e entered to steal candles. Even in t, te and glass building asserted its prominence on Main Street. Bound by an iron fence, t in tter , tnut doors at top of a dozen steps, mosaics from tained-glass ing moonligs  tened to s to tern arm of t ts left unlocked. ted ceiling created a space t, in ts emptiness  and substance. Once our eyes adjusted,  seem as smotening size diminis as if to embrace us. e split up, Smaolacy to t, I to find tive candles in an alcove on tar. A fleeting presence seemed to folloar rail, and a real dread rose inside me. In a ood like lines of soldiers in glass cups. A coinbox rattled apped my nails against its metal face, and spent matctered ty spaces. I struck a nec te, and a small flame erupted like a fingersnap. At once, I regretted taring do me. I s t and crouco be invisible.

    Panic and fear left as quickly as t amazes me noime. es, tomas, Easter, ers, fatity. Yet as quickly as it takes to say quot;Pardon me,quot; tory. It seemed as if tatue flickered in tc. I looked upon tic face of tor, t of untold adoration, devotion, imagination, supplication. As I stuffed my pockets  a pang of guilt.

    Be  ter entrance groaned open as a penitent or a priest entered. e zipped out tones. Despite t t bodies lay buried tery  ening as t a gravestone, ran my fingers over tters, and empted to ligco read t over to catcoil  on our blankets giggling like c enougo make our sanctuary so a dark corner and curled up like a fox,  out tness, and est books,  side by side, turning pages marking time.

    Ever since sroduced me to t place, I loved going to tially, I  for t encountered in my cories—Grimms Fairy tales and Moture books like Mike Mulligan, Make ay for Ducklings, and o my fading identity. Rature t, tories only alienated me furt. By looking at tures and reading Aloud text, I o  ser my first fes to t tead, I embarked upon a journey mapped by Speck, o  interest: books like te Fang, tales of adventure and derring-do. S  decipers, symbols, and plots t ran too ion. acks and countless novels, inspired me to believe in my oy to read and imagine. If not for er or tures of Migore. Or  reading at all.

    Cozy in our den, s volume of Sype set in a minuscule font, and I  of t conspired errupted eaco s.

    quot;Speck, listen to tood togets pointing at telligible language of tribe.quot;

    quot;Sounds like us. ;

    I o ss cover, title in gilt letters on a green cloto our stories, and an hour or so passed before she spoke again.

    quot;Listen to t z and Guildenstern.  greets tz says, As t cern says,   over-unes cap  tton. quot;

    quot;Does ;

    S;Not t, not t. Dont go cer a better fortune.quot;

    I did not understand t s I laugried to find my place again ened and o go, I told  so me about Fortune.

    quot;rite it do youd like to remember, e it dotle book; t again, memorize it, and  w;

    I took out my pencil and a card from tack I alog. quot; did t;

    quot;Rosencrantz and Guildenstern: t c;

    quot;t of t;

    quot;ts us.quot; So to wake our slumbering friend Smaolach.

    e co take isfaction of lying abed on a cers morning under o read at leisure. Bet many o read, I could not imagine my life ot c sten ory old, but if a book ures, t interest.

    y  to toen came back ion of magazines—time or Life or Look—and togeto look at tograp, elbo mine. e stuck togety. Ney did not appeal to tro or Kle, none meant anyteresting face; but trigued by images of cicularly in fanciful or uations, and any pograpural icularly exotic animals from a zoo or circus or in top of an elep caused a sensation, but a boy  alked about for days. Most beloved of all s and cogether.

    quot;Aniday,quot; Onions ;tell us tory about t;

    A brig to stare at ed, grinning fation to t;Little bundle of joy: Senator Kennedy admires er, Caroline, in town ;

    ried to turn tuck ograp;ait. I  to see t;

    C;I  to see t;

    tensely curious about t tance pograpinued, unlike our relentless timelessness. ted us. Despite our many cent boredom retc alloime to pass.

    Kivi and Blomma could spend a day braiding eacs and starting all over again. Or tolen or made from sticks and scraps of cloticular, became a little moto , tucking oy baby in a cradle fasten picnic basket. One baby  or broken limbs of four ot to rinse till it lay plastered against tic scalps.

    quot;;

    Kivi did not look up from ask, but I could sense t she was crying.

    quot;e are practicing,quot; said Blomma, quot;for o be cicing to be mot;

    quot;;

    S me, tness no takes so long.quot;

    Indeed it did. For  for decades suffered most. truly misc tony by creating trouble, solving imaginary problems, or by pursuing an enterprise t, on t t decade in camp digging an elaborate system of tunnels and underground ection. Béka, t in line, ant proo catcing female and drag o the bushes.

    Ragno and Zanzara attempted to cultivate grapes nearly every spring in ed mased every enric, t sun, mites and spiders and insects invaded, and my friends , t and meander along trellis Ragno , but never a grape in all tember, tore dos, only to begin again ed in tinued failures. opped digging and leaned against t spade.

    quot; o taste it again.quot;

    quot;But surely you could steal a bottle or to;

    quot;My papa gre to be patient ;

    I passed mucime augo fell A tree and not be crusry and prap, to catc. But my favorite days   of all hdays.

    I still kept my calendar and ente fell on a Saturday, and Speck invited me to go to to spend t quietly reading togetransformed. Dozens of small candles suffused t of t from a campfire under tars. Near t trances, and t of bread and c ttle boiled cea in our cups.

    quot;t;

    quot;today is your birto all t;

    At odd times t evening, I ext to c and sray lock from in front of urbed me; I did not get to read many sentences more te t nigead of tled into ing t to last. Most of ter candles  our time was nearly over.

    quot;Speck, ;

    S.

    quot;e o go. Dont you feel t to begin.quot;

    quot;Come back to sleep.quot;

    I gatoget;e  be able to leave unless we go rig;

    Sed ;e can stay. Its Sunday and tay all day and read. Nobody ;

    For a fleeting second, I considered  t of staying in toerror.

    quot;Its too risky,quot; I w;Suppose someone c;

    So t. quot;trust me.quot;

    quot;Are you coming?quot; I asked at the door.

    quot;Go. Sometimes you are suc;

    Squeezing t, I  ake. I did not like arguing  s many days on s bounced back and fortion, for I found myself quite lost soon after abandoning urn brougreets and strange e to escape, I became more ed. At an edge of torees invited me into its rail from tions, follos ts and turns. In , I sayed put until t it could serve as compass, but at time, my ts ions.  o grouck eternally in the waning sliver moon dipped and disappeared.

    A small creek, not more trickle, bisected to folloer. tracing a creek at daen in my dreams as to be as familiar to me as my oself ran beneatony road, and to a solitary farm, I sao t sunrays bathe porch in gold.

    Some trick of lig in a dream beto come t broug into focus, took on a more s are, its door less and less like a epped out of t and onto t grass. trifying me on t. A man came doairs, pausing on t-to-bottom step to ligte. rapped in a blue robe, took one step fored , startled by ture. ly.

    ter still did not notice me, t t t. I ed to turn around and see ood frozen as a ed around us. From t a dozen steps bette fell from ook one more step toy passed as s. rembled wo speak.

    quot;And ;

    to me did not make sense.

    quot;Is a ccon?quot;

    t my ears. At t moment, I  ed me to run to  I  knoed, as fast as I could go. trous gargle from  folloo t until, as suddenly, trange opped, yet I kept running all the way home.