“ ‘Pinky Pauper came a-calling! Into sin that boy be falling! I caught him creeping, one-two-three, he’s as wicked as can be!’ Faster, Zalman! Faster, Tia! Come on, make em really jump to it!”

Tia spun her end of the rope faster at once, and a moment later Zalman caught up with her. This was apparently something he could do. Laughing, Susannah chanted faster.

“ ‘Pinky Pauper took her measure! That bad boy done took her treasure! Four-five-six, we’re up to seven, that bad boy won’t go to heaven!’ Yow, Zalia, I see your knees, girl! Faster, you guys! Faster!”

The four twins jumped like shuttlecocks, Heddon tucking his fists into his armpits and doing a buck and wing. Now that they had gotten over the awe which had made them clumsy, the two younger kids jumped in limber spooky harmony. Even their hair seemed to fly up in the same clumps. Eddie found himself remembering the Tavery twins, whose very freckles had looked the same.

“ ‘Pinky…Pinky Pauper…’ ” Then she stopped. “Shoo-fly, Eddie! I can’t remember any more!”

“Faster, you guys,” Eddie said to the giants turning the skip-rope. They did as he said, Tia hee-hawing up at the fading sky. Eddie measured the spin of the rope with his eyes, moving backward and forward at the knees, timing it. He put his hand on the butt of Roland’s gun to make sure it wouldn’t fly free.

“Eddie Dean, you cain’t never !” Susannah cried, laughing.

But the next time the rope flew up he did, jumping in between Hedda and Hedda’s mother. He faced Zalia, whose face was flushed and sweating, jumping with her in perfect harmony, Eddie chanted the one verse that survived in his memory. To keep it in time, he had to go almost as fast as a county fair auctioneer. He didn’t realize until later that he had changed the bad boy’s name, giving it a twist that was pure Brooklyn.

“ ‘Piggy Pecker pick my pocket, took my baby’s silver locket, caught im sleepin eightnineten, stole that locket back again!’ Go, you guys! Spin it!”