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lips, and the white teeth pressed deeply— The sight
set something churning inside him. "The Hiding Hole," he whispered.
    "Nobody knows," Fristeen said.
    "We can do whatever we want." He
looked into her eyes.
    "What should we do?"
    Out of nowhere it came to him. "Count
your teeth."
    "Alright," she consented.
    "Lay back."
    She did as he said.
    "Now open your mouth."
    Her jaw parted and her teeth appeared.
    "Okay. Here I go."
    He began to count, using his forefinger to
touch each one. They were hard and gleaming, with strange pits and points. They
were all fascinating, but when he reached the first molar, other sights
distracted him. The insides of her cheeks were silky and smooth, and led back
to a cavern that descended into darkness. You could roll a marble down there,
like the one he lost down the bathroom sink. Her tongue lay limp, like a little
pillow, but when he touched it, it twitched and curled around his finger. That
gave him a jolt.
    "How many?" Fristeen wondered.
    Robbie blinked. "I forget."
    "Crazy boy." She poked his belly.
    He laughed, pinched her nose and slid back
beside her.
    "Can you really fly?" Fristeen
raised her finger and drew a trail through the clouds.
    "In my dreams," Robbie said.
    "Will you show me how?"
    "Sure. It's easy to glide and
turn," he explained. "And if you want to come down, you coast.
Getting up there—that's the hard part. You have to catch the wind just
right."
    "You need wings—" She made a
skeptical face.
    Robbie shook his head. "Arms work
fine."
    She laughed. "I'm going to kiss you
again." She raised herself, shook the leaves from her hair, and was
halfway to his cheek when his expression stopped her.
    "Fristeen—"
    She waited for him to speak.
    "Let's sleep together," Robbie
said.
    "Here?"
    He nodded.
    She thought for a moment. "Okay."
    A coarse rasp sounded above them. The
squirrel was hunched in the willow lattice, watching, and as they spotted him, he
launched through the branches, chattering for all he was worth.
    "He'll tell everyone," Fristeen
warned, then she curled next to Robbie with her cheek on his shoulder.
"That's nice."
    Strands of her hair webbed his face. He
could feel her breath.
    "Did you ever have a girl for a
friend?" she asked.
    "No," he said. "Did
you—"
    She put her hand on his chest. "You're
the first."
    Robbie could feel her warmth all down his
side, and then her lips pressed against his cheek. His hands were trembling. He
had a presentiment, a feeling of anticipation unlike anything he'd experienced.
Something really important was happening, but he wasn't sure what. "When
you love someone, and you're sleeping with them—" He could barely speak.
"You put your arms around them."
    "You do other things, too."
    "Yep." Robbie took a breath.
"You kiss their lips."
    "They're here," Fristeen said.
    "Who?"
    "Listen," Fristeen whispered.
    Robbie listened, but he couldn't hear
anything.
    "Mister Squirrel and his
friends." She lifted her shoulders and gazed around the Hole, pointing at
different places on the rim. "Mousies and weasels— And nosy Miss
Fox." She squealed, scooped some leaves up and hurled them at the lattice.
    "What do they want?"
    "We're the show," she fretted.
"They've come to watch."
    Through the falling leaves, Robbie saw
them—snouts probing the lattice, whiskers twitching, beady eyes eager to see.
    They settled on branches, crouching,
hanging, chins sunk in crutches, teeth bared and grinning. Word had traveled
fast.
    "What should we do?"
    "Don't let them." Fristeen shook
her head. "They'll have all kinds of bad thoughts. Don't let them see anything."
    "Get down," Robbie said. He
grabbed her and drew her back beside him. Then he used both arms to sweep the
leaves over them.
    "That's good," she said, and she
swept leaves too.
    "Sh-sh-sh—" Robbie stopped her
and turned his ear to listen.
    The forest was suddenly quiet. Not a
creature peeped.
    "I'm scared," Fristeen whispered.
    Robbie rustled his arms around her middle.
She did the same, and