Evelyn sometimes thought she had left her husband after almost thirty years of marriage because she didn't want to be a cliche. Friends blamed "mid-life crisis," but she was too old for that. Didn't it hit in the late thirties or at the magic four-oh?

A witch lived disguised as a mother. Only people with special vision could see she was a witch, for she was very clever. She knew how to hide her true self from her husband. She hid her self from her children. So clever was this witch, she even hid who she really was from her self.

I look at Bobby and wonder if he told his father about the cave he and I explored yesterday. We did it quickly, while everyone else was busy. He said he found it while riding his bike. He desperately wanted to show it to me. I let him. Bobby is nine, Lori is six, Eric is five. They're great together, and they're great with me. Someday I'm going to have kids just like these. I've been their sitter for a year now, mostly after school. It's about the only structured thing I do.

He stood in front of Angela's house, shaking with anticipation, trying to compose his thoughts. He glanced at his watch. It was nearly noon. Since June she had been on her summer break from teaching at Northridge Elementary. Though he knew she might not be home when he arrived, he desperately hoped to find her apron-clad in the kitchen or puttering away in the garden in the backyard.