the backyard

The two, twin like girls announced that lunch was here. All the children turned to look at the pizza, but not one rushed to eat it. Even Ileana was surprised by this, but only for a moment. ‘So,’ she thought, 'they are beginning to learn. Caution is replacing unthinking obedience.’ Elcik was the... Sign in to see full entry.

Only Mavis looked puzzled. "You mean you don't remember who you lived with before coming here? I remembered Momma. Zink remembered his grandfather whose leg didn't work so good. Elspeth remembered her cook and the cremey stuff she used to make. Don't you remember?" Mavis's voice broke on the last... Sign in to see full entry.

When the children woke for the next `day', Selee and Just counted them. Fourteen; all were there. They awoke to ravening hunger. Unknown to them they had slept for at least an entire Earth day as far as Ileana could calculate. When the children left the bathhouse in search of breakfast, they found... Sign in to see full entry.

Darkness fell while the children waited for the crash of thunder catching everyone unaware. The younger children were afraid to move off the rock formation. The older children thought they would be safer inside. No one wanted to be left alone. Just suggested that each of the bigger kids carry a... Sign in to see full entry.

Selee clapped her hands together, again focusing the group. "It would be great to have pizza, but I'm really afraid that something bad is going to happen." Selee was twelve and she tended to be the leader of the group since Jeb was turned to ash. Jeb had begun to wonder why they were all here just... Sign in to see full entry.

One day she was here, the next she wasn't. I don't think we should leave Mavis alone ever." Selee spoke with what little authority she had over the group of children around her. They all knew that whomever brought the food usually was aware of everything that occurred with the children. Selee had... Sign in to see full entry.

The tall woman in the basement gasped along with the children. Things were moving much faster than she had dared hope! One of the younglings already recalled family. Now, even she looked around fearfully. There was never an indication of what brought about or when retribution would occur. The woman... Sign in to see full entry.

When control had been restored to her, the space in which she was imprisoned looked much as it had the day she had wakened here. Every piece of pottery, crystal and drape had been replaced, or simply reintegrated into its original wholeness. The lesson the woman had learned that day was thus: there... Sign in to see full entry.

"Selee, you come try this porridge and see what you think," Shayla demanded. Despite being several years older, Selee hastened to comply with Shayla's demand. Everyone usually did. Complying with Shayla's demands had become so commonplace amongst the members of the group that no one really noticed... Sign in to see full entry.

This storm lasted through the remainder of the day and into the night. The woman in the basement checked the progress of the storm every hour or so according to her reckoning. She didn't quite understand how time worked here, so she often resorted to reckoning time the way she had on Earth. The... Sign in to see full entry.