Deceptions Read Online Free

again. Well, I won't do it. I'm going to do my buck-teeth smile.'
    Stephanie brightened. 'And I'll cross my eyes.'
    Grinning grotesquely, Sabrina hunched her right shoulder to her ear.
    Eyes crossed, Stephanie stuck out her tongue and licked her chin.
    They studied each other's demonic poses and imagined their father, tall and proper, saying to solemn visitors, 'Meet my daughters,' and they collapsed on the back seat in a fit of giggles.
    'Damn, damn,' grumbled Theo, and they looked up; what did they do wrong? But he was cursing a traffic jam caused by an automobile accident ahead. 'We'll be here an hour,' he said, throwing up his hands.
    Sabrina and Stephanie looked at each other with the same wild, wonderful idea. Each of them reached out to a door handle and, without a word, pushed down, swung open the doors, slanmied them shut and sped down the street, ducking around comers and pushing past shoppers. Theo, lumbering after them and shouting their names, was left far behind.
    'We did it, oh, we did it,* Sabrina sang. 'Now we can explore by ourselves.' The earth felt light and airy beneath her feet. 'Oh, Stephanie, isn't it wonderful?'
    'Wonderful,' echoed Stephanie.
    Hand in hand, they strolled through shops and crowded squares, chewing on sticky baklava they bought fi-om a street vendor, reading Greek signs aloud to practice their vocabulary and pausing at butchers' stalls, where they listened in fascination to the gruesome sound of air whistling through sheeps' lungs fiying in oil. Finally Sabrina looked at her watch and sighed. 'Well, it's been half an hour; we'd better get back before Theo gets unstuck.' But before they could turn, they heard shouts and a clatter of running feet, and

    Stephanie ducked as a stone struck the building near her head.
    'Terrorists!' Sabrina exclaimed. She looked around, grabbed Stephanie's hand and pulled her down a flight of stairs to a heavy door that was partly open. They slipped inside, shutting it tightly behind them. The room was dark after the bright sun and it took them a minute to see three children huddled in a comer. When Sabrina came close, the baby began to cry. *Oh, don't,' Sabrina said. She turned to the oldest, a thin boy about their age with straight eyebrows and a shock of curly hair, and said in Greek, 'Can we stay here a little while? Some men are fighting in the street.'
    The boy and his sister spoke rapidly in Greek and Sabrina and Stephanie looked at each other helplessly; it was too fast for them to follow. But they recognized the boy's intent look as he stared at them; they had seen it many times. He smiled broadly, pointing at each of them. 'You are a mirror,' he said slowly in Greek, and they all laughed.
    From the street above came loud crashes and men's voices shouting to each other. An acrid smell drifted into the room. Sabrina and Stephanie twined their fingers tightly together. They were all silent, listening. The smell burned in their noses, and then they heard gunshots.
    The boy moved, herding his sister and the baby to a cot and covering them with a blanket. He was scowling in an effort to look brave. When Stephanie whispered, 'What should we do?' he pointed to the door.
    Sabrina became angry. 'You know we can't go out there,' she said in Greek. The shouts were louder. Those are terrorists.'
    The boy looked at her defiantly. 'It is a war of independence.' Sabrina looked bewildered and he shrugged at her ignorance.
    She ran to the high window and climbed on a box to look out, but the boy ran after her and pushed her away. She fell to the floor. Stephanie cried out, but Sabrina scrambled to her feet. 'He's right. Somebody might have seen me. I just wanted to know what was making the smell.'
    'Burning cars,' said the boy.
    'Burning— 7 Why would they bum cars?'

    To block the street.* He muttered, 'Stupid American girl.'
    'How do you know we're Americans?' Sabrina asked. The boy threw up his hands in despair, and then they heard banging on the doors up and