“You don’t believe in it, do you?” Mrs. Riker questioned anxiously. “I guess you think we make our own luck, good or bad, and maybe you’re right.”
“But if that’s true,” Judy said, “we can change it. You’ve made a good start, telling me all about it.”
“I didn’t tell you quite all,” Helen admitted. “I didn’t tell you how we used to act out the story of Rama and Sita. Do you know it, Judy?”
“Only a little of it,” Judy answered. “I know they are the ideal man and woman, but was Sita a princess? Penny said the green doll was a princess, but I guess she got the story mixed up with the Oz books. Did you read them to her?”
“I read her the Oz books, not the ‘Ramayana.’ There isn’t a translation of it that a child Penny’s age could understand. We heard the story told and made up our own play. I would call, ‘Rama! Rama! Rama! I seek thee within me and my senses are sealed.’”
“Did Rama answer?”
“No, it was always the demon Ravana. He was the many-headed monster who stole Sita and kept her a prisoner for seven years. The boys would take turns being Ravana. The other one was always Rama.”
“And you were Sita? Did you take the statues to act out the play?”
“At first,” she said. “Then Uncle Paul discovered us and forbade us to touch them. After that we thought of him as the many-headed demon. When he roared at us we’d exchange glances and know each other’s thoughts. I’ve seen you and Peter do it. I think two people can when they love each other very much, but it didn’t last with us. When Sita was stolen everything changed. Paul didn’t want to play any more.”
“How do you mean?” asked Judy. “Was it Philip who took the statue?”