Maria stopped immediately. “Sorry,” she mumbled, not sounding very sincere. Charlotte however didn’t notice and went off with Eliza.

Maggie sat down next to Tommy. “So you’re all wearing diapers?” she asked quietly.

“Yeah. That’s the first thing to go. Then it’s numbers and letters like I told you. And finally you don’t even remember anything from before.” He nodded slightly towards Maria and Jacob.

“That doesn’t sound so bad. I mean, apart from the diapers this place doesn’t sound all that bad.”

“Are you kidding? It’s the same day over and over and over. The rain starts at the same time every day.” He pointed out the window. “And by the time Mom puts the rest of the food back on the stove, it’ll stop raining. Then just after sunset it’ll get kinda windy. Tomorrow morning, just after breakfast, a big fish is going to jump in the pond, and so on and so on. Every day is the same and every day you feel a little of yourself slip away.”

“How long have you been here?”

“Shhh,” Tommy said as Eliza and Charlotte returned. “She doesn’t like us talking about that.”

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?”