"Who wins?"

"More like who loses. Mum has a drawer full of medicine which she loves to pour down my gullet, sick or no sick."

Sid was grinning as he talked, a soft, curling grin that dimpled the corner of his mouth on one side. I looked down to my feet.

"Does the reverend know you're here?" I asked.

"No." He was silent for a bit, then, "Kit, I'm sorry about what he said. He had no right a "

"It's all right a "

"No, it's not all right. He's a hypocritical bastard and he can cause you trouble. That's why I left when he ordered me toa"so's he wouldn't say anything else to hurt you. I would've been back sooner, only he was watching me real close. We have to be careful."

"He'll see you comin' out here."

"I'll come on the days he's gone down the bay."

"But, your mother a "

"She'll say nothing. Christ, she hates it when the reverend's mad at me. Don't worry." He touched my cheek, his finger warm against my skin. "We'll work it out. He's told no one about the other day, he'd rather keep it quiet than have whispers that you're my girl."

I turned away as his finger trailed the curve of my mouth.

"That's why he came out here," Sid said softly. "Haynes told him what they were saying about us in school. Kit, why won't you look at me?"

I closed my eyes, my lips quavering at the nearness of him.

"Shine's back," I blurted out, not trusting to look at him. "Josie's run off with him twice now."

He stared at me disbelievingly.

"She's with him right now," I whispered.

"Shine! But, when did he a Christ! No wonder you're upset. Are you sure?"

"She's mad with me and didn't come home the other night. This morning I followed her. He came for her in his boat, up by Fox Point."

Rising to his feet, Sid smacked his fist in his hand and swept his eyes down over the gully before squatting besides me again.

"Christ! Shine!" He shook his head in the same hopeless way that I had cried.

"She was drunk the last time she come home."

"Did Drucie see her?"

"No. Not yet. Everyone's goin' to find out, Sid," I burst out, my voice rising hysterically. "They're goin' to make me leave here."

"Shh, we already talked about that, no one's going to send you away, and no one's going to find out about Josie. Shine's been hiding all this time, he won't let anyone see him. If he's moving around in a boat, he's probably camping on Miller's Island, somewhere. Someone will see him, Kit. Then, the Mounties'll be after him in no time."

"Supposin' Josie's with him when they see him?"

"We'll work on keeping her home. What did you fight about?"

"You," I said, hanging my head.

"Me!"

"She thinks it's my fault the reverend drove you away."

"Then she'll be fine once she sees me. I'll tell her I won't ever come back if she goes off with Shine again. That'll keep her home. And you can talk with her, too."

"She don't care about what I say."

"Then make her care."

"How?"

"I don't know. Make her care about you."

I shook my head."She won't ever care about me."

"Sure she does. Didn't she go for Doctor Hodgins the day the reverend kidnapped you? Didn't she?" He nudged when I didn't answer. "Kit." His voice had fallen to a whisper. "Perhaps it's you who don't care."

"Even if I did, she wouldn't notice," I cried out, making to stand up.

"No, you're wrong," Sid said, pulling me back. "You keep forgetting, she's a kid. She can feel what's in your heart. What's in your heart, Kit?"

"I don't think about it," I said.

"Sure you do."

"No, I don't.

"What did you feel when you saw her with Shine?"

"I don't care about it, I only care about people findin' out. Let go!" I snapped as I tried to get up and he kept pulling me back.

"What did you feel, Kit?"

"I hate her," I said harshly. He was quiet, my words ringing through the stillness.

"You're not alone," he said with a sudden quiet. "There's others that hate her, too a the reverend, May Eveleigh, Jimmy Randall, Haynes a "

"They have no right," I whispered. "Not them that made her so."

"Then, shouldn't they be the ones you hate?"

"I hate them, too. I hate every damn thing. I even hated Nan."

Then I burst into tears, the shock of having said such a thing terrifying me right down to my toes.

"Sshh, now, you don't mean that."

"No, I don't mean that, I don't mean that," I cried, sobbing all the harder as he rocked me. "I hate that she's not here. I hate never feelin' safe. And it's Josie who always gets us in trouble."

"Shh, that's what we're going to fixa"Josie, so's she won't get in trouble with everybody, again."

"How? How can we fix her?"

He pushed me back, and wiped my face with the pads of his thumbs.

"Show her that you care."

"She won't ever listen to me."

"You're not listening, Kit. It's not what you say, it's what you feel. Start changing how you feel towards her."

"I don't know if I can do that."

"Sure you can. Play with her. That's what I do, I play with her. Keep remembering she's a kid. She only wants to play."

Play. The word sounded as foreign as Latin. I gave a short laugh.

