a marshmallow swirl, please?"

"I'll see if they have it. Back in an hour. Be good."

"We will."

"Bye, Mom."

They heard the engine start and the car drive away. Russell ran down the stairs to the lawn and announced, "I'm going to my castle, and no girls allowed!"

"No girls would want to be allowed," giggled Stella, and then she yawned. Everything was quiet and kind of sleepy, but she wasn't in the mood for a nap. A blue jay landed on the deck railing and scolded her with a sharp piercing cry that seemed to say the deck was his and she should leave it now. "I'll be in the boathouse if you need me, little brother," she called to the castle, but the castle didn't answer; maybe Russell was alreadywas Wenonah, the firstborn daughter of Nokomis. She cleared a space in front of the mirror in the furthest corner of the farthest back, and positioned the flashlight on a shelf behind her, and stepped into the white buckskin dress. It seemed to fit her almost perfectly, but as she was lacing it up, she looked in the mirror and suddenly thought maybe it wasn't such a good idea, the mirror part.

"You've been nothing but trouble," and even as she said it, the surface of the mirror began to ripple and blur, and the mirror seemed to whisper, "Perhaps."

"So I'm not looking." Stella turned away and sat with her back to the mirror as she pulled on the leggings and laced up the moccasins and braided her hair.