The shopping carts collided at the end of the aisle and both women apologized at once, stopping and laughing together as they joked about driving licenses and insurance. Jean Howe backed up and let the woman pass before starting into the aisle.

"Excuse me, aren't you Mrs. Howe, from Woody Lane?

Jean smiled. "Yes. Do you know me?"

"Not really, but I see your daughter now and then. Lovely child." Jean smiled again. "She rides her bike out my way."

"Your way?"

"Larkpoint." The woman's eyes fixed on Jean's face to see her reaction.

"Oh gee, I don't think Molly rides out that way very often, you must have-"

"She's about ten or twelve, blonde hair in a ponytail, green bike?"

"Yes but-"

"She comes out to our street and sits on this lot down the block from my house. She was out there yesterday after the rain."

Jean felt her neck redden and she began to resent the tone the woman was taking. "Just how do you know my daughter, or me for that matter?"

"My son, Peter is in your daughter's class at school." The woman left her cart and stepped close to Jean. "You should have a talk with her. It's very strange to see a young girl so far from home sitting in the middle of a field." She gave a sharp nod of her head and resumed her passage through the store, leaving Jean feeling hot, weak and very puzzled.

I sat at the kitchen table wondering what I had done wrong this time. Mom ordered me to sit there while she unpacked the groceries and put them away. Each time I tried to ask she raised a finger for silence. Finally, she got a glass of water and sat across me from just as Brian wandered in.

"Go up and wait in your room, Brian, I want to have a talk with your sister."

"Aw, Mo-o-o-m."

"Now, Brian. Please." He left-deflated.

Mom took a sip of water and then leveled her eyes at me. "I met a woman in the store today, Peter somebody's mother?" She raised her eyebrows at me. "In your class?"

"Oh, Peter Bandovitch. He's the only Peter I know."

"Yes, well Mrs. Bandovitch approached me and told me that she had seen you out on Larkpoint-"

"I told you about that, mom."

"-sitting in a field-more than once."

"Sitting in a field?" I screwed up my face trying to imagine what she meant.

"Have you been out there since we talked?"

I knew I was trapped and Hector's words about truth rattled about in my brain. "Yes."

"Molly what did I tell you? Why are you deliberately being bad when we have so much going on right now?"

"Mom I wasn't being bad! I-"

"You disobeyed my telling you not to go there again." Mom's voice became sharp but there was an underlying tremor. "What is out there? Why are you sitting in a field?"

"I'm not!" My voice rose and we both sat back in surprise. "I'm sorry, mom. I'm not sitting in a field, I don't know what that woman is talking about."

"She saw you. She told me she saw you more than once."

"Twice, mom. I've been out there twice and it's not to sit in a field. I visit the Cloud Reader. Hector Nublado."

"The Cloud Reader. This is the man you told me about before, the one I said not to see again."

"Yes, mom. I'm sorry, it's just that-"

"Please go up to your room, Molly, without another word and don't come out until I tell you to."

Dinner was a very solemn affair. Brian kept asking what was wrong to the point where he was also in trouble. Together we did the dishes and then went to our rooms to sulk and think about how horrible life could be. I heard mom down the hall saying good night to Brian and I sat on the edge of my bed pretending to read. The knock was soft, almost apologetic and when mom came in I saw that she had been crying again. I felt terrible.

"Mom, I'm so sor-"

She waved a hand and sat beside me, wrapping me in a desperate hug. We sat that way without speaking until mom relaxed and sat back, wiping her eyes with a tissue.

"Molly, baby, I know this has been very hard for you. for all of us. I- it's just that I can't- I don't want to have to fight with you and Brian over matters of behaviour. You understand, Honey?"

"I nodded and leaned into her. "Mom, I promise, I didn't sit in any field. I visited Hector and he taught me all about clouds."

"Why is that so important? Clouds."

"Hector reads them. I know that sounds silly and I felt the same way at first but mom he really is a very smart man and he can see things in the clouds. Things that might happen or things about you that he couldn't know any other way." I sat back, suddenly excited. "Like when I went there the first time. He said, you came to ask about your dad, didn't you, and I said yes. How could he know that, mom?"

Mom studied me through moist eyes and I felt she was looking for the least sign of pretense.

"What did this Hector say about your father?" She dried her eyes and folded her hands in her lap.

"You won't be mad?"

"No, I won't be mad, Molly."

"He said that dad was on a long journey that would bring him to a place where everything was warm and wonderful and that he would be surrounded with more love than he ever had before." I bounced a bit on the bed, nodding positively. "That means he's going to get better, right mom?"

Mom's lips quivered and she couldn't seem to form any words; she just put her arms around me and squeezed tight. "I hope so, Honey, I hope so."

"Does that mean I can see Hector again?" I asked into the front of her blouse.

Her arms tightened some more and then relaxed. We looked at one another . . . me hopeful, mom indecisive.

"I want to see this man myself," she said finally.

"You mean. alone?"

"Yes. Give me his address and I will go and see him. I will see for myself, without any support from you, whether or not I want you to have any more contact with him."

*****

The door slammed and mom marched through the hall straight out to the kitchen without saying a word. Her face looked like thunder and I dreaded the worst. When she called my name it was not with the same affection she'd shown the previous night and I walked slowly to the kitchen, staying right by the door.

"Sit, young lady." I sat. "How could you do that to me, Molly? How could you sit beside me last night and lie to my face?" I was speechless. I just shook my head, my mouth open but silent. "I went to your Cloud Reader's address after the hospital and guess what? Mrs. Bandovitch was right, it's just an empty field!"

I could only gape. "No! He has a small house there! I've sat on his porch, honest, mom!"

"I was there, Molly. I went to the address you gave me and there is nothing but a misty, empty field. You deliberately lied."

"No, mom, no!" I stood and banged the table-not a good move.

"Stop it, Molly! Stop all this nonsense right now. I know this business with your father has us all upset but I will not put up with this kind of behaviour." The tears were flowing freely from both of us and in the kitchen doorway, sniffling and frightened, Brian joined in.

Grounded again. I couldn't believe that mom didn't find Hector's house and that she believed old lady Bandovitch over me. Peter had a great time teasing me at school. Apparently his mom had told him what she said to mom. After school I was to go straight home, do the chores on the list mom left on the counter and then stay in my room until dinnertime. Brian had made a miraculous recovery from his fear and concern the other night and was overjoyed to have the run of the house without me on his back.