"Go on," she said. "Quickly."
I walked to the door, hesitated, and then went
outside. I couldn't see Noble anywhere, and that
frightened me for a moment. What if he had already
run into the woods? What if the evil spirits had
already gotten him?
"Noble." I shouted, "Where are you?" I went around the house, looked up at the old
graves, and then walked to the barn. All during the time I was searching for him, he was sitting up in his favorite tree, the old maple off to the right, just watching me grow more and more frantic. When I
finally saw him. I screamed at him.
"Why didn't you answer me! Mommy wants
you to stay close to the house. She won't want you up
there. Come down this minute. Noble!"
"No," he said defiantly. "I'm not coming down
until she lets me play with my trains."
"Noble, come down."
To demonstrate his firmness, he climbed a little
higher and sat on a thinner branch. All I could think
was, an evil spirit would swoop down and push him
off. My heart thumped.
"Please come down," I begged, tears filling my
eyes. play anything else you want to play. I'll obey the
moat. We'll fight dragons, anything?"
"No. I want to play with my trains," he insisted.
"Ill never come down until she lets me."
"Noble! Please."
He turned away from me.
"I'm telling Mommy," I said and ran back to the
house.
Mommy was in the kitchen, cleaning up the
breakfast dishes and pouring out the rest of the oatmeal. I had forgotten my piece of toast. It was burned. She looked at me and threw it into the