girl was in the tub, crouched in the corner. When she saw Will she started shrieking and screaming in a language he'd never heard before. He opened his mouth to say something, but she was already out of the tub, bolting past him, knocking him down. He hit the floor hard. From there he watched her streak through the bedroom, into the living room, where she ran headlong not once but twice into the sliding glass balcony door. Then she fled to another corner and cowered there, wild-eyed.
He lay there breathing, heart pounding, wondering what to do. He stood up very slowly. He started walking cautiously toward the living room, keeping his eyes on the girl's squatting figure. Her crouch tightened. He was imagining dragging her out of the building by her flailing legs. But getting closer, he saw her eyes for the first time ‑‑ blue ‑‑ bruises the color of violets in their corners. He stopped and looked at her. She stared back, breathing.
Suddenly he was trying to soothe her. He was speaking gently to her and offering her a piece of Wonder Bread from the loaf he found on the floor. After a couple minutes she crept forward and took it from him. She chewed the crust, then stuffed the whole piece into her mouth, jaws working furiously, eyes fixed on him. He went to the kitchen and retrieved different foods from the refrigerator: a carrot, a Del Monte pudding pack, cold pizza. Only the bread interested her, though. She devoured three quarters of the loaf, then followed him back to the kitchen, always staying five feet from him, and washed the bread down with a quart of Welch's grape juice. When she'd finished drinking, she smiled, her lips and face a mass of purple, her
