Free Octagon Magic by Andre Norton Page B

was blank; it might have been deserted. Only—just looking at it—
    What had Phin said? “Canal trash as they is so quick to sing out.” Lorrie did not know why that flashed into her mind now. But for a moment it was almost as if she could see Phineas McLean pushing back his hair to glare at Lotta Ashemeade. She could hear Lotta's calm voice, see her refused-to-be frightened face when she answered him. Why, just a moment ago Lorrie had been ready to run to the house for safety herself.
    “Canuck—What've you got in your box, Canuck? Give us a look.”
    Lorrie swung around.
    Jimmy, yes, and Stan, and Rob Lockner. Jimmy in the lead as always, and grinning. For a moment Lorrie was afraid, so afraid that she thought she could not talk past the dryness in her mouth and throat. Then she thought of Lotta and Phineas, and Phebe who had so much worse to fear.
    “My dress for the play.” Lorrie hoped her voice did not shake as much as she thought it did. “Where's your Indian suit, Jimmy? You certainly got a lot of feathers for your headband.”
    “He sure did,” Rob Lockner broke in. “Know what he did? His uncle knows a man down at the zoo, and the birdsthere, they lose feathers. So he got real eagle feathers, didn't you, Jimmy?”
    “Sure. That's what Indians wore, eagle feathers.” Jimmy answered, but he was looking at Lorrie oddly, as if before his eyes she had turned into something quite different.
    “The zoo.” Lorrie did not have to pretend interest now. “I've never been there.”
    “Me, I go ‘bout every Sunday,” Jimmy returned. “My uncle, he got me a chance to see the baby tiger last year. They keep the baby animals in a different place, see, and you have to look at them through a window. But if you know somebody there they'll let you. This year they got a black leopard cub and two lions. I haven't seen them yet, but I'm going to.” Jimmy's teasing grin was gone, he was talking eagerly. “They're just like kittens.”
    Kittens! For a moment Lorrie had a fleeting memory of Jimmy hunting Sabina through the tangled grass. She gripped her box more firmly and made herself walk at an even pace. Jimmy fell into step with her.
    “You ought to see the snakes,” he continued. “They got one as long as this alley.”
    “Aw, it's not that big,” protested Stan.
    Jimmy turned on him. “You say I don't know what I'm talking about?”
    Stan shrugged and was quiet. But Jimmy continued, “And the alligator, you ought to see him! I had a chance to have an alligator once. My uncle was in Florida and he was going to send me one, a baby one. Only Mom said we didn't have any place to keep it.”
    “Boy, you know what I'd like to have?” Rob broke in. “A horse, that's what. Gee, I'd like to have one just like they used to keep in that stable over there.”
    “Hey, you know what's still in there?” Stan pointed back to the tumble-down carriage house. “There's a sled, only it's for horses to pull. Neat, eh? Be fun to ride like that.”
    “It is,” Lorrie agreed.
    “How do you know?” Jimmy demanded.
    “It used to snow a lot in Hampstead and there was a sleigh at school. We had sleigh rides sometimes.”
    “That true? A real sleigh with horses?” Jimmy sounded skeptical.
    “Yes. It was old but they kept it fixed up and people used to rent it sometimes for parties. You'd ride out in it to the lake to go skating.”
    “Ice skating?” asked Rob. “You ice skate, Lorrie?”
    “ ‘Most everyone did. I was learning figure skating.” She thought that that was just one more thing she had lost.
    “Hey"—Stan pushed up level with Jimmy and Lorrie— “there's the ice rink down by Fulsome. They let kids in Saturday mornings. Last year Mr. Stewart talked about it in gym, said we might like to learn. We saw a picture about the Olympic skaters in assembly. They sure were neat!”
    “It's hard to learn the fancy things,” Lorrie answered. “There was a girl at Miss Logan's, she was good. But she had been