about his marriage. He supposed that it was simply that he was feeling better about himself. He found that he was actually looking forward to the bridge game. It was nice to be looking forward to something.
“One club.”
“Pass.”
“One spade.”
“Pass.”
“One no-trump.”
The bid was passed out, and Barbara Stevens looked at her partner.
“Does your husband make you play one bids?” she asked.
“Only if he thinks he can set me,” Rose replied. Barbara looked first at Jack, then at Carl.
“Well, boys, what about it? Do I have to play this one?”
Jack examined his hand carefully, then closed it and threw it in. “Not when fourth best is a four from a seven,” he said. “You underbid. Score yourself forty, and we’ll count ourselves lucky.”
Carl Stevens dealt the next hand, and as he began sorting it he glanced up at the ceiling.
“Mighty quiet up there,” he observed. “I didn’t know three children could be that quiet Knock on wood.” He finished sorting his cards, and tried to keep his glee from showing.
“Two no-trump,” he announced, and was pleased to hear a groan from the women.
Upstairs, the three children sat on the floor of the playroom, finishing a game of Monopoly that Sarah had won, primarily because both Jeff and Elizabeth, taking turns playing on her behalf, had made good deals for her. For her part, Sarah was sitting quietly, staring at the Monopoly board and occasionally picking up one of the pieces to examine it carefully before putting it down on the exact spot from which she had picked it up.
“She’s just lucky, that’s all,” Jeff commented as he shoved the last of his money over to Sarah. Sarah, as if sensing somehow that the game was over, suddenly swept the board clean. Elizabeth began picking up the scattered money and sorting it out again. She smiled at Jeff.
“She does this all the time,” Elizabeth said. “Whenever I play a game with her, she always wins. Then she dumps it.” Elizabeth did not add that the only active part Sarah ever took in any of the games was in the dumping. She was sure Jeff understood that without being told. “Have you ever seen a Ouija board?” she asked him.
“You mean one of those things that’s supposed to tell your fortune?”
“They don’t really tell your fortune. You’re supposed to be able to talk to spirits with them.”
“I don’t believe in spirits,” Jeff said. Then: “Do you have one?”
Elizabeth nodded. “I found it up in the attic. Sarah and I play with it all the time. Want to try it?”
“Sure,” Jeff said. “Why not?”
Elizabeth finished packing the Monopoly set in its box, then pulled out the Ouija board. She set it on the floor between Jeff and herself, then called to Sarah, who drifted back from the window she had been looking vacantly out of. Silently Sarah sat down on the floor and rested her fingers on the indicator.
“What do we do?” Jeff asked.
“It’s easy,” Elizabeth said. “Just put your fingers on that thing, the same way as Sarah, and then ask a question. Pretty soon it starts moving.”
“All by itself?” Jeff said skeptically.
“Sure. Come on. Let’s try it.”
She put her fingers on the indicator, and after a moment, and feeling a bit silly, Jeff did likewise.
“Is anybody there?” Elizabeth intoned. For nearly a minute, nothing happened. Jeff was about to give it up as stupid when he thought he felt a vibration under his fingers. Then the indicator moved. It slid across the board and stopped at the “B.”
“Did you do that?” he said to Elizabeth.
She shook her head. “Shh. You shouldn’t talk.”
Jeff’s lips tightened, and he felt the indicator try to move again. He pressed down, trying to immobilize it. He could feel it straining under his fingertips and glanced surreptitiously at Elizabeth to see if she was trying to move it. She looked relaxed. Under his fingertips, which were growing white from the pressure he was applying, the indicator started to move.
“You can’t stop it,” Elizabeth whispered. “I tried that too. I thought Sarah was moving it. But I couldn’t make it stop.”
Jeff watched, fascinated, as the indicator moved across the board to stop at the “E.” He tried once more to hold it immobile, but it moved relentlessly onward, coming to rest at the “T.”
“Bet,” Jeff said. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It hasn’t stopped yet,” Elizabeth said. “But I know where it’s going.” The indicator swung slowly over the other way now, and stopped at “H.” A sensation came over Jeff,