“SIX SPEAKERS! THOSE FUCKERS WILL BE RUNNING INTO THE WOODS LIKE THEIR TAILS ARE ON FIRE! HOW DO YOU LIKE IT, SHARLIE? WAS IT LOUD ENOUGH FOR YOU?”
I nodded and patted my ears. Nothing could withstand that sonic barrage for long.
“I ONLY WISH I COULD HEAR IT!” Claudia said. “BUT I FEEL IT IN MY TEETH! HA!”
I still had the pad and pencil. I wrote on it and held it up. What happens when the battery dies?
She considered this, then smiled and patted my cheek with one hand. “I GIVE YOU ROOM AND BOARD, YOU BRING ME ANOTHER! FAIR TRADE, YOUNG PRINCE? I SAY YES!”
8
I slept by the stove, as I had at Dora’s. There was no lying awake and pondering my situation that night; Claudia gave me a pile of towels for a pillow and I was out as soon as my head landed on them. Two seconds later—that’s what it felt like—she was shaking me awake. She was wearing a long coat with butterflies appliquéd on it, more of Dora’s work.
“What?” I said. “Let me sleep.”
“NAH, NAH, NAH!” She was deaf, but she knew perfectly well what I was saying. “UP, SHARLIE! STILL FAR TO GO AHEAD OF YOU! TIME TO BE ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS! BESIDES, THERE’S SOMETHING I WANT TO SHOW YOU!”
I tried to lie back down, but she pulled me to a sitting position again.
“YOUR DOG’S WAITING! I’VE BEEN UP AN HOUR OR MORE! DOG, TOO! SHE’S HAD ANOTHER DOSE OF LINIMENT AND FEELING PERKY! LOOK AND SEE!”
Radar was standing beside her, wagging her tail. When she saw me looking, she nosed at my neck, then licked my cheek. I got up. My legs were sore, my arms and shoulders worse. I rotated them, then did a dozen forward shrugs, part of limbering up during preseason football practice.
“GO ON AND DO YOUR NECESSARY! I’LL HAVE SOMETHING WARM FOR YOU AFTER!”
I went into the little bathroom, where she’d left me a basin of warm water and a knuckle of hard yellow soap. I urinated, then washed my face and hands. There was a small square of mirror on the wall, no bigger than a car’s rearview mirror. It was scratched and tarnished, but when I bent I could see myself. I straightened up, turned to go, then looked again, more closely. I thought my dark brown hair had lightened a bit. It did that in summer, after days in the sun, but there had been no sun here, only lowering clouds. Except at night, of course, when the clouds parted to let the moonlight shine through.
I dismissed it as nothing but the light of the single oil lamp and the cloudy scrap of mirror. When I went back out, she handed me a thick slice of bread wrapped around a double helping of scrambled eggs. I wolfed it down （not sure if that’s a pun or not）。
She handed me my pack. “I PUT IN WATER AND COLD TEA! PAPER AND PENCIL, TOO! JUST IN CASE! THAT CART YOU’VE BEEN DRAGGING STAYS HERE!”
I shook my head and pantomimed picking up the poles.
“NAH, NAH, NAH! YOU’RE DONE WITH THAT UNTIL YOU RETURN WITH MY THREE-WHEELER!”
“I can’t take your tricycle!”
She had turned away and didn’t hear. “COME OUT, SHARLIE! DAWN BREAKS SOON! YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS THIS!”
I followed her to the door, hoping she wouldn’t be opening it to a pack of ravening wolves. There were none, and in the direction of what the boy had called the haunted city, the clouds had broken and I could see a scatter of stars. Sitting near Kingdom Road was Claudia’s oversized trike. The big basket on the back had been lined with a soft white square of what looked like fleece, and I understood that was where Radar was supposed to ride. I realized the three-wheeler would be easier and faster than pulling the cart with Radar in it. But there was something else that was even better.
Claudia bent and held the lamp down to the oversized front wheel. “ADE BROUGHT THESE TIRES, TOO! RUBBER! I’D HEARD OF IT BUT NEVER SEEN IT! MAGIC FROM YOUR WORLD, SHARLIE, AND QUIET MAGIC!”
That convinced me. No worries about hard wheels clattering on cobbles.
I pointed to the trike. I pointed to myself. I patted my chest above my heart. “I’ll bring it back, Claudia. I promise.”
“YOU’LL RETURN IT TO ME, YOUNG PRINCE SHARLIE! I’VE NO DOUBT!” She patted me on the back, then gave my bottom an unselfconscious whack that reminded me of Coach Harkness sending me in to play defense or pinch hit. “NOW LOOK TO THE BRIGHT SKY!”
I did. As the stars paled, the sky over the city of Lilimar turned a beautiful peach shade. There may be such a color when days dawn in the tropics, but I’d never seen one exactly like it. Radar sat between us, head raised, scenting the air. Except for the gunk coming out of her eyes and how thin she was, I would have thought her perfectly okay.