I sighed. "Does the story ever end?"

"How can it be more or less? She either did or she didn't."

"I think Mirina meant to do it, but when she actually did do it, she didn't mean to. It was an accident."

"Oh, Belle! What kind of sense does *that* make?"

I sat down with my back to the rock wall and put my hands on my belly.

"Oh, Lord," I said, "let this baby be a small one and make it come out easy." Then I drifted back to sleep.

"You know," Wiggy told me, "the way Robinson Crusoe realized he wasn't alone was that he found a footprint in the sand."

"That's kind of creepy," I said, looking around us.

"There might be a man on the island," Mirina said quietly.

"A good-looking man?" Cakey laughed.

 
I wish I could say she was a sweet, lovable child, but I can't.
It's not that there's anything wrong with Dexie; she's not a bad kid.
She's like an empty cardboard box.

It's not that she's closed-off emotionally; there's just nothing there.

The kids at school, even Carla — her best friend — call her The Strange Girl,
and oddly enough Dexie seems to like the name.

Dianne looked at me appraisingly. "She's right, Bel. It's you, and yet it's a whole new you."

"You're still winding me up, aren't you?" I said.

"Well, yes, but it *is* lovely."

We waited... and waited... and waited. Then, at nearly the same moment, the longboat appeared at the end of the cove, and a red flare shot up into the sky from behind the hill.

"What does that mean?" Cakey asked.

"Chockies and flowers?" Dianne echoed. "Do you mean—"

Gillian twisted her mouth to the side in a slightly crooked smile. "I'm afraid that Roger might be falling for our Bel."

"Remember, girls, what I told you when you first came onboard. If we're all going to get through this, we've got to stick together, help one another, and you've got do what you're told. If you want to ask questions or discuss things, or if think you've got a better idea, leave it till tomorrow. We've got to move fast."

"It's not a joke," Cakey said, and there was enough alarm in her tone that Wiggy and I ran to the rail to see. I could see Cakey's entire body under the water, but no sign of Ding-Dong. Cakey looked scared. "She's been under a long time. She said she wanted to touch the bottom."

"You sure picked a hell of day to come out!"

"Come out!?" I squeaked, my eyes big as saucers.

"Well, then, Ding-Dong Belle Dubois," the Captain replied, "In answer to your question, a boat is just a little thing. You can play with a boat in your bathtub. The Seward is a SHIP, and don't you forget it!"

"Is there any way," I asked, "that we can talk about this subject so that *I* can understand it? without a lot of malarkey?"

"I don't think so," he replied. "You can have incomprehensible or you can have nonsensical. Those are the choices."

As I shuffled along behind the gloriously beautiful Amazons, I said to myself, I need a bath and I look awful. And *that* means I'm awake. I stink; therefore, I am.

When I'd told her the basic story, I asked, "Do you believe me?"

"Well, no," she said. "It's impossible."

"Yeah, but," Eden countered, "— and not that I want to talk you out of it or anything — you know that you don't have to do girly stuff to be a girl. You of all people should know that."

"All the girls had odd names... Dutch names. They were odd for Americans, but maybe quite normal for Dutch girls."

Nina nodded. "Did they all have blond hair and wooden shoes?"

Cassie came close, and knelt in front of me. "Listen to me, and listen to me good. Whatever you believe right now, whoever you think you are, for Mom–" she grimaced for a moment "–for Mrs. Auburn, you have to at least *pretend* to be her daughter, okay? If you don't, if you say that you forgot, or that your last name is Donner, she will flip right out. And believe me, she does not need that right now. So, until we can straighten out all the stuff that you don't remember, can you play along and be Juliette Auburn's daughter?"

"Um, I'm okay," she said with a puzzled frown. "What are you doing here? Why aren't you dressed?"

"I don't know," I replied. "I've been asking myself the same question."

At that, Nina burst into laughter. "Oh, Marcie, you are so funny!"