"Maroussia, don't go too far from the house!"The little girl shrugged. The old lady was calling to her from the cottage steps, waving her stick like when she rounded up the goats at nightfall ... [+]
Harold Gates slowed the snow-topped yellow taxi and edged it along the slushy curb to a stop where she stood, shivering in a tattered wool coat in a January blizzard on the steps of her unlit apartment building. He watched as she sidestepped a few crushed beer cans strewn on the sidewalk, pulling open the heavy door and sliding into the backseat. "Evenin', missy." The driver gave his cap a polite lift, showing a shock of white hair matching his thin moustache. "Where to, missy?"A slim hand reached forward with a slip of paper between two fingers.He read it and knuckled up his cap and scratche