Free Time Windows by Kathryn Reiss

the house. The sun glinted gold off the attic windows. "I don't get it, either," she said and turned to go inside.
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    That night Philip arrived home with Nicole. After exuberant rejoicing in the downstairs hall, the two girls carried Nicole's suitcase up to Miranda's bedroom.
    "I can't believe this! I demand a tour of your mansion right this second," said Nicole. "Our whole apartment would fit in your bedroom!"
    They set off through the rooms. Nicole's excited exclamations—"Oh, it's beautiful! What a huge fireplace! How cool. A garden with real trees ... and all those flowers!"—made Miranda feel proud, as if she herself were personally responsible for the spaciousness of the rooms and the wild abundance of the garden. As they returned to Miranda's room, they passed the attic door. Nicole stopped, her hand on the knob. "What's in here?"
    "Oh, that's just to the storage area." She felt the same reluctance now that she'd felt with Anni and Simon. No one must go into the attic. It was hers alone.
    Nicole flung open the door. "Oh! Storage! This goes to the attic." She started up the steps. "Let's see."
    "Well, we do store stuff up here...," Miranda muttered hesitantly, following along behind her. Then, suddenly, the lure of the attic reached out to Miranda, practically pulling her up the stairs. But Nicole stopped abruptly at the top.
    "Never mind! Let's forget it."
    "What?"
    "Let's go down."
    "Why? What's the matter?"
    "Nothing." Nicole shrugged her shoulders and mustered a careless tone. "It's just—dark."
    Miranda flicked on the light. "Begone, spooks!"
    Nicole stepped cautiously into the attic and peered around the big room. "Not much to see. Let's go back downstairs."
    But Miranda moved across the room to the dollhouse as if pulled by a string. Nicole followed. "Oh!" she cried. "It's an exact copy of
this
house, isn't it?"
    Miranda crouched behind the house and looked into the dollhouse attic without answering. Nicole was standing directly on the other side, marveling at the tiny details of brick and ornate porch railings, panes of glass, the brass door knocker. But through the attic windows Miranda could not see her. Instead she was looking into the whitewashed attic playroom of the little girl. Miranda felt the Tightness of being back with the house, and she sank slowly onto her knees, keeping her eyes riveted on the tiny attic. Snow fell outside the windows in thick flakes. The room was empty, but Miranda heard footsteps clattering up the stairs and the shrill sound of a child's wailing.
    "Nicole," whispered Miranda. "Come look at this!"
    The attic door was thrown open, and the regal-looking woman Miranda remembered from the 1904 kitchen stormed into the room trailing an overpowering scent of magnolia perfume and dragging little Dorothy by the arm. The girl wore only a thin white petticoat and was shivering from cold as well as fear.
    "Oh!" gasped Miranda as the sickening terror washed over her, pounding at her temples. She clenched her teeth and did not turn away.
    "Mandy!" Nicole's voice, sharp and worried, reached her ears. "Hey! What's wrong with you?"
    "Ssshhh!" hissed Miranda, fighting down nausea and not taking her eyes from the scene. "Wait a minute and watch!"
    "Watch
what?
What are you doing?"
    "I'll just be a minute."
    Dorothy fell to the floor as her mother shoved her into the room. "Mama!" she shrieked.
    "I've had it with you." Lucinda's cold voice made Miranda shiver. "I don't want any more nonsense. Now stay up here until you can be a pleasant, well-mannered child."
    "I'm going down, Mandy." Nicole's voice came from far away. She sounded angry. "I'm going to have your dad take me back to New York tonight—right away!"
    "Oh, wait, Nicole! Look through the attic windows—"
    "What's
wrong
with you?"
    "Sssshhh! Shut up!"
    Lucinda stepped back from the crying child and smoothed her hands over the skirt of her dressing gown. "Dorothy," she said to the crumpled child at her feet. "You will