but out of a desire to protect him in a precarious neighborhood.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” I answer. “I really thought I’d never see you again.”
“Guess we were close enough after all, huh?” she continues happily. “When we got here I absolutely hated myself for not taking you up on your offer to live together. I felt like such a dope, setting myself up for traveling without my favorite family! I’m so glad we got a second chance.”
“Me too. And you look adorable, by the way.”
Emme looks down at her dress which is pink, her favorite. “Isn’t it pretty? I’m so glad to be back in England!”
“You look like a fairy princess. In a corset.”
“That’s what the boys call me, too.”
“The boys?” At first I think she means Harry and Matthias, and then I grimace. “Oh. Those boys. You’ve been here, what, a day? For crying out loud, Emme.”
“Don’t be disapproving, Sonnet. You have Israel and your dad and even Harry and Matthias. I have a middle aged mom and a little kid. Someone has to bring in food and clothes.”
“You’re right, okay,” I kiss her cheek, nearly sacrificing my eye in the process as it runs into a feather poking out of her jaunty pink bonnet. “I’m sorry. I just wish you wouldn’t. That’s all.”
“Let’s go to sleep. We’ll figure out what to do in the morning.”
I agree and together we settle down, our arms and legs akimbo, mingling with the arms and legs of four others.
It’s a long, restless, cold night, but we sleep as best we can.
********************
“I think my eyelashes are frozen solid. I’m afraid to blink,” Emme says when the sun finally makes its lazy way up in the sky. She does look a little blue.
“I know. What the heck happened to October and November?” I blow on my hands and stiff fingers.
Dad has gone, along with Bea; they’re looking for opportunities and places to sleep that are better than the street. Joe is still sleeping and Israel is too; his arms wrapped in a bear hug around the little bundle of blanket that is Joe. I’d admire his fatherly leanings if I didn’t believe it was more for warmth than for anything else.
“Is it December then? As much as I love London, I do wish we’d been dumped off in June instead. Are we in time for Boxing Day?”
“Boxing Day? What, is that the English Christmas?”
“No, silly, they have Christmas too. It’s just an extra holiday is all. I’m all for extra holidays, aren’t you?”
“If they involve turkey and mashed potatoes, definitely. I’d like to stick my toes in mashed potatoes and gravy right about now. Emme, what are we going to do here?”
“Feeling worried already, ducky? Cheer up, this is London! The possibilities are endless!”
“I need to go check on Prue today, make sure that Sir Halloway hasn’t kicked her to the curb. I appealed to his sense of Christian duty but I think he was only humoring me in case I actually turned out to be somebody.”
“You are somebody: you’re a time traveling witch! You can foresee the future, tell fortunes! Hmm, not a bad profession now that I think of it.” Emme wiggles her eyebrows.
“Except I don’t know a thing about anyone in particular. What am I going to foretell?”
“Oh, there must be something you can think of. You’re better at history than I. Anyway, come on, I need to make water.”
“Make water?” I wrinkle my nose.
“Pee. If you’re going to live here you have to learn the slang, chickadee. Can I leave Joe with Is, do you think?”
“Sure. There’s no better protection than a giant. Help me up, my joints are frozen solid and I’m not sure I can bend my knees.”
We find a solitary spot to take care of personal hygiene business and then wander off with no particular destination in mind, other than the vague, gnawing hope of breakfast. My stomach growls. The streets are quieter now than they were last night, though the dank feeling of depression and poverty seems almost worse in the garish light of day. In the dark, you think you imagine some of it, but in the sun there is no imagination necessary; it really is as bad a slum as your mind's eye thought it might be.
There’s garbage in the street and once we almost get hit in the head with something gloppy that someone drops out of their window over us. Judging by the smell, it wasn’t something edible.