A girl broke from the circle to shriek imprecations that the tall girl ignored. Another girl, stout and red haired and wearing a grimy gingham dress, clambered up the brick hill and reached for the two girls who crouched at the blond’s feet. They bellied onto the rubble and stretched their hands out to her.

“Save us, Brigid! Save us!”

“Mother Witch, Mother Witch, have you seen my baby?” the redhead, Brigid, cried as she skidded back down the pile.

The blond girl playing the witch straightened. Sharp featured, she looked as though she’d blacken the eye of anyone who’d dare approach her. She stooped to grasp each of the smaller girls by the collar. The two captives laughed. The redhead again scrambled up the bricks, shouting, “Mother Witch, Mother Witch, have you seen my sister? She’s the one still wets the bed!”

“I do not!” one of the captives yelled.

The witch sprang at the interloper, and the girl fled with a shriek. The others collapsed with laughter as the witch raced down to grab an unwary girl’s arm. As she dragged her up the brick hill, Brigid turned to smack a smaller girl with russet plaits like her own.

“Shit! Una, why weren’t you watching?”

Una, skinny and freckled, lunged at her. The two fell and tussled until the smaller girl began to sob. Brigid stumbled to her feet, screeching, “Whyn’t you just go home?”

“I’m telling Ma!” Una pushed herself up, face crimson. “You’re supposed to be watching Danny!”

“If you tell Ma, I’ll kill you, you little brat!”

She pushed Una down again and rejoined the game.

Una wiped her nose and shrieked, “I hate you!” She struggled to her feet and stalked off, picking up chunks of brick and throwing them at the others.

Still hidden in the brick arch, he watched her pass, counted to sixty, and began to follow her. At first he stayed a good distance behind, but as the sounds of the game grew fainter, he hastened his steps. The girl walked aimlessly past the slag heaps, her pace slowing as she approached an abandoned warehouse. She picked up a rock and threw it at a window, nodding in satisfaction as the glass shattered.

He sidled toward the warehouse, staring at his feet as though deep in thought, even as he gazed from the corner of his eye to make sure the girl hadn’t seen him. When he saw her stiffen, he stopped short.

“Oh my goodness!” His eyes widened as he took a step back, hands raised in alarm. “You gave me a start, I didn’t even see you!”

The girl edged away from him. He took another backward step.