Was the Wishing Ball still
there? What would she wish for, if she could?
"That's
easy," Jane muttered as she stepped off the sidewalk onto the flagstone path
and through the wrought iron gate that stood open. "To escape
Fendersburg."
She grinned at her
silliness. She had to grin, or she might cry. Sometimes she absolutely hated
the town of lazy, entitlement-attitude mental midgets she had to look after
while trying to trick the Rivals into making mistakes so Hoax could identify
them.
Then she was at the porch and the front door. She sighed in delight as she pushed the front door open. Bells chimed sweetly, almost like singing, and the sound faded slowly as she stepped down the short entry hallway. The sense of having walked into a familiar place wrapped around her. She smelled fruity scented candles, the dusty perfume of books, and chocolate. Freestanding display shelves invited her to browse a haphazard collection of figurines and decorative boxes, candles, dishes, and numerous other bright, colorful items she ignored as she let memory guide her feet.
Divine's didn't stock all the trendy candy and gimmicks that cluttered the counters at other stores. No novelty candy shaped like aliens. No trading cards and dispensers shaped like garbage cans or cell phones. She saw candy bars and gum, hard candy and licorice whips and funny, funky shapes she hadn't seen since childhood. Jane wandered for a few minutes, looking at all the display boxes and jars. Dolls in lacy dresses, wooden toys, puzzles made of metal and string and wood, pinwheels and bottles of bubbles, sidewalk chalk, squirt guns, balloons, and other fragments of an innocent, happier time.
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