Time Windows Read Online Free Page B

light might shine out them from the hallway downstairs?"
    "Probably not. Not if we close the doors at the top and bottom of the stairs."
    She hesitated. "Well—I've got a lot of cloth. Maybe I should make up some curtains. Just to be safe."
    "How come we have to have black curtains all over the place?" asked Timmy. "They're so ugly!"
    "There's a war on, stupid!" answered his brother scornfully.
    "No name calling, Jeff," warned their father. "Timmy, when the windows are dark at night, then any planes flying overhead won't see the lights from houses. They won't know there's a town down here and won't bother dropping any bombs. The planes fly at night so we won't see them, and we want to make sure they can't see us, either."
    Timmy's voice quavered. "But why do people want to drop bombs on us?"
    "Because they're the enemy, dopeface!" said Jeff. "Enemies always try to kill everybody!"
    "I said, no name calling," repeated the man.
    "But why is there a war?" Timmy persisted.
    "Boys, come look at this big dollhouse," said the woman. Miranda cringed as she saw them coming. They came closer and closer until she could see the chocolate ice cream stain on the smaller one's shirt. The older boy stood on tiptoe to look in the attic windows, and suddenly his brown eyes were centimeters away from Miranda's own. She froze, petrified. She could see the freckles across the bridge of his nose, but he didn't seem to see her at all.
    "Hey, look!" he called to his father. "It's just like our house, only little!"
    He disappeared suddenly from Miranda's range of vision.
    "Let's see the inside," said the woman. Miranda watched as the woman's skirt moved outside the attic windows. When the skirt disappeared, Miranda caught her breath. They must have gone behind the house—must be standing right where she was kneeling, looking right down at her
    Trembling, Miranda raised her eyes—and saw no one.
    When she looked back through the little attic windows, the real attic was empty and the windows were covered by black curtains. "I missed it," she said to herself. "They made the curtains and hung them up and went away in just the second it took me to look up!" She leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes. The energy that had held her to the dollhouse windows, kept her an avid observer, was gone. She felt drained.
    "Honey, what are you doing?"
    Miranda leaped to her feet and stared over the house. Helen walked across the attic, picking up the paper balls and the pail of ammonia water. "My, you're jumpy."
    "I—I was just ... thinking."
    "Daydreaming," said her mother. "You've been up here all afternoon! Dad and I are going for a walk-try to rustle up some neighbors around here. I'm not used to things being so quiet. Come with us?"
    "Mither?"
    "Hmm?"
    "Come here for a second. Look through these windows. Okay? Tell me what you see."
    Helen crowded back into the corner obligingly. "Look through which window? Oh—well, I see the attic, of course."
    Miranda walked around to stand in front of the house. "And can you see me now?"
    Helen's face peered curiously through the windows. "Of course I can see you! Is something wrong, Mandy?"
    Miranda crossed her arms, suddenly chilled in the stuffy attic. "I just wondered..." Her voice trailed away, and she shrugged. She followed her mother toward the stairs, turning around once to look back at the dollhouse.
    Its blank windows seemed to wink back at her.

3
    By the end of their first week in the new house, their mail started arriving. Miranda had two letters from Nicole, who claimed to be miserable without her. Helen began moving things into her new office in the center of town and spent afternoons interviewing nurses and receptionists. The weather stayed muggy, and Philip usually emerged from the overgrown garden at dinnertime, dripping wet and covered with scratches from the briars. Miranda stayed inside, finding her large corner room cooler than the front porch during the day. She helped her