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said softly. He stared at me the way he had when he thought I might be a ghost.
    “What’s wrong?”
    “Nothing, I guess, but … well, you wanted to know if I had seen you this time before you got here the way I did at the river. Well, I didn’t see you, but I think I heard you.”
    “How? When?”
    “I don’t know how. You weren’t here. But when the fire started and I got so scared, I heard a voice, a man. He said, ‘Dana?’ Then he said, ‘Is it happening again?’ And someone else—you—whispered, ‘I think so.’ I heard you!”
    I sighed wearily, longing for my own bed and an end to questions that had no answers. How had Rufus heard Kevin and me across time and space? I didn’t know. I didn’t even have time to care. I had other more immediate problems.
    “Who was the man?” Rufus asked.
    “My husband.” I rubbed a hand across my face. “Rufe, I have to get out of here before your father wakes up. Will you show me the way downstairs so that I don’t awaken anyone?”
    “Where will you go?”
    “I don’t know, but I can’t stay here.” I paused for a moment wondering how much he could help me—how much he would help me. “I’m a long way from home,” I said, “and I don’t know when I’ll be able to get back there. Do you know of anyplace I could go?”
    Rufus uncrossed his legs and scratched his head. “You could go outside and hide until morning. Then you could come out and ask Daddy if you could work here. He hires free niggers sometimes.”
    “Does he? If you were free and black, do you think you’d want to work for him?”
    He looked away from me, shook his head. “I guess not. He’s pretty mean sometimes.”
    “Is there someplace else I could go?”
    He did some more thinking. “You could go to town and find work there.”
    “What’s the name of the town?”
    “Easton.”
    “Is it far?”
    “Not so far. The niggers walk there sometimes when Daddy gives them a pass. Or maybe …”
    “What?”
    “Alice’s mother lives closer. You could go to her, and she could tell you the best places to go to get work. You could stay with her too, maybe. Then I might see you again before you go home.”
    I was surprised he wanted to see me again. I hadn’t had much contact with children since I’d been one myself. Somehow, I found myself liking this one, though. His environment had left its unlikable marks on him, but in the ante bellum South, I could have found myself at the mercy of someone much worse—could have been descended from someone much worse.
    “Where can I find Alice’s mother?” I asked.
    “She lives in the woods. Come on outside, and I’ll tell you how to get there.”
    He took his candle and went to the door of his room. The room’s shadows moved eerily as he moved. I realized suddenly how easy it would be for him to betray me—to open the door and run away or shout an alarm.
    Instead, he opened the door a crack and looked out. Then he turned and beckoned to me. He seemed excited and pleased, and only frightened enough to make him cautious. I relaxed, followed him quickly. He was enjoying himself—having an adventure. And, incidentally, he was playing with fire again, helping an intruder to escape undetected from his father’s house. His father would probably take the whip to both of us if he knew.
    Downstairs, the large heavy door opened noiselessly and we stepped into the darkness outside—the near darkness. There was a half-moon and several million stars lighting the night as they never did at home. Rufus immediately began to give me directions to his friend’s house, but I stopped him. There was something else to be done first.
    “Where would the draperies have fallen, Rufe? Take me to them.”
    He obeyed, taking me around a corner of the house to the side. There, what was left of the draperies lay smoking on the ground.
    “If we can get rid of this,” I said, “can you get your mother to give you new draperies without telling your