Part 29 (2/2)

lip, closed her eyes, and wished desperately for her Dad.

She wished she hadn't come. She wished she'd brought Charlie for

comfort. And she prayed, as fervently as a three-year-old could, that

she wouldn't lose her wonderful breakfast all over her s.h.i.+ny new shoes.

Then the doors opened, and the dreadful swaying motion stopped. Everyone

was laughing and talking and crowding out. eying Bev's tug on her hand,

she kept close to her while still fighting the nausea.

There was a big stand with shelves of bright souvenirs, and wide, wide

windows where she could see the sky and the spread of buildings that was

Manhattan. Dumbfounded, she stood still while people swarmed around

them. Sickness pa.s.sed into wonder.

”It's something to see, isn't it, Emma?”

”Is it the world?”

Though she was as amazed as Emma, she laughed. ”No. Only a small part

of it. Come on then, let's go out.”

The wind barreled over them, sending Emma's skirts flying up as she

staggered back. But the sensation excited rather than frightened as

Bev, laughing again, plucked her up.

”We're on top of the world, Emma.”

As they looked over the high wall, Emma felt her stomach do playful

little leaps and bounces. It was all spread out below, the crisscross

of streets in the canyons made by the buildings, the tiny cars and buses

that looked like toys. Everything ran so straight and true.

When Bev put a coin in a box, she looked through the telescope, but she

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