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Laura tried to speak but could not She edged backward until she caainst the wall beside her bed

He stood with his arms at his sides, motionless, hands fisted The McIlroy Home was not air conditioned The bedroom ere open, but the place was tropically hot Yet Laura had not been sweating until she turned and saw Sheener Now her T-shirt was dahed They were nearby, but they sounded far away

The hard, rhythradually drowning out the voices of the children

For a long time neither of them moved or spoke Then abruptly he turned and walked away

Weak-kneed, sweat-soaked, Laura e of it The s creaked

As her thudding heartbeat deaccelerated, she surveyed the gray-walled room and despaired of her circumstances In the four corners were narrow, iron-framed beds with tattered chenille spreads and luhtstand, and on each was a ht drawers, two of which were hers There were two closets, and she was allotted half of one The ancient curtains were faded, stained; they hung lireasy fro and haunted; the air had a vaguely unpleasant odor; and Willy Sheener roamed the roo for the full ht after dinner the Ackerson twins closed the door to the rooed Laura to join them on the threadbare maroon carpet where they could sit in a circle and share secrets

Their other rooe, quiet, frail blonde na them Propped up by pillows, she sat in bed and read a book, nibbling her nails continuously, mouselike

Laura liked Thel just turned twelve, they were only e They had been orphaned when they were nine and had lived at the shelter for al adoptive parents for children their age was difficult, especially for tere deterirls, they were astonishingly identical in their plainness: lusterless brown hair, myopic brown eyes, broad faces, blunt chins, wide ood looks, they were abundantly intelligent, energetic, and good-natured

Ruth earing blue paja on the cuffs and collar, blue slippers; her hair was tied in a ponytail Thelma wore raspberry-red pajamas and furry yellow slippers, each with two buttons painted to represent eyes, and her hair was unfettered With darkfall the insufferable heat of the day had passed They were less than ten ht breezes made comfortable sleep possible Noith the s open, currents of h the room

"Summer’s a bore here," Ruth told Laura as they sat in a circle on the floor "We’re not allowed off the property, and it’s just not big enough And in the suooders are busy with their own vacations, their own trips to the beach, so they forget about us"

"Christh," Thelreat," Ruth said

"Yeah," Thelooders start feeling guilty about having so much e poor, drab, homeless waifs have to wear newspaper coats, cardboard shoes, and eat last year’s gruel So they send us baskets of goodies, take us on shopping sprees and to the ood movies"

"Oh, I like some of them," Ruth said

’ ’The kind of ets blown up And never any feelies They’ll never take us to a irl’s boob Faive my sister," Ruth told Laura "She thinks she’s on the tree of puberty! I feelone thin arm into the air above her head

Ruth said, "The lack of parental guidance has taken a toll on her, I’ an orphan"

"You’ll have to forgive my sister," Thelo directly from childhood to senility"

Laura said, "What about Willy Sheener?"

The Ackerson twins glanced knowingly at each other and spoke with such synchronization that not a fraction of a second was lost between their statements: "Oh, a disturbed man," Ruth said, and Thelma said, "He’s scum," and Ruth said, "He needs therapy," and Thelma said, "No, what he needs is a hit over the head with a baseball bat maybe a dozen times, maybe two dozen, then locked away for the rest of his life"

Laura told the Sheener in her doorway

"He didn’t say anything?" Ruth asked "That’s creepy Usually he says ’You’re a very pretty little girl’ or-"

"-he offers you candy" Theline? Candy? How trite! It’s as if he learned to be a scu those booklets the police hand out to warn kids about perverts"

"No candy," Laura said, shivering as she remembered Sheener’s sun-silvered eyes and heavy, rhyth her voice to a stage whisper "Sounds like the White Eel was tongue-tied, too hot even to think of his usual lines Maybe he has a special lech for you, Laura"

"White Eel?"

"That’s Sheener," Ruth said "Or just the Eel for short"

"Pale and slick as he is," Thelma said, "the name fits I’ll bet the Eel has a special lech for you I mean, kid, you are a knockout"

"Not ?" Ruth said "That dark hair, those big eyes"

Laura blushed and started to protest, and Thel Ackerson Duo-Ruth and moi-cannot abide falseWe’re straight-froths are, and we’re proud of them God knows, neither of us in the Miss Aent, and we’re not reluctant to ad coy"

"My sister is sometimes too blunt and too colorful in the way she expresses herself," Ruth said apologetically

"Andout for the part of Melanie in Gone With the Wind’’ She put on a thick Southern accent and spoke with exaggerated sympathy: "Oh, Scarlett doesn’t irl, really she is Rhett is so lovely at heart, too, and even the Yankees are lovely, even those who sacked Tara, burned our crops, and iggle halfway through Thelma’s perfororgeous"

"Okay, okay I know I’mpretty"

"Kiddo, when the White Eel saw you, a fuse blew in his brain"