Suffer the Children - By John Saul Page 0,78

Elizabeth worked her way around and headed Sarah off. When she got close to her sister, she called to her, and the sound of her name caused Sarah to look up. She broke her stride and paused for a minute. Elizabeth dashed toward Jimmy as Sarah watched.

“I told you you’d never catch her,” she crowed to the boy.

“But I bet I can catch you,” Jimmy shouted back, and he shifted his concentration from Sarah to Elizabeth. Chasing Elizabeth was more fun, anyway; she dodged around, and didn’t try to keep a straight course. He began trying to outguess her, and didn’t notice that as Elizabeth darted to and fro she was working her way closer and closer to the woods. He didn’t realize it until she suddenly collapsed in a heap and let him catch her.

“I give up,” she laughed, trying to catch her breath. “I can’t outrun you.”

He fell on the grass beside her, then sat up.

“Look,” he said. “We’re almost into the woods.”

“Yes,” Elizabeth said. “I didn’t think we were this close. Maybe we’d better go back.”

“No,” Jimmy said firmly. “I want to hear about the woods. Did you find anything out?”

“There isn’t anything,” Elizabeth said. “Nothing at all.”

“I’ll bet there is.” Jimmy pouted. “You just don’t want to tell me.”

“Well,” Elizabeth said slowly, gazing off into the trees, “there is a secret place. Only Sarah and I know about it.”

Jimmy’s eyes widened with interest. “A secret place?” he echoed. “What kind of a secret place?”

Elizabeth shook her head. “I don’t think you’d like it,” she said. “It’s kind of scary.”

“I’m not afraid,” Jimmy declared. “I’m not afraid of anything. Where is it?”

Elizabeth smiled at him. “It isn’t really in the woods,” she said. “It’s on the other side.”

A frown knit Jimmy’s brow. “There isn’t anything on the other side. Only the ocean.”

“That’s where the secret place is,” Elizabeth insisted.

“I want to go,” Jimmy demanded, his voice rising a little.

“Shhh,” Elizabeth cautioned him. “Don’t frighten Sarah.”

“Does she frighten easily?” he wanted to know.

“Sometimes. Not always, but sometimes.”

Sarah sat quietly with them, and it would have been impossible for an observer to tell whether she was following the conversation. She would look first at one, then at the other, but not always at the child who was speaking. She seemed to be hearing a conversation of her own, a conversation completely separate from the one Elizabeth and Jimmy were having. Jimmy looked at Sarah speculatively.

“Is she afraid of the secret place?” he asked.

“I don’t think so,” Elizabeth said uncertainly.

“Are you?” Jimmy asked, hearing the hesitation in her voice.

“I don’t know,” Elizabeth said after a long pause. “I think maybe I should be, but I’m not.”

“I want to see it.” It was no longer a request, but a demand. Jimmy Tyler set his face in an expression of stubbornness and looked steadily at Elizabeth. “I want to see it,” he repeated.

“It’s getting late,” Elizabeth said carefully.

“I don’t care,” Jimmy said firmly. “I want to see the secret place, and I want to see it now.”

“All right” Elizabeth gave in. “Come on.”

They got to their feet, and Elizabeth led them into the woods. She did not move through the woods as swiftly today, or as sure-footedly. Instead, she moved carefully, and several times had to stop and look around, as if she was looking for markings on a trail. At last they came out of the woods and stood on the embankment.

“Where is it?” Jimmy asked “Is this it?” There was disappointment in his voice. Elizabeth looked around and wasn’t sure which way she should go. She felt uncomfortable today, and something inside her was telling her not to go any farther, to turn back before it was too late. But she didn’t know what it would be too late for. All she knew was that she seemed to have lost her bearings somehow, and was unsure of which direction to take. She heard a strange buzzing sound in her ears, a buzzing that didn’t drown out the sound of the surf, but seemed to make it hazy. She struggled with herself, and was almost on the verge of turning back into the woods when she heard Jimmy’s voice.

“Look,” he was saying. “Sarah knows the way. Let’s follow her.”

Elizabeth looked frantically around, and there was Sarah, picking her way slowly down the face of the embankment, moving back and forth from one toehold to the next Jimmy followed behind her, his agile little body having no difficulty in keeping up. Elizabeth

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