Mommy and Lois make a fire out of the wood they got in the big grass behind us.
Daddo sits in the sand and looks out at the water.
He’s been doing that most of the day. I sat near him and watched the sun go down.
But it’s not all the way down yet. And the sky is purple and pink and orange.
And there’s the moon, white against the colors. And its reflection is in the water. So, two moons. Two moonlights.
And a fire.
Mommy and Lois didn’t talk as they collected wood, and Daddo’s just been staring out at the lake. So it surprises
me when he says, Hi, Bela.
Hey, Daddo.
You don’t... sense anything?
Then he smiles, but it seems sad.
What an insane question I just asked you, he says. I’m sitting on a Lake Michigan beach and just asked you if you
sensed an entity from our house. I mean... is this insane or what?
Daddo seems nervous.
I think we’re okay, I say.
But I don’t know. I just don’t want Daddo to be any more nervous.
Good, Daddo says. That’s really good. And it’s good to have a good thing at a time like this.
He breathes de ep and the fire gets bigger and more of him is in the orange light as the sky gets darker.
Mommy and Lois are getting more wood. Their flashlights are bouncing around the big grass now, and I can tell
they’re staying near each other because they don’t want to find something scary out there alone.
It’s such an interesting moment in time, Daddo says. Think about it: there are enough people, so much fascination
with things like the thing we’re dealing with now, think of all the stories and TV shows centered around stuff like
this, and yet, there isn’t anybody to call if such a thing happens to you. Here’s a subject we’re all drawn to, the
occult, or whatever word you wanna use, yet, when the rubber hits the road, nobody raises their hand to help or
even knows someone who knows how.
Lois Anthony raised her hand to help, I say.
You’re right, Daddo says. And I should’ve thought of that before I said that. She did, didn’t she? She’s here. She
took us here. And she didn’t have to do this.
Mommy and Lois come back with more wood and put it near the fire.
We have blankets on the sand and more blankets to sle ep beneath because it’s a little windy but it’s not so cold.
Lois said we might wake up to the sun being really hot on us but she also said she heard that whenever you sle ep
by the lake, you wake up a little wet even if you’re nowhere near the water.
Maybe we should all sit closer to the fire, Lois says.
Mommy looks over to Daddo, but Daddo just looks out at the water.
I get up and sit closer to the fire and Lois sits to the right of me and the fire makes the sand look red, like we’re
sitting in real red sand.
Mommy is standing and staring into the fire.
Ursula? Lois says. Russ?
Lois, Mommy says, cut us a break.
I understand, Lois says. But we’re here to do this. It should be done.
Yeah, well, Mommy says, some things are easier said than done and some things are harder to say. Okay?
Yes, Lois says. Okay.
When did you learn to make a fire? I ask Lois. Were you littler like me?
She smiles, but like Daddo’s, it’s sad.
No, she says. It wasn’t until I started getting into the kind of things I’m into now. That’s when I learned how to
make fires and do all sorts of things on my own. Because of... rituals, I suppose.
Rituals, I say.
I like the word. Daddo once told me that some words sound exactly like what they mean. I think “ritual” maybe is
a word like that.
That’s cool, I say.
Yes, Lois says. And it’s something to ke ep in mind. When you grow up, you ought to find an interest that serves
many purposes at once. It means you’re doing the right thing if the thing you do serves you in more than one way.
Mommy st eps closer and says,
A kid isn’t supposed to grow up all in one night.
The fire crackles.
Daddo moves so he’s sitting across from me on the other side of the fire.
Maybe I should start, Lois says.
Mommy and Daddo don’t tell her no.
Mommy sits down. Now the four of us make a square around the fire.
Do you know what innocence is, Bela? Lois asks.
No.
Okay, Lois says. Well, there’s a purity to being innocent. Being unaware of the bad things in the world. Being
unaware of the bad things people can do. Even people close to you. People you love. Animals are innocent because
they aren’t motivated by things other than survival. For the most part, animals want to eat, find shelter, nest,
procreate, and play.
This is why it’s so terrible when you hear about an animal being hurt by a person. Almost any animal is innocent,
like we all are, until we grow up and learn things and see things and experience things, and then we’re not innocent
anymore.
This is insane, Mommy says.
Daddo is staring at the fire.
I can stop talking, Lois says.
You make it sound so frightening, Mommy says.
What?
Innocence.
It is frightening, Lois says. Because the innocent are targeted first.
All right, Mommy says. Just. Enough. We’ll do what we came here to do.
She runs her hands down her face like she’s trying to wipe away all we’ve seen.
Russ? Mommy says. Who should go first?
Daddo takes a while before he answers.
I don’t know what I think anymore, he says. I do know we’re dealing with a really bad thing right now. And out
here, with this fire, and this lake, it’s easy to think it’s behind us. That it’s only back home. Back in Chaps.
But I ke ep thinking of that thing coming into the bedroom at Evelyn’s. I ke ep seeing its mouth stretching to the
floor.
Everybody is quiet and for a quick second I see Other Mommy’s face in the fire.
Upside down.
Looking back at me.
All right, Mommy says. Me, then.
She clears her throat.
Bela, she says.
Yeah?
I’m going to tell you a story now.
Okay.
And it’s not a good story.
I don’t like what Mommy is saying.
And it’s going to make you see the world differently, and I guess that’s what Lois is aiming for. Do you
understand?
No, I say.
Of course you don’t, Mommy says.
Ursula, Daddo says.
What, Russ?
But Daddo doesn’t answer. And Mommy takes a few moments before speaking.
Then she says: