the death expert,” says Alex.
“Ted’s the death expert,” says Carl.
“Death expert!” says Perry, and does a flying jump kick.
Aggie kneels as Otto comes back. He drops the stick at her feet, and she rubs his round head with both hands, flopping his ears. Then she sees that it isn’t a stick he brought back. It’s an old umbrella, just a few strips of fabric still clinging to its broken ribs.
20.
“Can’t you hear them clapping in the oven?” the baker asks.
The oven door opens a little, and the Hands of the Orphans emerge. They all begin to clap, and the sound is like rain, or like radio static.
“I do hear them clapping!” the devil says. “Do you have any strawberry pie?”
The baker glances at the Hands of the Orphans, and the hands recoil. “I’m sorry,” he says, “no strawberry today.”
“What about peach?”
The Hands of the Orphans turn and turn.
“No,” says the baker, “no peach.”
The devil is getting impatient now. He taps one hoof against the floor. “How about cream pie?” he asks. “Surely you have some cream pie?”
“Cream pie,” the baker says. “Well, let me see.”
The Hands of the Orphans all are trembling.
21.
Aggie wakes to the sound of Otto whimpering next to her bed. She switches on the light and sees him lying on his side on the blue carpet, his open eyes rolled back into his head. His legs are twitching, as though from a dream of running.
She gets down next to him and strokes his head, whispers his name. Then she sees, next to him on the carpet, one of the Hands of the Orphans. The other is a few feet away, near the nightstand. She had left them both on a chair at the other end of the room.
She picks up the nearer puppet and finds it damp with slobber. The fabric is shredded, and the hands themselves have been chewed to pieces. Fragments of fingers and thumbs are scattered over the floor, and Aggie remembers, now, that she had heard a crunching sound in her sleep.
“Bad dog!” she screams at Otto. “Bad, bad dog!” and hits him in the ribs with her fists.
Otto is still whimpering, still moving his legs. Her blows turn to soft thumps, and then she stops hitting him and buries her face in his fur. She listens to Otto’s heartbeat. “Just die if you need to,” she says, but she hopes he can’t hear her.
22.
Neglected Guests
A Worrisome Diversion by E____ G____
Thursday–Saturday, 8 p.m.
A dreary sight upon the shore has made a horror of their tour.
23.
Wearing her costume over her jeans, Alex takes the path down to the beach. No one knows she brought the Untoward Specter home with her. It seemed right for the occasion, so she had to have it. Her pockets are full of paper, and on each torn scrap is written the name of somebody or something she would like to forget.
With the waves lapping at her bare feet, she removes the scraps one at a time, reads aloud what’s on them, and tosses them into the wind.
When she’s finished, she walks for a while along the beach, then sits between two rocks shaped like big thumbs. There’s supposed to be a full moon tonight, and that, she realizes, is the only thing she’s sure about.
Alex shivers, takes a deep breath. “It worked,” she says.
24.
Carl calls Perry and says, “Hey, you’re giving Alex a ride to the big show tonight?”
“Sure am,” Perry says.
“Listen, I’m going to be in P-town today—have to pick up some things for a piece I’m working on. So I’ll just grab her on my way back.”
“Oh, well—”
“So what’s the address?” Carl asks.
“Maybe I should give her a call first,” says Perry, and that’s all Carl needs to hear to know that, Yes, these two are definitely sleeping together.
“In a hurry here, my man. Just give me the address, all right?”
Perry agrees, of course—would probably give you his own pants if you asked for them—and Carl heads out to Truro early. It feels good to drive for more than ten minutes, and he takes Route 6 a little faster than he needs to.
He finds the place without much trouble, though it’s secluded, at the end of a long dirt road. No answer at the door, so he wanders around the house. Would Perry have given him the wrong address? He peers through a window, sees nothing but modern furniture and a nice stereo system. But there’s a path down the hill, and if Carl has his directions