And both were young

by Madeleine L'Engle

"Oh, Erna!" Jackie cried. "Oh, Erna! How awful! And it's just like an American movie, Percy helping people to escape and everything."

"Golly, it's going to be awful without her the rest of the year," Erna said. "I'm glad this Miss Redford seems nice."

"Thank you for telling me, too, Erna." Flip slid down from her desk as the breakfast gong began to ring.

"Oh, well, I knew you were crazy about Percy. Come on, kids, time for food." And Erna hurried them out of the classroom.

9

The days really began to go by as Flip had never thought days at school could go. She remembered in the movies how the passage of time was often shown by the pages of a calendar being turned in rapid succession, and it seemed now that the days at school were being flipped by in just such a way. She would get up in the cold dark of early morning, dress, shivering, make her bed, and rush out to practice skiing.

"Where do you go every morning, Flip?" her roommates asked her.

"It's a secret," she finally had to tell them, "but I'll tell you as soon as I possibly can."

"What kind of a secret?"

"Well, I think it's going to be a nice secret," Flip said.