled shout, perhaps a name, but he cannot be certain

Instinct, imperfect in the human species, will harry the rudely awakened residents toward the front door, then toward the back They will find a deep wall of flarows bright Fire wraps the corners of the house

"We could have driven in another direction," says Moongirl

"Yes"

"We could have found a different house"

"Infinite choices," he agrees

"It doesn’t matter"

"No"

"It’s all the sa arises, the shrill cry of a woman; and for sure, this tiht they were different," she says

"But now they know"

"They thought things mattered"

"The way they took care of the house"

"The carved cornice"

"Thechanges from a cry of terror to shrieks of pain

Sullen fire throbs inside, beyond the s The place has been tinder waiting to be lit

Likewise, the people

At the middle , the sheer curtains vanish with a quick flare, like diaphanous sheets of flash paper between a ertips

In front of the house, the lonely two-lane road dwindles into darkness that even the dawn ht not relieve

Glass shatters outward, and a torainst the backdrop of the burning rooain, but the shout is half a scream

Already the woman’s voice has been stifled

The French panes do not allow an easy exit The les to twist open the lock, to raise the bottom sash

Fire takes hi into the furnace that was once a bedrooirl asks, "What was he shouting?"

"I don’t know"

"Shouting at us?"

"He couldn’t see us"

"Then at who?"

"I don’t know"

"He has no neighbors"

"No"

"No one to help"

"No one"

Heat bursts aBlisters of burning paint pop, pop, pop Joints creak as nails grow soft

"Are you hungry?" she asks

"I could eat soood hareen-peppercorn mustard"

"Good mustard"

Spirals of fla as it burns, like a carousel ablaze

"So reen"

"Yes There At the corner Green"

S cli soot, higher and higher into the sky

Chapter 13

With breakfast and thewalk only a couple of hours away, A of three pan-handle cookies froerator she kept a plastic bag of sliced carrots for such ave circles of crisp carrot first to Ethel, then to Fred, then to Nickie They crunched the treats enthusiastically and licked their chops

When she had given each of theh We don’t want you to have bright orange poop, do we?"

She borrowed a dog bed from the study and put it in a third corner of her bedroom, and filled a second water dish to put beside the first

By the tis appeared to have settled in their separate corners for what reht

She placed her slippers next to her bed, pluot under the covers-and discovered that Nickie had coolden had both slippers in her ht have been a test of discipline or an invitation to play, although it did not feel like either Even with a aze was intense

"You want to bundle?" As raised their heads