Was he lying? Had they sent him out to lie to me? But to what purpose? And how could they have managed the rest of it—causing me to see the house as it was. Even if they had brought in old furniture and put an actor in the upstairs bed, they couldn’t have made the car disappear, and changed the road, and put me in a black taffeta dress in a buggy. Or could they?

Could they have hypnotized me and made me see things that weren’t really there? But how could they have managed that if I hadn’t even seen the two of them first? Didn’t you have to look into a hypnotist’s eyes and listen to his voice in order to be put under his spell?

“Do you want me to fetch Mrs. Reddy and Mrs. Weber?” the boy asked.

“No, thank you, George.” I wondered if they were watching me from the house. “Why aren’t you in school?”

“I don’t go anymore. Mrs. Weber gives me lessons.”

What kind of lessons? I wondered. “You ought to go to school. Do you have anyone to play with around here?”

“No.”

“Why don’t you ride your pony?”

“I don’t have a pony.”

“But I saw you riding one. The first day we came here. You were in the yard and you were on a pony.”

He nodded. “His name was Ginger. But I only had him for that day. Mr. Weber went and got him in a trailer and then took him back the next day.”

“But why?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Mrs. Reddy told him to do it.”

I had a sudden thought. “Where did Mr. Weber get Ginger?”

“From Mr. Dobbs on the next road. He rents out ponies.”

Was Dobbs in on it too? I was terrified of waiting there any longer. Whatever power they had over me, it seemed obvious they could put it to work again.

“Do you know where I live, George?”

He shook his head.

“It’s a mile and a half or so down the road. It doesn’t look like a house. It looks more like a warehouse or a factory. If you ever have any trouble here, you can come and stay with me.”

“What kind of trouble would I have?”

“You’ll know when it happens.”

I backed out on the road, tires screeching, and then looked at the house again. I was half-­expecting one of them to come out, but it didn’t happen. The boy was still standing in the yard as I drove off.