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What did that mean? I wondered,

Before I finished undressing. I heard her return to my door, and then I heard her insert a key in the lock and turn it. The lock snapped shut.

"Mommy?" I cried and went to the door. It wouldn't budge.

"This will take time." I heard her say, and then I heard her footsteps as she went to the stairway and descended.

There was nothing for me to do but go to sleep. I dreamed about being in Betsy's room, only it was my room. I was at that vanity table. and I was making myself look very pretty, only when I turned and looked at the wall. I saw Mommy's eye in the hole, and it woke me with a start. I smelled something so I sat up, and there, near the door. I saw a candle burning. Its flame flickered slightly. I listened hard. I heard a rustling and then I saw Mommy sitting there near the window, her body silhouetted in the light of the stars and half- moon that poured into my room.

"Mommy?"

"Go back to sleep, Noble," she said. "You'll need your strength. We have a lot to do."

She rose to fix my blanket as I lay back. Then she touched my forehead before turning to go out. I heard the key in the lock, and the lock turned.

Sleep was like a leaf in the wind, just inches from my fingertips and always out of reach until the first light of morning. I was surprised at how late I had slept and surprised Cleo was not in the room. Groggy, I rose and washed and dressed, but when I went to go out. I found the door was still locked.

"Mommy!" I called. "I'm awake and ready to come down to breakfast. Mommy!"

I heard nothing. I pulled on the handle and then I knocked on the door. and I waited.

Still nothing but silence was what I received in return. were was Cleo? Why wasn't he barking for me? I wondered.

I continued to call to Mommy to knock, to rattle the doorknob. I never heard her footsteps. I opened my window and looked out in every direction for sight of her, but she wasn't in view. I shouted for her and waited and then returned to the door and knocked and shouted again.

Exhausted, I sat on my bed.

The clock ticked on. The morning passed into afternoon. I heard our vacuum cleaner go on below, and I waited for it to end. It was on for so long. I thought it would never be turned off, but finally it was, and then I started shouting for her again. She didn't respond. My throat was dry. so I went into the bathroom and drank water from the sink faucet.

Still, she did not return to my room. My calls went unheeded. Afternoon passed into the early evening. I was so hungry, my stomach was rumbling. I tried to sleep so I wouldn't think of it. Darkness grew thicker. I listened and heard very. little, and then I heard her sinning and rushed to the window. She was off to the right in the cemetery. I waited until she stopped and then I screamed for her, but she didn't call back.

I waited by the door to listen for her footsteps on the stairway, and finally I heard them. I banged harder and called to her. I could hear her approaching,

"Thank goodness," I muttered.

She did nothing, however. I waited, a new panic building inside me.

"Mommy?"

"Just rest. Noble," I heard her whisper through the door. "You need to fast. You need to cleanse yourself "

"I'm hunry, Mommy, very hungry."

"You need to cleanse yourself." she repeated. "Just drink water. This is what they told me."

I heard her start away.

"Mommy!" I screamed and listened.

Her bedroom door closed and it was silent. "Where's Cleo?" I screamed.

I went to the window to listen. If she had left him outside, he would be barking by now. I thought. But I didn't hear him. and I couldn't stand the silence. I put my hands over my ears, in fact, to listen to the roar in my head instead.

Truly exhausted now. I returned to my bed. I slept on and off most of the night. I woke hopefully at first light and listened for Mommy. Surely, whatever it was she thought she had to do had ended. I hoped.

But it hadn't. I spent the whole day just as I had spent the day before, and the same was true for the night. On the third day. I was so tired and weak. I didn't bother to get up. I just lay there, waiting, listening, drifting in and out of sleep. I thought I heard the sound of our car starting, but I wasn't sure.

The day passed into nig