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Dashay see "Then I ran into Cecil in town, and I invited him back to help trim the tree He’s all alone for the holidays"

So she called him Cecil My mother and I were furious, but we knew better than to show it

"Would you care for a drink?" Mãe asked Burton

"Sure," he said He earing jeans and a T-shirt, which didn’t fit hi"

Mãe s I followed her out to the kitchen She took a bottle of poerator and diluted it until it was the color of Picardo

"Why don’t you hypnotize him?" I said "I want to talk to avemore about the ethics of hypnosis "Besides, your father left"

"He’s gone?"

"Didn’t you notice?" She garnished the drink with a sprig of es"

We went back to the living rooht: the air had lost its shient Burton--Cecil--stayed for only two hours, but for Mãe andpopcorn and cranberries and hung them on the tree Burton and Dashay talked about , and even demonstrated a few steps

Mãe and I didn’t try hard to hide how glum we felt, and finally Dashay said, "What’s up with you two?"

My mother said, "Ariella had a bad experience today" She turned to me "Tell them about the man in the van"

Burton listened to my story with real interest, this time "Why didn’t you call me?" he said

"We’d barely arrived when you came in with the tree" Mãe’s eyes were cold

He asked ain, and he jotted some notes on a pad Then he said to Dashay, "Sorry to be talking shop"

"Are you kidding?" she said "Go out there and find that creep"

When Burton finally left, Dashay said, "Isn’t he cute? I think he’s cute"

Mãe picked up his elass and carried it into the kitchen without a word

"What is wrong with you?" Dashay trailed after her

"Don’t you relass on the counter with unusual force, and that’s when I realized how angry she was "We never bring anyone here without first checking with each other"

"I know, but he was all alone, and it’s the holiday season" Dashay folded her arms "Where’s your Yule spirit?"

"Raphael was here" Mãe looked as if she wanted to break so in, he disappeared"

"He was here?" Dashay flung out her ar in the kitchen and walked out of the house, down to the dock The indigo air eet and cool againsta bittersweet ht I sat on the dock and looked up at the stars, trying to find Orion, but the stars weren’t visible Venus hung low in the sky, beautiful and remote

I reht and wonder who’s looking back at you?" Tonight I felt too insignificant for anyone to bother watching What if we’re puppets? I thought What if we’re only figination?

I sat there until it was dark, waiting, but the stars never appeared, and my father did not come back

TWO

In Loco Parentis

Chapter Ten

Teeks later I sat in e Hillhouse had called in Dece in in January, if I liked

Did I like?

My mother and Dashay had taken me to Orlando--first, to see a doctor (one of us), who testedloss He said ht have been caused by labyrinthitis: an inflaoes away on its own Then ent to a mall to shop for school clothes--jeans and T-shirts, now neatly packed into a trunk that rode behind us--and on to lunch, where they’d tried to get "

Now Mãe went so far as to quote so birth to yourself

"That sounds disgusting," I said