Don't be stupid, Edwina said, reading his mind the way all mothers can. You're much too young to fly. You'll only fall.

And then: You don't see your sister trying anything as dumb as that, do you?

Her words made Dov angry, but he didn't dare let Edwina know that he was mad at her. She might let him drop through her fingers and then where would he be? Instead he glared at Peez.

Hey! What did I do? Peez implored him.

Like you don't know! Dov sneered at her, and felt tainted inside for having said that, and for not having the courage to tell Edwina straight out that she was the object of his hostility. For some reason, knowing that he'd never find the courage to confront his mother, he became even angrier at his sister and decided to make her sorry.

But how?

A glitter of gold caught his eye. Something besides the sun was shining in the sky. He looked up and saw that in Edwina's other hand she held an old-fashioned weighing device, a pair of glittering pans swinging from a balance like the Scales of Justice. The giantess brought the scales level with the hand that held her children and gave them an encouraging look.

All aboard, she said. We might as well get this started.

No! Peez shouted, throwing her arms around Dov. We won't! You can't make us!

Oh, please. Edwina rolled her eyes over the silly notions of children. You know very well that I can. Anyhow, what's wrong with a little healthy competition?

I wonder if "healthy" is the right word for this? Dov thought.

Stop it! Peez said, hugging her baby brother more closely to her. Leave us alone! We were having fun before you came along and spoiled it.

"Came along"? The giantess was amused. You silly nit, can't you see that I've been here all the time? Who do you think gave you this wonderful place without even asking if you deserved it? Who's got the power to take it all away from you in the blink of an eye? You're a very bad little girl, Peez. I don't see your brother behaving like that. He's smiling!

Dov was puzzled. He knew the giantess was lying: He wasn't smiling, and yet ... maybe he'd better do as she said. He slapped on Smile #1, the simple, sunny basic model on which his entire subsequent repertoire of artificially cheery grimaces was built. Peez saw him do it and looked betrayed.

Dov is a good child. One point for Dov, said the giantess.

Peez turned angrily on her brother. Why are you helping her? she demanded.

Dov tried to explain. Edwina was just so big, so powerful. She had the unassailable ability to control everything in their lives; didn't Peez see that? Wasn't it better to win her over rather than fight her? They were so small that they'd only lose.

He tried, but he couldn't find the words, so instead he created Smile #2 and tried to use it to win his sister's understanding. He needed it badly, that and her continued support and protection. She was stronger than he was, and smarter too, and he loved—

I love her? I love Peez?

Dov was so shocked by this realization that the smile dropped right off his face and over the edge of Edwina's huge hand. Down and down he watched it fall until it struck the ground and shattered. He clapped his hands to where his mouth had been and felt only smooth, featureless skin. A scream rose from the bottom of his soul but could not escape. It echoed inside his head, thudding against the inside of his skull, wildly searching for a way out and finding none.

Through the panic and the pain, he heard his mother's voice: Just see how good your baby brother is being, how nice and quiet. Quiet equals obedient. Why can't you be more like him? He's not angry all the time; he's cheerful. No wonder he has friends and you don't! And you never will until you become exactly like he is.

Just before his head exploded, he heard Edwina say: Two points for Dov.

The idyllic meadow of his dream world vanished. In its place was only a land of swirling mists and shadows. Dov could see nothing, but he could hear the sound of chains creaking and knew they were the ones attached to the titanic set of scales in his mother's hand. They groaned and clanked somewhere out of sight. Though the noise they made was almost deafening, somehow he could still make out a different sound as well, a softer sound, the sound of someone else's footsteps besides his own. He couldn't explain why he knew that they belonged to Peez, but he did. That too was part of the dream's insane logic.

He wished that his eyes were as clever as his ears so that he might catch sight of his sister. She didn't sound as if she were far away. He realized that he missed her, that he wouldn't mind the darkness so much if only he could make his way through it with her beside him. Together they could form a plan, find a way to help one another escape this terrible place, if only—!

But that was impossible. That wasn't playing by the rules of the competition. Edwina wouldn't like that. He didn't dare do anything that Edwina wouldn't like. He walked on alone, and in the metallic complaints of the unseen chains he heard the twin pans of Edwina's golden balances rising and falling as she watched over him and Peez, always adding or subtracting those precious points that she awarded to her children.

It doesn't really matter, Dov thought as he slogged his way through the darkness. Just a little longer and she won't be able to do that to us any more. Soon she'll be dead.

As soon as he thought them, the words knocked him off his feet. He was sitting in a puddle of slimy, ice-cold water, alone with those words: Soon she'll be dead.

And then ... what?

What will I have left? Playing her game, fighting with my sister because I was too scared to fight with my mother, scoring points off Peez because I thought it was the best way to keep Edwina on my side, that's all my life's become! That's all it is!

The thought no sooner formed itself than Dov felt the puddle beneath him ooze a little higher until it was a pool, then a pond, then a lake whose bottom and borders spread farther and farther away from him as his head sank beneath the clammy water. He splashed wildly, trying to stay afloat, but could not remember how to swim. The waters rushed into his chest and darkness followed. The giantess had taken her revenge.

And as he sank deeper into the black lake, all he could hear above the sound of the rushing waters was Ammi's persistent, penetrating voice insisting: You know none of this would've happened if you'd only shaved your chest hair!

Dov woke up in a wash of sweat almost as cold as the drowning lake of his dreams. He lurched into the bathroom, tearing off his clothes as he went, and threw himself into a hot shower. That made him feel a little better.

He came out of the shower and wiped steam from the mirror with a towel so that he could see his reflection. He looked awful, rumpled and haggard enough to be a shoo-in for the role of Willie Loman in Death of a Salesman.

"Work," he said aloud. "I've got to get to work. Salem is the last stop I've got to make. All I need to do is get this Fiorella woman's support and I bet I can swing the rest of the fence-sitters. Then I can go back to Miami and not have to think about Edw— I mean, I'll bet that there's a ton of stuff back in the Miami office that needs my attention. I've been letting things slide too damn much, being on the road like this. Whether or not I get control of the company, I've still got an obligation to the accounts that we handle directly in Miami. I don't care how much is at stake, I am not going to let the home team down!"

"Rah, rah, rah," said Ammi, deadpan. "And might I add, boola-boola."

Dov was in no mood for sass. He jerked the amulet's chain so hard that he snapped the clasp, then he flung it out the bathroom door, vaguely hoping it would land on the bed so that he wouldn't have to hunt for it on hands and knees when he wanted to find it again.