Free Seven Stories Up by Laurel Snyder

kid playing a game.
    “Are you gone now?” she asked, opening one eye.
    “Nope. Still here,” I said.
    Her face relaxed. “In that case,” she said, “perhaps it
wasn’t
my wish?”
    “I guess not,” I said. I forced a smile. “That must mean we have another day.”
    “We should make the most of it,” said Molly.
    “How do you want to do that?” I asked. “In this rain?”
    “Well, you still haven’t seen the hotel at all.” Molly grinned.
    When she said that, I remembered a shimmer. Irecalled a dusty lobby, a chandelier. Diamonds in the darkness.
Maybe
, I thought,
this is a good thing, this extra day
. “I’d like that,” I said. “In fact, I’d like that a lot.”
    “The only problem,” said Molly, “is that if we want to explore, we’ll have to try going out to come in again.” Her forehead wrinkled briefly. “Which means we
do
have to brave the storm. For a little while, at least.”
    “Maybe we should wait and see if the rain lets up,” I suggested. “Give it a few hours?”
    “Yes, that’s a good idea,” Molly said as she fed a sliver of bacon to the kitten. “That will give us some time with Friend before we go. We don’t want him to think we’ve run away and deserted him.”
    Friend nuzzled her hand as though in agreement.
    We finished our breakfast and our inevitable game of cards, then spent the morning playing with Friend in the bedroom, where we discovered that the kitten liked to chase everything. He pounced on Molly’s slipper, and dragged the sleeping mask from under the bed, then chewed it until I rescued it and set it on the bedside table. Molly found this endlessly entertaining, but I got bored enough to read a
Look
magazine article about “How to See Europe on a Dollar a Day.” A dollar a day!
    When Nora arrived with lunch, we hurried back out to the sitting room, careful to close the bedroom doorbehind us. As we sat down at the table, I saw Friend’s little claws scraping under the door. I didn’t think Nora spotted him.
    “Goodness, it’s frightful out there today,” said the maid, setting down her tray. “Cars are like to wash away. Count yourselves lucky you don’t have to go out in that mess, girls.” Molly kicked my leg under the table. I kicked her back.
    After Nora was gone, we finished our sandwiches, which were made of something that looked like bologna but tasted better. Then Molly stood up. “Let’s go see how awful it really is. Maybe Nora’s exaggerating.”
    We tucked Friend safely away in the bedroom with a pile of pillows, some crumpled bits of paper to play with, and a dish of water. We raised the window in the bathroom and found that Nora was right. It was like a monsoon outside! The rain was coming down in a wall of water.
    “What do you think?” Molly said. “It’s very wet.”
    “That’s how rain tends to be,” I said. “But yeah, it’s bad.”
    “I’ll try if you will,” said Molly. A gust of wind splattered rain right in our faces, but she put a hand on the sill and hoisted herself out. “It’s not so bad,” she called back in to me, sputtering water. “Once you get used to it.”
    “If you say so,” I said as I pulled myself up beside her. “Here goes nothing.” I crawled outside and a chilly wind took my breath away.
    Molly was lying. There was no getting used to the storm. Rain pelted me like tiny needles, and the wind blew nonstop. I was soaked in seconds, and the railing and the stairs were terribly slick. I didn’t even try to see what was happening with Molly. I focused on my own feet, gripped the railing tight, and held my breath. Step by step. Hand over hand.
    When I slipped off the last step, the ground felt good under my feet, if squishy. “Whew!” I said, turning to Molly.
    She was already dashing for cover, arms over her head. I raced behind her to a set of four steps that led down to a small door. Molly pulled it open and ducked inside. I followed her. The door closed behind me with a