Three things were different about the next day.
The first was that when Donny woke up, thin sunlight striped the kitchen floor and sparkled all over the faded wallpaper. The second was he still felt bad about all the people disappearing from the village.
The third different thing was that the story lady didn't come on Donny's telescreen to tell him another story as she'd promised.
He waited and waited, hunched in his chair in front of the screen until long after it was dark again, but she never came. All he saw was the snow swirling around.
Donny couldn't sleep. He stared out the window at the night. The big moon wasn't up yet, so Donny could see the string of small moons tumbling over the sky, in and out of the blowing rain clouds. "Man-made moons," somebody told him a long time ago. Who? He couldn't remember. But it was a silly thing to say anyway, as if they'd thought Donny was so slow he'd believe anything. The moons reminded him of the string of glistening crystal beads the story lady wore. He never once thought she'd disappear, too, just like everybody else.
When she didn't come back on the second day, or the one after that, Donny knew he had to do something. He stood in his doorway in gray weather, sneezing. Thinking about the story lady started the sloshy, itchy feeling inside again. He just couldn't believe that such a nice lady would go away without telling him good-bye. He frowned trying to remember exactly what she'd said.
Yes, she had promised another story. Donny was sure of it. What could have stopped her from keeping her promise?
Cinderella had to run away from the Prince--
But that was different. So maybe it was like when the Cyberpiper took the Chickling home--
Or--
Too hard to figure the puzzle out! Donny thought of something else. What could he do about it?
Suddenly he heard her voice in his head: When things get really bad, that's when we have a chance. It was so clear, he whirled around, all excited, expecting to see Ella smiling at him from the telescreen. But all he saw was the snow again.
)
