Eliška flung herself into Magda’s arms after she came down the stairs, dressed for the outdoors in a light raincoat and rubber galoshes. Magda told her she had a whole new treasure hunt set up for her.
“Don’t forget your hat,” Magda said, rising up from buttoning the girl’s coat. She placed the bonnet-like hat on the child’s head.
Eliška skipped across the flagstone terrace and down the steps toward her play area.
“The first clue is near here,” Magda said. “You need to look for some sort of mark, a ribbon or something else out of sorts with the natural environment.”
Eliška smiled slyly and tapped her temple. “The knot in the tree.”
“You would think so,” Magda said, “but today it’s different.”
But the little girl was already scrutinizing the old hiding place. “No, it’s not. You’re trying to trick me.” Eliška raised herself on tiptoe and reached her hand into the knot.
Magda hurried to her side just as Eliška withdrew a red satin ribbon.
“See,” the girl said. “You’re trying to trick me.”
But Magda had not put it there. She glanced around.
“OK,” he’d said. “See you around.”
Walter.
Magda hid her delight by pretending to concede. “You’re right. I tricked you. Let’s see if you can figure out the next clue.”
Eliška was already ahead of her again. She twirled slowly around and then dashed to a nearby hedge and pulled off a second red ribbon. “This is easy, Magda.” She laughed. “Now I know what I have to look for.”
The third ribbon hung from a white rose bush. The fourth, on the rail by the pool. The fifth—a large one—around one of the oak trees at the front of the house. The sixth, up high, in the bird feeder. Magda was enjoying the game, and she guessed even more so than Eliška. But to where was it all leading?
The stable. And to Walter.
He was leaning against the doorway, tossing the apple he’d taken from the kitchen. Magda felt her middle flutter.
“Look, Magda!” Eliška clapped her hands. “There’s a ribbon.”
It was around Walter’s neck, tied in a bow.
Eliška laughed and jumped at Walter, trying to reach the ribbon.
Walter grinned and straightened.
“I’m too short to reach it, Magda. You get it.”
“She’s not that much taller than you are,” Walter said. He winked at Magda, then bent his knees. Eliška tried again, but he straightened once more.
“Magda, you take it,” Eliška said.
Magda stepped in front of Walter.
“Hey, you’re smiling,” he said. He bent forward, the ribbon within grasp.
She reached to pull on it, but Walter snapped at Magda’s fingers, as if to bite her.
Magda pulled back. Eliška shrieked and laughed.
“Go on,” Walter said. “Try again.”
Carefully, like testing lake water, Magda reached for the ribbon again, and this time he caught two of her fingers in his teeth. She yelped, more in surprise than pain.
Walter and Eliška laughed, an echo from those schoolyard days.
He bent forward once more. “Again.”
“You take it off.” Magda stepped away and went behind Eliška, placing her hands on the girl’s shoulders.
Walter looked disappointed for a second but turned to Eliška and covered his mouth as he bent to her level.
Eliška reached out and grabbed the ribbon, yanked it, and had it in her hand in a second. She gleefully dangled it before Magda. “I win, I win,” she cried.
Walter glanced at Magda as he spoke to the girl. “We’ve offered to keep one of the neighbors’ ponies while they’re away. I thought you’d like to meet it.”
Eliška widened her eyes, made that O with her mouth, and dashed into the stable where the Taubers kept a few horses. In the last stall was a dark-brown pony.
“What’s his name?” Eliška asked, already climbing up the slats and stretching her hand over.
The pony took a step forward to nuzzle her hand, and she pulled it back.
“Coco,” Walter said.
Magda leaned on the wall, arms crossed. “I don’t know if her parents would allow her to be here.”
“It’s just an apple,” Walter said. He handed Eliška the apple, and she wrapped her hands around it.
“No,” Magda called. She went to Eliška.
Eliška pulled back with a little gasp.
“Look.” Magda took the apple and held it flat in her palm. “Like this. Coco can’t taste the difference between your fingers and your apple when he bites down.”
Eliška looked up, checking to see if she was holding it correctly. Magda guided her hand back over, standing behind her so she would not slip, and Coco raised his head to take the apple. It fell to the ground, and Eliška groaned.
“Look what I did.”
“It’s all right,” Walter said. “If you want, I can put a saddle on her.” He looked at Magda meaningfully. “Coco’s a she.”
Magda blinked. “Doesn’t matter. Either way, she could have been hurt.”
Walter frowned. “How?”
“Look,” Eliška said. “Coco’s letting me scratch his hair.”
Walter laughed and stepped forward. “Coco is a she, and that’s called a mane.”
Magda had to admit, Eliška was really enjoying the pony. She leaned on the wall again, and Walter moved next to her. She looked up at him.
“I’m sorry if I upset you. I was just teasing.”
Magda sighed. “I know. It’s just…”
“Just what?”
Eliška had climbed down and was now peeking at the pony through the slats as it munched the last of the apple from the ground.
“I guess I have a temperament like the month of April.”
Walter turned and faced her, and one hand reached out to stroke her cheek. She pulled back, and his hand hovered for a moment. “April, April, er weiß nicht was er will.”
“What do you mean by that?” she said, smiling a little.
“April, April, it knows not what it wants,” he said in Czech. “Do you know what you want, Magda?”
Magda felt the heat climbing up her face. This time she let him stroke her cheek. Him. She wanted him.
“There you two are!” Renata stood in the stable door. “Sorry. The three of you.”
Magda whisked Eliška away from the pony and grasped her hand.
Renata’s look shifted over all of them. “The Taubers want everyone in the house.”
“What is it?”
