In to gat in a stand of bare oaks. Bird by bird, to t t. My kidnapping, still fres me timid and battered, not trusting a soul in t days and ine appearance of ture provided reas-suring continuity. By time trees lost tretco tened me. I came to look for-o tted against try sky, a natural part of my new life.

    taugion to Speck, Igel, Béka and On-ions, t and assured, and tagalong, Cterbox ring of pearls, and cruly funny or exciting, sook off like a skittering bat, dancing in circles and figure eighe clearing.

    Apart from talian grocers in toco anger and quicker to forgive. t, Smaolac be more dissimilar. to Béka, Smaolacrated on task at  as a robin tugging up an eart of us all, o ried to feign nonchalance.

    Igel, t and leader of took pains to explain t. o gig for frogs and fiso find er collected overnigo distinguisoadstools, and dozens of otricks. But even t guide is no matc of my early time, I  me under constant c least to stay around camp, o  any  of other people.

    quot;If tc; Igel told me. quot;And lock you aest to see if t by t;

    quot;And you ; said Ragno.

    quot;And be not; said Zanzara, and Crated by dancing around to the edge of darkness.

    , a small party  as, and sayed beh deerskins.

    quot;Since you are t,quot; Igel told me, quot;you  cs.quot;

    Smaolacood over ticed t  ment of coed brogues, canvas tennis sed boot, c last a pair of brand neips t seemed to be my size.

    quot;t your ankles off.quot;

    quot; t; I asked, ennis s;I migo squeeze into t; My feet felt damp and che cold ground.

    Smaolaced around and picked out t broipped eel plate. quot;trust me, toasty all er long, and a long time in t;

    quot;But too small.quot;

    quot;Dont you knoo rousers pocket and pulled out a pair of t;And I found t;

    tion. t ser and an oilskin jacket, test days.

    As ts lengts and solitary beds for a olen blankets. t togetangled clump. I rat of tu-ation, alt of my friends id odors about t of t be t, from ty of summer to te fall and tion of er. Several of tures  ty. Indeed, a  all, so taking a bateets ers, but some of tiest beasts.

    t first er, I yearned to go er-gat convened at dusk and da.  beo suffer babysitters like t toad Béka and sones at ture.

    On a gray morning, Igel o stay beo c, my friend Smaolac  of tea from dried bark and peppermint, and as ched a cold rain fall, I pressed my case.

    quot; you let me go ;

    quot;My great fear is t youll run ary to return , Aniday. You are one of us no; Igel sipped ea and stared at a point far off. After a decent interval, letting o my mind, inued. quot;On true obedience and deference. I cudent of our ;

    Smaolacared into t lan-guage, all vo sentence, ts before spitting t. ternally puzzled over  process tation over, Igel resumed udy of the horizon.

    quot;Youre to come ernoon,quot; Smaolacorial ;ell ss as soon as t of t back.quot;

    quot;You better dress ; Igel advised. quot;t;

    On cue, t snoarted mixing es, a o fall. e ill sitting in our places o ter sometimes came early to our part of try, but usually  get a snoil after Cmas. As t time  least t certainly  of my family, still looking for me every day in t me dead,  concerning my welfare.

    At ions, putting out table and tair rail. t C-mas, my fatook me out to cree for t me to  one. I even missed my little sisters. ere talking and dreaming of Santa Claus, wondering w had become of me?

    quot; day is it?quot; I asked Luco hes.

    into t;tuesday?quot;

    quot;No, I mean  day of t;

    quot;I e November, early December. But memory is a tricky t comes to time or ;

    Cmas  passed after all. I resolved to co celebrate te fas of t care about hings.

    quot;Do you kno;

    ruggled into s. quot;No t;

    quot;I  to make a calendar.quot;

    quot;A calendar? ore of paper and any number of pencils to keep a calendar out eaco cake notice of time enoug;

    quot;But  to draure or e someone a note?quot;

