Chapter 7: Seven Years Old

Tobias's niece answered the door dressed as an owl.

She was seven years old, with brown pigtails and a felt beak on a headband, and she looked me over from the shoes up.

"You're Lin," she said. "My uncle talks about you with his eyes."

"Does he."

"He says you've got a very quiet face. Can I look at it?"

I glanced at Tobias, who stood behind her in the hall with a pumpkin under each arm.

He lifted his shoulders in a helpless way.

"She's been asking since Tuesday," he said.

"All right," I told her.

She studied me with great seriousness, her head tipped to one side.

It was Saturday evening, the thirty-first of October.

I stood in a narrow hall in Kerry's house in Ohio City, where someone had hung paper bats from the light.

I had come because Tobias had asked me to carve pumpkins, and because I could not think of a reason to say no.

"You're not mad," his niece announced.

"No."

"You're a little scared."

"Of what?"

"Of us. A little."

I was, so I said, "Yes."

She nodded.

"It's okay. Everybody is scared of owls."

Tobias made a small sound into the pumpkin, and I saw his shoulders shake.

"Come see the kitchen," the owl said, and took my hand.

Her fingers were sticky, and I let her lead me.

The kitchen was warm and crowded, with newspaper spread on the table and a bowl of seeds.

Tobias handed me a knife and a marker, and I drew a very precise square face on my pumpkin.

His niece leaned over my arm.

"Why doesn't your face go?" she asked.

I put down the marker.

Keep reading free with an account. Start A Slight Smile Is Very Charming on a Stone Face from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.