gagged."
"You want to do that, Cindy?"
"No, I want to watch." She lazily ate the icing oft
a piece of cake she had wheedled out of Dianne.
"I'll stay out here," Bobby said. "No, we might need you." ·
"I'm only out here, for godsakes. Besides, it's Paul's tum to do something. If he wants to
chloroform her, let him try it for a change."
"Finish your sandwich, Paul. Hurry up"-Dianne was already straightening up-"It's getting
late."
"Yeah, and I want to go swimming after my · hour," Cindy licked her fingers slowly.
The kids approached Barbara more familiarly now. She was back in her room but sitting in
a chair to which they had tied her-amid endless debate and engineering discussion-over an
hour ago. It would be obvious to an outsider that half the rope would have done the job,
but that was not the point. The more they used, the safer they felt.
This was apparent in the way they lounged around while Dianne explained about the pillow
over the face and the chloroform and the lookout to watch the road. "Now, will you be quiet
if we take your gag out?"
34
Barbara nodded solemnly. Her jaws ached from being spread.
Since the boys never offered to touch Barbara unless they had work to do, Dianne removed
the adhesive tape. As usual, Bobby had used enough to set a broken bone, and it took a
long time to come off strip by strip, each one protested by Barbara. When they were finally
gone, balled up and discarded with the paper trash to be burned, Dianne reached in the
older girl's mouth and pulled out the damp terry-cloth wad. Barbara swallowed
immediately and painfully, and extended her tongue to touch her dry lips.
"Can I have a glass of water?"
At the sound of her voice, John and Paul stiffened slightly. This, clearly, was the beginning
of danger.
"I won't scream," Barbara said carefully.
Don't lose your head when they ungag you, Terry had said in her phantom conversation
this morning. Talk to them. Be calm.
"I'll get some," Cindy buzzed out.
"Turn on the TV-loud," John yelled behind her.
He was still quite nervous.
"I won't scream," Barbara repeated in a low, steady voice. When no one said anything, she
added, "You can put the pillow and bottle down. I know. I won't make any trouble."
Dianne, also tense, seemed to relax. "All right, then. I'll get you something."
"What?"
Dianne turned and left the room. "Cereal," she said over her shoulder.
"I want more than that!"
"That's all you're going to get." Paul instantly picked up the bottle again; the cloth was
visible inside it, and his fingers were on the lid. "You're on a prisoner's diet."
"You-" Barbara stopped herself and sighed.
"That's not going to make me any weaker, Paul. It's just going to make me hungrier."
"Well, you're still on it." He shut his-lips tightly.
35
There was silence,
"The more you do to me, the more you'll get punished, you know?" Barbara finally said.
She could not bring herself to say more, to grant them additional powers. A certain
stubborn insistence on her adult superior-· ity forbade it, particularly now that she had her
voice back. "What do you suppose they'll do to you for this?"
The boys acknowledged her shot. Paul became embarrassed and looked down at the rug.
Behind Barbara, John remained silent.
"Why don't you have another meeting and talk about it? You know what's going to happen:
just decide for yourselves what's best. If you keep on going and somebody finds out before
you let me go, you'll be in even worse trouble. If you let me go now, I'll"-Bar bara was still
ticked off-"I'll think about it. We'll all take a swim and talk about it."
The boys' silence became concrete and cold. "Isn't that better than what you're going to
get this way?"
Nothing.
After a bit, Dianne came back with the cereal on a tray and, being Dianne, a napkin. "What
were you talking about?" She set the things on the vanity.
Paul's relief at seeing his sister was pathetic. He writhed in gratitude. "She wants us to let
her go. She says she might not tell on us."
Dianne snorted in a ladylike way. "Can we move her over here?"
"But what's going to happen to all of you after this?" Barbara said.
"We don't want to talk. Come on." Getting over on the opposite side of the chair from John,
Dianne helped him slide Barbara up to the small vanity.
Barbara sighed again and shook her head. "Here's the water."
Dianne took it from Cindy and held it to Barbara's lips.
"Aren't you going to untie at least one hand?" The
36
caution, the insistence on detail, the si1ence, the refusal to be sensible or communicate
with her, brought Barbara close to losing her patience. "I can't run away on one hand."
"It's too much trouble." "But I want to feed myself."
"I know, but it's too much trouble. It takes too much time, and everyone wants to go
swimming," Dianne said. "Do you want this or not?"
Barbara looked at her-Barbara felt crushed-and nodded. For all the fact that it was metallic
well water, however, it was cool and healing and smooth. The sheer comfort to her throat
erased part of her irritation, and when Dianne asked if she wanted the cereal, she simply
nodded again and submitted to being fed like a baby.
Afterward Barbara felt the tension in the room begin to rise again. The boys positively
radiated it. Paul picked up the bottle again.
"Wait a minute!" They waited.
"You don't have to gag me again this afternoon.
Nobody's coming, and I won't make any noise if they do-" She looked mostly at Dianne.
Instead of diminishing the tenseness, however, she only seemed to increase it. Even
Dianne looked warily across at John, who reached over and fingered the pillow.
"But it hurts." Barbara looked from one to the other now. "I can't move my tongue or
swallow. Can't you think of something else without that rag? I've had it in my mouth all day.
Even last night." They appeared unyielding and yet reluctant to force her quiet yet. "Can't
you tie something around my mouth or just use adhesive tape if you have to?"
"Aw, that's stuff like you see in old movies." Paul twitched. "You can talk through a gag like
that, and you can lick tape off."
"You use saliva," Dianne said. "How do you know?"
37
"He's right," John said from behind her.
Barbara hung her head and breathed deeply. They were probably right at that. "All right,
but you're not ready to go swimming yet. Can't you at least leave me alone for a few
minutes?" She raised her head and tried to look over her shoulder. "Come on, John."