twitch inside his dungarees and wondered, again, what sort of girls would someday want to ease his pain.
“Bill—ee,” she cried. “Darn you.”
He went quickly, and was soon pulling himself onto a branch just below Zoe's. She sat with one knee drawn up under her chin and a dirty hand rummaging through her hair. “Hey, Zo,” he said, a little breathlessly. He had scraped his hands on the rough bark, and the small abrasions tingled in the moving air. She didn't answer. He watched her until he was sure she was firmly balanced on her branch, then turned and looked out through the scrim of needles down into Garden City.
“If you two don't get down here in exactly one minute, I'm coming up there after you,” Susan called.
“Pretty,” Billy said. From this height he could see the streets of his new neighborhood, neatly gridded, lined with trees in red and yellow leaf. He saw a sparrow hovering over a bird feeder, its wings making a little brown disturbance on the air. Farther away were steeples, the brick hulls of stores and banks, a gathering pale blue distance.
“The animals can see us,” Zoe said. “They can climb this tree and look right down into our house.”
“Are you afraid of that?” Billy asked.
“No. I like it.”
Zoe pulled at her hair, scratched her knee. Although she had never told him, Billy knew Zoe thought of herself as an animal. She snatched food off her plate and ate it in small, eager bites. She slept curled up in a nest she made out of blankets and sheets.
“This is where we live now,” Billy said, half to Zoe and half to himself. “Now we're semi-rich, and we live here.”
Zoe nodded. “This is the tree kingdom,” she said. “That's the cottage where the people live.”
“It creeps me out a little,” he said. “I mean, a new school and everything. You're lucky to only be in second grade.”
Zoe watched time pass through the town. Billy found he could speak into Zoe's animal self and say things he'd never say to anyone else. She cupped a lost little glen of watchful quiet he could breathe with her.
“That's it,” Susan called. “I'm coming up.”
“Our babysitter,” Billy said. Zoe smiled. She was a wiry little girl with black hair and heavy brows. She wore rubber beach thongs in October.
“Do you think well change, from being rich?” Billy said. “Do you think it'll make a difference?”
“We still get two more wishes,” Zoe said.
“It could make a difference,” Billy said. He settled back on his branch, feeling the small tremors Susan sent through the tree as she worked her way up.
“Darn you,” she said finally, from several feet below. “Darn you, both of you. I think I tore my pants.”
“Look,” Billy said. “You can see the high school from here.”
“We have to go back,” Susan said. “It's getting late.”
“Not yet,” Billy answered. “I don't think it's safe yet. We should give it, like, another half hour.”
“Everything's fine,” Susan said. “Honestly, I don't know why you have to make such a big deal out of everything.”
“You go home,” he said. “We're gonna stay here awhile. Maybe we'll build a tree house up here.”
“You're not building any tree house. This is private property.”
“We're going to move here, Zoe and me.”
“We have to go,” Susan pleaded. “Come on, dinner's probably ready.”
“You go,” Billy said. “Zo and I are gonna stay here awhile.”
“Don't you worry. I'm going.” But she stayed where she was. A squirrel hopped through the leaves at the base of the tree, raised itself up on its hind legs, and disappeared as suddenly as if it had been snatched down into the earth. Susan looked away from the tree, down to the house her father had built for her. She knew herself as a thin and erect fourteen-year-old girl sitting astride a branch among the smells of leaves. She wanted to claim the house that was hers and she wanted to live up here, silent and fierce as a young mother of the wild. Cloud shadows shifted over the flat land. A tree lost its light and the copper roof of a steeple flashed suddenly, like something huge and precious risen from the bottom of the ocean. Briefly, with the changing of the shadows, Susan saw that she was powerful. She saw how much could be built for her, and how much brought down. A flush of excitement passed through her. She thought of a dam bursting. She thought of a silver wall of