Charlotte sat down next to Maggie. Her face was cleaned up and her hair was in pigtails. Eliza looked at Maggie. “How about you dear? Are you sure you don’t need a change?” Maggie nodded. “OK then,” Eliza said and began putting plates on the table.
During dinner, Eliza had the children talk about what they had done that day. The stew was tasty, but a little bland. After they were done, Eliza rose to put the big pot back on the stove. Tommy gave Maggie a nudge and glanced towards the window. Outside, the rain had stopped and clouds had parted to show a rosy sky. ***
After dinner, Tommy, Charlotte and Maggie retreated to the attic. Charlotte lay on the floor, drawing, while Tommy and Maggie sat in the tent.
“OK,” Maggie said, “so the days really are repeating themselves.”
“Mm-hm.”
“And you keep forgetting your old life, little by little?”
Tommy nodded.
“Well, how quickly does it happen? I’m guessing you’ve been here the shortest.”
“Actually, Jacob came after me. I think you lose yourself more quickly if you don’t resist and he just went along with it from day one. Almost like he was running away from something.”
“So that’s what you’ve been doing? Fighting it?”
Charlotte scowled at them. “Momma says ‘no fighting’,” she said solemnly.
“It’s OK Charlotte, we’re not fighting.”
“Um, ‘kay,” she said and returned to her drawing.
“So, how long have you been ‘enjoying’ this summer?” Maggie made air quotes.
“I don’t think ‘enjoying’ is the right word, and why were you doing that thing with your hands?”
“What do you me- Oh, the air quotes. They mean … Look, never mind that. How long?”
“I don’t know,” Tommy said. “Numbers, remember?”
“OK, let’s try something else then. Do you get older when you’re here?”
Tommy shrugged. “I don’t think so.”
“So what do you remember from before you came here. Do you remember who’s president?”
“I’m not sure. Kind of a goofy-looking guy. Really short name.”
“Bush?” Maggie suggested.
“Yeah, that’s it. Bush.”
“That means you’ve been here m-”
“And that other guy,” Tommy interrupted, “he’d fit right in here. He couldn’t spell either.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know how to do it now, but ‘potato’?”
“Oh my god. You meant Bush One. You’ve been here for…” Maggie paused longer than she normally would have had to , “…more than 25 years?”
Tommy just sat there, looking more and more uncertain. “I don’t know,” he mumbled.
For a few minutes, they just sat there. The only sound was the scratching sound of Charlotte’s crayons and the wind picking up outside.
“So how do we get out of here?” Maggie finally asked.
“I don’t know. I don’t even know if I ever knew. It’s like I’m trapped in a dark cellar.”
“Why don’t you just go back up the stairs?” Charlotte asked, putting down her crayons.
“It’s not really a cellar Charlotte,” Tommy said with a sigh.
“Hang on,” Maggie said. She grabbed Tommy’s arm. “How did you get here?
“I’m not sure,” he said hesitantly. “It’s all so fuzzy. It’s like it’s me, but not me. Like-”
“A mirror image,” they both said.
“What do you mean?” Tommy asked.
“We try what Charlotte suggested. We go out the way we came in. We’ll just have to hope that it works for all of us.”
“So where is this way out then?”
“Up the hill and into the woods,” Maggie said vaguely.
“That’s it? We’re never going to find it in the dark.”
“OK my little munchkins, it’s bedtime,” Eliza’s voice called from downstairs.
“But mooooom…” Charlotte complained.
“Now now, tomorrow’s another day.”
“Okay,” she said dejectedly and headed for the stairs. Tommy and Maggie followed close behind.