"I don't ever remember playin'. Leastways, not with someone. Just Pirate."

"Then don't you think it's time you started having more fun?"

I gave a half-hearted nod, trying to still my snivelling.

"C'mon, then," he cajoled, reaching out and tickling my ribs. "Let's start having funa"me, you and Josie. Before you know it, you'll be wrestling her around the chopping block, and tying her arms and legs in knots, and she'll be chasing after you more than she chases after me and won't ever want to leave home again, she'll be having too much fun."

"God help me," I murmured, brushing away his hands, but I couldn't help smiling. Sid always made things sound right, and suddenly the threat of Shine wasn't so serious.

"Come on. Let's walk." Pulling me to my feet, he held my hand and we started stepping stones down the gully. Soon, we were leaping this way and that, picking up speed the further we went, till we were running and laughing all the ways down to the beach.

"Now then," Sid said breathlessly, as we walked along the shore, "if you were crying because Shine's come back, were you laughing because I've come back?"

"Might be," I replied.

"Might be?"

"Might be that I knew you'd be back."

"Yeah? And how'd you know that?"

"Because the reverend told you not to come back," I said, skipping a little ahead of him.

"Yep, that's the reason, sir, right there." He ran up behind me and, catching hold of my waist, lifted me up and pretended to throw me into the water. I screamed and struggled to get away, but he held me tighter, the dimple besides his mouth deepening as he grinned down at me.

"You oughtn't stare at a man like that," he whispered.

My face grew hot and I felt the hardness of his body pressing against mine. Giving a little laugh, I struggled harder to get away, but his arms tightened around me, his breath caressing my cheek, and it felt as if I were suffocating.

"It ain't no man that bawls and sits home with his mother all the time," I hurtled. It was Margaret's words, spoken without my even knowing they were there, and were meaningless to all but Margaret and her best friends. And on this day, Sid. His smile uncurled itself and he let go of me.

"Is that what you believe?" he asked, coldly. "That I'm a mommy's boy?"

Spinning on his heel, he strolled back up the beach while I stood there, staring after him, willing my tongue to untie itself and call out to him. It was frozen. I followed meekly, not wanting to catch up, but not wanting to lose sight of him, either. Finally, he was at the top of the gully, heading up over the bank for the road.

"I didn't mean it," I called out. But my words, thundering inside my head, sounded no louder than the chirp of a baby chick. He never looked around, just kept on walking with his head down and arms swinging. He kept pace till he disappeared down the road, never looking back. Kicking myself in the leg, I sat down on the chopping block and wrapped my arms miserably around myself.

"Damn!" I yelled. "Damn! Damn!"

"What's that you say, Kit?" asked Aunt Drucie, shuffling onto the door stoop, smoothing down her apron.

"Nothin'," I mumbled.

"You be scowlin' awful hard over nothin'. Is Sid gone, then?" she asked after I never spoke.

I nodded.

She come over to where I was sitting.

"Had a fight, did ye?" she near whispered, leaning her mouth down close to my ear.

"No. Yeah! Boys are stupid."

"Aye. And they gets worse with age. But, don't let it bother you none, 'tis the way of lovers to fight."

"Damn it, Aunt Drucie, I ain't Sid's lover!" I exclaimed, shocked upright on my feet.

"It's just a sayin', Kit, it's just a sayin'," Aunt Drucie said quickly, a touch of merriment in her rheumy old eyes as she took hold of my arm and tried to lead me towards the house. "Heh, you were quick to jump on that one."

"Just don't go sayin' things like that," I said, still tensed with shock. "I don't want people talkin' about me."

"There's no one to speak wrong about you as long as I'm around," said Aunt Drucie, tugging me forward. "'Cuz I thinks of you as me own, I do, you and your poor mother. It's a good turn God give me by havin' me come out here and take care of ye, for it gets lonely livin' by meself, and Lizzy was always one to drop by for a cup of tea. Here, you sit in her rocker," she said, after she had led me inside the house. "I makes you a glass of syrup, like I use to do for her when she come for a visit on hot days. Oh my, I misses her, I do, but it helps me heart to know I'm takin' care of her girls. But I worries about you not goin' to church, Kit."

"It ain't only in church that we finds God, Aunt Drucie."

"They'd be damned in Perpy's Cove if that was the case," said Aunt Drucie. "But Lizzy always liked bringin' you to church."

"I says my prayers."

"Then that'll take care of it. We gets along, hey, Kit?"

I nodded and smiled when she handed me the glass of syrup.

"And Josie?" asked Aunt Drucie. "She don't mind me comin', do she?"