    Luc. quot;rite? to en o e entirely, and t , didnt learn in t place. It is better to  be putting do  tle trea-sure.quot;

    quot;But I do like to draures.quot;

    e started across tood like tall trees, conferring. Because Luc of us all, rouble keeping up  my side, inued a-tion.

    quot;So, youre an artist, are ye? No pencil and paper? Do you kno tists of old made t of animal skin and bird feat and spit. till, tcones. Ill teaco leave your mark, and get you t paper if you , but in due time.quot;

    ;Youve earned my trust, Aniday. Listen and ;

    Luc off into to  toget t t toics.

    I  being out of t camp, but my companions did t to control my curiosity. t me stumble about on trails for a time before my clumsiness flus. to t a finger to ook t. Copying ts, I became nearly as graceful, and ly t I could steps. Silence s oance and instantly Smaolacion of tify its cause. t craning its neck to spy on us from a t, a cro completely faded, ramped t grounds to ters edge ice crystals greening closely, ers surface. t faded like a whisper and vanished.

    quot;Listenquot;—Smaolac;to t;

    At once, to sleet,  ture sympural ook cover in a grove of evergreens. Ice encased eac. Luc a leat producing a tiny paper and t pinc looked like tobacco. it fingers and a quick lick, te. From anotion of tracted several ced turned all but one to terproof compartment. ruck tc to burst into flame, te. Smaolaco reacaking tcips,  it in t order oast our palms and fingertips. Lucte to Smaolacook a deep drag and ime.  last, t o a joke.

    quot;Give t; Smaolaced.

    quot;I dont kno;

    quot;Do ; said Luceet;But  tell Igel about t tell anyone at all.quot;

    I took a drag on tte and began cougter-ing from t on lauger t scrap range perfume, ent, simultaneously alert and peaceful. t began to taper off, and silence returned like a lost friend.

    quot;Did you ?quot;

    quot; is it?quot; I asked.

    Luc;First, listen to see if you .quot; A moment later, to me, and ts substance and origin mysti-fied me.

    Luco  and rousted ;Its a car, little treasure. omobile?quot;

    I s ook , running faster tcrees once stood. Mud and snotling our trousers as  an insanely giddy pace.  go of my rail one beumbled and fell into to my feet, cold and  and dirty, I realized I  time in montook o te to find my friends. Fierce pains of concentration s across my fore I bore do a ne too far a of sigrees and branc acle. I , fold-ing up its  t moment, gliding through.

    up, I found tanding be of t edge. Before us lay a road and on t road a car opped, its s streaking ty darkness, broken pieces of tal grille glistening on t. t sy cab. to, but trong arms of my friends epped into t, a t red coat. So  ouche road.

    quot;S a deer,quot; Luce of sadness in s prostrate form, pulling  her lips.

    quot;Is it dead?quot; I asked.

    quot;trick,quot; said Smaolac voice, quot;is to breato its mouts not dead at all, but in s;

    Luco me. quot;ell  until s.quot;

    quot;Me?quot;

    quot;Dont you kno;

    tion overo knorue; I ed to test my o lonesome road, scanning in botions for anot notice me until I s s pulse racing alongside my oo its  mout immediately, t lifted its  of tself up into a stand-ing position. For an instant, it stared at me; te ensign, its tail s up a o t. to say t urn of events  severe understatement. S  t moment, my comrades started calling to me in loud whispers.

    quot;; Sig red coat. Or at least I t t er. I stared at t I did not knorue ansect the pale bluegreen of her irises behind her glasses. her eyes were splendid.

    quot;e must go.quot; From to to  angle  s in  kno at time, but s o encounter for more tail-ligrees until to see.

    e retreated back to camp in a cross silence. ;You mustnt tell anyone about ent ; On ted a necessary fiction to explain our long absence, invented a narrative of ters and told, our story endured. But I never forgot t secret of ted er,  t briging reminded me t it h.