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Ford with Brian. The boy, who had the same red, curly hair as his father and sister, was a nonstop talker and jabbered all the way home. Unlike Kyra, he seemed to have latched on to Rosemary as a second mother.
     
    At the house Brian headed straight for the kitchen, followed by Rosemary, who set out the brownies and then opened the freezer to get out ice cream.
     
    "Our own Halloween party," she said happily. "What flavor does everybody want, chocolate or strawberry? I should have gotten orange sherbet to go with the decor, but I just didn't think about it."
     
    "Chocolate for me," Ted said. "And Brian will want both. Sarah?"
     
    "Nothing, thanks," Sarah said.
     
    "We've still got the spice cake... ," Rosemary began.
     
    "I'm not hungry."
     
    Leaving the little family of three at the kitchen table, Sarah went down the hall to her bedroom. She flicked on the overhead light, closed the door, and dumped the tote bag onto the second bed. Then she stuck a tape into the cassette player to listen to while she changed into her nightshirt.
     
    New Age instrumentals usually had a soothing effect on her, as if they were resting her soul and giving light to her spirit, but tonight was different—she couldn't concentrate on the music. Her eyes kept being drawn to the tote bag. She finally sat down on the bed, reached into the bag, and took out the crystal ball. The muted light of the tent had lent it a magical quality, but in the bright glare of the overhead fixture it was only a paperweight, round and smooth with the bottom leveled off so that it could stand flat on a desk. She wondered how her mother had produced it so quickly. The moment Sarah had announced her intention to participate in the carnival, Rosemary had gone straight out to the garage and reappeared with the ball, saying, "Here! Doesn't this make a perfect crystal ball? It almost seems like that's what it was made for."
     
    There was a rap at the bedroom door.
     
    "Sarah?" her mother called softly. "You're not asleep already, are you?"
     
    "No," Sarah said. "Come on in."
     
    Rosemary opened the door and came into the room, with Yowler at her heels. She was carrying a bowl of strawberry ice cream.
     
    "I thought maybe you'd changed your mind about being hungry. I got the strawberry especially for you."
     
    "That does look good," Sarah said, ashamed of her earlier pettiness. Her mother's efforts to please her were becoming embarrassing.
     
    "I wish you'd gone out with Kyra and her friends," Rosemary said, setting the bowl on the bedside table next to the crystal ball. "It could have been the start of a social life. Ted says Eric Garrett is a real key to meeting people. He comes from a prominent family, his father is a lawyer, and his great-grandfather, Samuel Garrett, was founder of this town. Besides that, Ted says he's very popular and is involved in everything."
     
    "I couldn't afford to go out tonight," Sarah said.
     
    "But Ted offered to pay!"
     
    "I won't take Ted's money," Sarah said. "Besides, I'm tired and didn't feel like it." She gestured toward the crystal ball. "Changing the subject, where did that thing come from?"
     
    "Out of one of the crates in the garage. It was right on top."
     
    "I don't remember ever seeing it before."
     
    "I didn't have it out when we lived in the apartment."
     
    "Then where—?"
     
    "It belonged to your father's mother," Rosemary told her. "She died right after your father and I became engaged. The paperweight was one of the few things your dad brought back with him after the funeral. After his death it got packed away in a box with the other stuff from his desk. I forgot all about it until we were packing to move here and discovered the box on a shelf at the back of the coat closet."
     
    "I don't think I've ever even seen a picture of that grandmother," Sarah said.
     
    "You look quite a bit like her," said Rosemary. "You have the same coloring. She was Hungarian and very exotic-looking. Of course your father