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she had said. It was ancient history, he thought. It didn’t concern him. One day he’d be able to forget about Bernadette, and he hoped everyone in all of Billington City would forget as well. No one needed some old woman remembering something that had happened long ago and then telling everyone about it. Maybe if Old Man McHerlong had left for a while no one would be talking about it now.
     
          “Are you ready?” Mark asked Sam as he emerged from the house.
          “Plenty ready!” Sam jumped down the battered stairs and the two headed for the stables.
     
          The boys paid for the horses up front and the stableman watched then rambling out of town on the horses. He shook his head.
          “Fool kids,” he muttered under his breath.
     
          Mark laughed hard as Buck tried to balance on the log they had propped up between the stumps.
          “Let me try,” Samuel jumped up. “You can’t balance. You probably need another drink,” he laughed.
          “That must be it!” Buck swayed slowly. “Just to get my balance back.”
          Mark shook his head as Buck offered him a refill.
          “What are you boys doing out here?” a voice bellowed from the woodland.
     
          “Ah, Lem,” Buck called out. “Get out here and see if you can walk on this!”
          A lanky, young man emerged from the woods. His hair was thin and tangled. Mark took notice that it was the first man he had seen in the area who had not cut his hair very short.
          “Lem McHerlong,” he said, offering his hand to Mark and then to Samuel. Sam tried to focus on Lem’s face. “Buck’s brother.”
          Mark scooted to one side and Lem sat down next to him, picked up the jug and took a long pull.
          A skinny girl appeared from the edge of the forest and stood wringing her dress in her hands. She was pitifully thin, her eyes deep set and she wore an anxious look on her face. Her clothing was oversized and tattered and her thin legs stood in a pair of battered shoes that were clearly much too large for her feet. Mark decided that she had to be much younger than any of them.
          “You told me that I could have a drink when we were done,” she mumbled quietly.
          “Come here,” Lem poured a generous amount of the liquor into a cup and held it out towards the girl.
          She shuffled towards him and eyed Mark suspiciously before taking the cup and sitting on the ground beside Lem.
          “You can sit here,” Mark stood up and offered his seat on the log.
          “This is Swallow,” Lem volunteered. “She lives on the other side of the creek.”
          The girl shook her head to Mark slowly and remained in the dirt. She tilted her head to one side and studied him openly and he gave up and sat back down on the log carefully, taking a deep breath and trying to clear his head a bit. He stole a look at her and began to wonder if perhaps there was something wrong with her. He had never seen a girl so dirty and pathetic looking and he watched her hold out her cup and beg Lem for another drink.
          “Swallow will do just about anything for a bit of shine. Won’t you, honey?” He smiled at her knowingly.
          She nodded vigorously as he filled her cup.
          Mark looked down at the ground and scowled.
          “Maybe she can walk on the log,” Sam laughed. “I sure can’t.” He flopped down onto the ground laughing.
     
          The moonlight streamed through the trees and Mark sat up and shook his head. He looked around and saw that everyone in the group was sprawled in one way or another around the clearing, with the exception of Swallow who sat cross legged, watching him closely.
          He sat up slowly and rubbed his temple to try to ease the throbbing.
          “What’s your name?” Her voice was low and soft.
          “Mark,” he replied and looked at her