Silent Run

started to say something, then stopped. Other times he thought Rose might provide the breakthrough, with her guilty, apologetic smiles. Neither one spoke to him now.
    "We have to talk about Mrs. Polking." Of course, he'd be talking and they'd be listening, but he couldn't let their behavior go unnoticed. "You know you're not supposed to touch the stove."
    No answer. No explanation.
    "Maybe if you tell me why you did it, I could understand." Michael tried to be patient.
    Lily made some motions with her hand, mimicking eating.
    "If you were hungry you should have asked Mrs. Polking to fix you something."
    Lily shrugged. Rose smiled apologetically. They were getting nowhere fast.
    "What you did was dangerous. This isn't like gluing Mrs. Polking's shoes to the floor, although I'm not happy about that either. You could have been hurt. Mrs. Polking could have been hurt. I know you wouldn't have wanted that."
    Rose sniffed as she shook her head.
    Lily put her arm around her sister to give her courage.
    "Can you tell me why you're giving the baby-sitters such a hard time?"
    No answer.
    Lily whispered in Rose's ear, loud enough so Michael could hear her. "I have to go to the bathroom. Do you want to come with me?"
    "Yes."
    "Wait a second; we're not done."
    Lily pointed to her pants. Rose too.
    "Fine, go to the bathroom, but this isn't over."
    With that the girls disappeared into the house.
    He knew the bathroom plea was an excuse to get away from him. Maybe it was for the best. He needed time to think. He needed a cold beer. Hell, he needed a new life.
    * * *
    "I think Daddy's mad," Rose said, opening the bedroom door so she could peer into the hallway. She listened for angry footsteps, but heard only silence.
    "Is he coming?" Lily asked.
    "No."
    "Good." Her sister let out a sigh of relief.
    Rose closed the door and sat down on one of the twin beds. She pulled her legs underneath her and rested her chin in her hands. "Maybe we shouldn't have tried to cook the pasta."
    "We didn't know it was going to catch on fire."
    "And we shouldn't have painted the chair," she added, knowing they'd been really bad.
    "We had to, or else Mrs. Polking wouldn't have left."
    "He's just going to get someone else to watch us."
    "Not if Mama comes back."
    "I don't think she is coming back," she said with a sigh. "It's been so long."
    "Yes, she is. She promised. Maybe we should look for her."
    "We don't know where to look."
    "We could go down by the boats, where Mama took us that day. Maybe she's there."
    Rose shook her head, feeling her stomach turn over at the thought. She hadn't liked their trip to see the boats. She didn't even want to think about it. "We can't cross the street by ourselves, and we don't even know where the boats are."
    "I bet I could find them," Lily said confidently.
    "We're not going. Mama said she'd come back. We just have to wait for her."
    Lily's eyes sparkled with a new idea. "Maybe Mariah can help us." She took the crystal ball off the dresser and set it on the bed between them. They'd gotten it a week ago for their sixth birthday, a present from their grandmother, Sophia. Inside the glazed blue glass were the head and shoulders of a beautiful lady with long blond hair, a glittery face, and a bright pink wizard's hat. Their grandmother said she had found the wizard in an antiques shop. She told them it had belonged to a little girl who swore it could make magic -- but only for people who believed in it.
    Lily rubbed her hand over the top of the ball.
    A spark of light surprised her.   "What was that?" she asked, her eyes widening with alarm. She felt butterflies in her stomach, the kind that came whenever a new nanny arrived.
    "I don't know. It didn't do that when I touched it yesterday," Lily said.
    "Well, ask the question."
    Lily rubbed her hand over the ball again, drawing another flash of light. "Mariah, we want to find our mother. Do you know where she is? Do you know where we should go to look for her?"
    The lady's mouth began to move. Lily looked over at Rose in awe, "Did you see that?" she whispered.
    Rose swallowed hard. She felt scared, but she wanted to hear the answer.
    Mariah's voice came across, sounding as lovely as a melody. "For children who believe in me, school is just the place to be."
    "What?" Lily asked in confusion.
    "Go to school?" Rose repeated in doubt. She didn't want to go to school. It was summer, and they'd already done kindergarten.
    "I'm going to ask her again. I don't think she heard