Leaning, Leaning Over Water by Frances Itani Page B

but not like this. He gagged each of us, in turn, and tied the knot at the back of our heads. Mimi and I looked at each other over the gags and tried to laugh.
    “Hands behind your backs,” he said.
    He tied us both at the wrists and told us to lie on the floor on our stomachs. Then he tied our feet up behind us and attached the rope to our bound wrists. He was working slowly, tightening the knots as he moved from one to the other. Mimi and I could barely see each other. The rope was rough and made my wrists uncomfortable when I tried to shift. My arms had begun to ache even though they hadn’tbeen in that position very long. Bee-Bee was breathing quickly, his eyes bright and darting as he checked the ropes. He pulled a loose end tightly between my ankles and my wrists, and pain shot through one of my legs. He was silent, alert, all his attention focused on the way he was tying us, every knot checked and rechecked. I felt tears coming into my eyes but did not want to cry. I tried to see Mimi but she had gone limp and would not look at me.
    “There,” said Bee-Bee. He stood over us, massive, from where we lay at his feet. He seemed pleased with himself, and excited. “Don’t be cowards. You’re only hostages for a few minutes. Then I’ll come back and let you go.” His legs moved away and I heard him leave the room and shut the door.
    We waited, but the house was silent. There was no sound from the yard below; the children had gone. I could barely hear the river outside—the fast wash at the end of the rapids. Mimi made noises through her gag. My teeth were biting into the towel and I made a noise in reply. There was nothing we could do. I was tied so securely I couldn’t even inch my way along the floor.
    He’ll come back, I said to myself. It’s only a stupid game. He’ll come in here and untie us and we’ll rub our wrists and ankles and then we’ll be free.
    I wanted to go home. I had to be back by dark. With the blind down I couldn’t tell how late it was. A long time went by. I heard a gasp and tried to turn my head. Bee-Bee was leaning against the door in the shadows. His mouth was open and his eyes were drooped half-closed and his breath was coming out of him in strange bursts. I realized with a sickening lurch in my chest that he’d never left. He looked down at me without saying anything and turned his back and this timehe did go out. I watched him pull the door shut behind him. It was impossible to know how long he’d been in the room.
    I tried to think where Grand-mère’s room was, below. I traced the rooms of the house, upstairs and down, in my head, and realized that it was the front of the house we were in, not the back. Mimi had come to life and was trying to move, trying to roll herself in some awkward way against the chair near her body. I didn’t want to cry because Bee-Bee would come back any minute and he would call us babies if we cried, and it would all be a big joke.
    But he didn’t come back.
    I knew my mother and father would be angry. I began to believe that we might never be free. No one would find us and Bee-Bee wouldn’t tell anyone where we were. I thought of the stories Georgie-Porgie had told us last New Year’s, the ones about old skeletons turning to dust in silent rooms. When someone would finally come and nudge the skeleton with a shoe, the skull, with its empty eye sockets, would fall off.
    Maybe Lyd and Eddie would miss me and start looking. They would come to Mimi’s big house and demand to go through all the rooms. But Lyd and Eddie would never look for me. Eddie would be reading comics at home, and Lyd would be playing records or reading her new Nancy Drew.
    The muscles in my legs had cramped and I had pins and needles in my arms. It was so dark inside now, I could only see the curve of Mimi’s body, though I was aware of the warmth of her, in the room.
    We heard footsteps on the stairs and someone walking towards the alcove at the end of the hall. Mimi’s