been at them, and the only cold she's felt the last few months is the lily-pond water from the Berry's backyard.
On the CD, Gordyfoot is singing about the Pony Man, who'll come at night to take her for a ride, and out the window, the sky's going dark fast with the sun gone. Chloe thinks it's funny that the Miracle asked for this CD, since he says he
For a while — long enough to get out of their neighbourhood and maybe even out of Missouri, half a CD or more — Chloe watches the wires in her window swing down, shoot up, swing down, shoot up. It's like starting and erasing an Etch a Sketch drawing, the window fills with trees and darkening sky and the thick, black lines of wire, then
With the Miracle coiled away from her and his head tilted down, she can see the semi-circle scar at the base of his neck, like an extra mouth, almost smiling. Chloe has always thought of that spot as the place where the miracle actually happened, though she's been told that's just where the clip to stop blood flow went. The real scar is higher, under the hair, where part of her brother's skull got cut open when he was five years old. Of course, she'd been all of a week old at the time and doesn't remember any of it. But she loves the story. Her mother curled on the waiting room couch where she'd been ever since she'd given birth to Chloe, expecting the doctors to come at any moment and tell her that her son was dead. Her mother erupting from that couch one morning and somehow convincing the surgeons who'd said the surgery couldn't work that it
'What?' he says now, turning around to glower at her.
'Speed, speed, speed,' she chants.
He glowers some more. But after a few seconds, he nods.
'Yay,' says Chloe.
They can barely see the playing cards, which makes the game even more fun. Plus, the piles won't stay straight because of all the vibrations, which frustrates the Miracle but makes Chloe laugh even more as their hands dart between each other's for cards and tangle up and slap and snatch, and finally the Miracle's laughing, too, tickling her, Chloe's shrieking and they're both laughing until their father snarls,
'Sorry,' she whimpers.
'Just… sssh,' her father says.
'The Pony Man' is on again, so the same CD has played through twice, but only Chloe seems to have noticed. She's listening very closely, like the song says, so she'll hear the Pony Man if he comes. But all she hears is their station wagon's tires
He's been shaving more closely lately, though. Smiling less.
Then she realizes she can hear her mother, crying now. Even the cry is new, a low-down bear-grunt, and Chloe turns towards the Miracle's back and pokes it.
'Tomorrow I'll be half as old as you,' she whispers. The Miracle doesn't respond. So she adds, 'The next day, I'll be
The Miracle still doesn't respond, and she wonders if he's sleeping. His back is hard and curved like an armadillo shell.
'Catching up,' she tries, a very little bit louder, and as she speaks she glances into the seatback above her head, as though she could see through it, through the cartons to her parents. As though they could see her.
'You'll never catch up,' the Miracle murmurs, just as quiet, and Chloe thinks she sees his head tilt towards the front, too.
'I can if you wait.'
'Will you just go to
Chloe almost tells him she doesn't want it to go faster. She likes the way-back, always has. Shut in with her brother, Gordyfoot's voice floating over and among them, her parents close but not with them, the stars igniting and the hours stretched longer and thinner than hours should be able to go. Silly Putty hours.
Chloe doesn't remember falling asleep, has no idea how long she sleeps. But she dreams of bird-feet hands. Hands, but the fingers too thin, yellow-hard.
A bump jolts her awake, or else the
She
She knows because 'The Pony Man' is on again, the CD repeating,
They are talking now, but not that way. And in their changed voices. Her mother's bumpy, grunty and low. Her father's a snarl. Someone else's snarl.
Most of all, she knows because her mother's eyes — her
It's ridiculous, a bird-feet hands dream. She wiggles furiously, trying to shake the realization loose.
But in the front seat, the new people — the ones that were her parents — are grunting. Snarl-whispering. And Chloe's mother's eyes are green.
At least 'The Pony Man' finally goes off. But the next song is the 'Minstrel of the Dawn' one. Another song about someone coming.