Jack swiveled his head at him.

The other boys stared, too.

"No," said Marie. "Really. Most of what he sells is junk. But those beans . . . Those are something."

Jack felt suddenly confused. He looked back at the man. In his dirt-encrusted hand sat a single white bean.

"It looks like a regular bean," said Jack.

Marie laughed. "It takes a real man to tend a bean like that." He turned to the salesman. "To the sky, you said?"

The man said, "That's right."

Jack asked Marie, "You think I should buy it?"

"I don't know if you can handle it," Marie replied.

"Oh, I can."

"I'd be impressed. But I doubt it."

Jack pa.s.sed Milky's rope to the salesman. Then he held out his hand. The man closed the bean within it. He smiled with his round baby face and winked one pale eye at Jack. Then he hopped up on his cart, switched his horse, and rattled on into town, with Milky trailing behind.

Jack watched them go. Then he turned, beaming, back to Marie.

Marie smiled at him-and then let loose a roar of laughter.

Jack's own smile faded.

The other boys joined Marie in his hysterics. They were slapping their knees, laughing so hard they wanted to cry.

They were not the only ones who, all of a sudden, wanted to cry.

The village boys had decided to follow Jack, instead of the man with the cart. "Jack took a cow to the market fair . . ." they chanted.

Jack's face was hard and set as he walked toward home. Dusty tear-trails streaked both cheeks.

"Jack took a cow to the market fair, Met him a swindler on the way there!"

He had chased down the man on the cart and asked him to trade back. The man had laughed at him at first. Then he had hit him with his horse switch.

"Jack took a cow to the market fair, Met him a swindler on the way there!

Dumbest boy you've ever seen, gave his cow up for a bean!"

Jack glanced over his shoulder. Marie led the other children in the chant, waving his fingers back and forth to keep time. Jack wiped his eyes with his sleeve and hurried home.

Jack's father did not listen to his story. He took one look at the bean in the little boy's hand, shouted at the top of his lungs a word that I cannot print here, and then flung the bean straight out the window. Jack went scurrying after it.

He crawled around on his hands and knees in the yard, his eyes br.i.m.m.i.n.g with tears.

Inside the house, his father banged doors and cabinets and occasionally shouted that word that I cannot print.

As the sun was dipping below the horizon, Jack finally found the bean. He sat by it and watched the sky light up a hundred colors. Purples and reds and oranges that had no names, as far as Jack knew. He felt as if he were burning in them. He could barely breathe. Every time his father slammed another door, he shuddered.

Happy birthday, he thought. Today you could have become your own man.

And then, at the edge of his father's property, Jack saw a small form crest the hill. It came toward him slowly, shufflingly. Jack watched it approach. It seemed to be a lump of brown, with two dirty human feet sticking out the bottom. It waddled right up to where Jack was sitting.

"h.e.l.lo," said Jack. "What are you?"

"Your cousin," said the lump. "Dummy."

And the lump sat down on the gra.s.s beside Jack. It began to molt. The brown fell back from its head. The brown was actually just a filthy blanket, Jack could see now. Jill, also filthy (but, I should add, now wearing clothing), had been hiding under it. She smiled at him wanly.

"I had a bad day," she said.

Jack smiled in a scrunched up way. "Me too," he said. "It was my birthday."

"It was my mom's half birthday."

"I got in trouble. Really bad."

"Me too."

"What'd you do?"

"I went out in front of the whole kingdom naked."

Jack tried to stifle a laugh.

"Hey!" Jill said.

"Why did you do that?"

Jill shrugged. Then she said, "What'd you do?"

"I traded Milky for a bean."

Jill laughed out loud.

"The bean's magic," Jack insisted. "Wanna see?" He held it up. The moon illuminated it. It did look magic.

"It isn't magic," said Jill.

Jack looked at it. "No," he said. "I guess not." Suddenly, inside the house, Jack's father slammed something and again shouted that word I'm still not printing. Jill put her arm around Jack's shoulders. He returned the favor.

Besides being cousins, you see, Jack and Jill were best friends. Whenever one visited the other, they played imaginary games and told each other stories and made up stupid jokes together. And, every once in a while, when they really needed it, they put an arm around the other's shoulders.

"Oh, I want to introduce you to someone," said Jill.

She reached into her brown blanket and produced a frog.

"Ooh!" cried Jack. "A big fat frog!" And he grabbed the frog and held him up.

Jill tried to stop him, but Jack was too excited. "He's big and he's fat and he only has three legs!"

Then Jill said, "Jack, I think he's peeing on you."

Jack shouted and dropped the frog. Jill looked down at the plump little amphibian. "I'm sorry, Frog," she said.

"It's okay," he replied. "Boys will be boys."

Jack stared at the frog, then at Jill, then back at the frog. "Did he talk?" said Jack. Then he said, "And did you just apologize to him? He peed on me!"

"Yes," said Jill. "You shouldn't be so rough with him."

The frog smiled up at Jill and said, very simply, "Thank you."

Jack stared at the frog and his mouth hung open. At long last, he said, "That's amazing."

"See?" Jill said to the frog, "I told you he'd like you."

"In that case," said the frog, "Jack, I am sorry for peeing on you. We frogs don't have many defenses, you know."

Jack laughed and smiled kind of sideways. "That's okay," he said. "Little boys don't either."

And just like that, the three of them became fast friends.

And had the day ended there, it would have been a very eventful day indeed.

But it did not end there.

If it had, much suffering, much bloodshed, many tears would have been avoided.

In fact, if you're the kind of person who does not like to read about suffering and bloodshed and tears, why don't you just pretend that the day did end there, and close the book right now?

On the other hand, if you're the kind of person who does like reading about suffering, and bloodshed, and tears . . . well, may I politely ask, "What is wrong with you?"

Just then, at the edge of Jack's father's land, there was a rustling in the trees. Jack and Jill and the frog turned toward the sound, and then, in unison, they all shivered.

Standing at the edge of the property was a tiny woman, no taller than a child. Her posture was hunched, and her hair was wispy white. But her face was smooth as a baby's, and her pale blue eyes shone through the murky dusk. As she walked toward the children (and the frog), both Jack and Jill had the uncanny sensation of recognizing her. Though neither could quite place where from.

The frog whispered, "There's a creepy old lady walking toward us." He burrowed down into Jill's blanket.

When the old woman stood right beside them, she still had not said a word. There was a sudden wind, and her thin cloak fluttered. Jack realized how dark it had become. Jill felt cold.

The frog whispered, "Now there's a creepy old lady standing right next to us."

And then, the creepy old lady spoke.

"Had a bad day?" she asked. Her voice did not match her body. It was high and light and lilting, almost like a child's.

Jack and Jill stared at her, silent, mesmerized.

The frog whispered, "Now there's a creepy old lady talking to you."

Jack looked up into the strange, childlike face. "Who are you?"

"We have many names," said the old woman. The wind blew harder.

"We?"

"And we know many things. Especially about the children 'round here. You might say it's our job."

"Who's job?" said Jack.

The old woman brought her face right down beside the children's. Her pale blue eyes sparkled. "Ours," she said.

And then she said, "We'd like to do something for you."

Jill asked, "What?"

"We'd like to change your very lives."

The frog whispered, "Now there's a creepy old lady scaring the bejeezus out of me."

But Jack said, "You wanna change our lives?"

"Yes, Jack. What if everyone liked you and admired you? Especially that tall boy. What's his name?"

"Marie," Jack replied.

"Yes. Marie would admire you. And, better yet, he would like you. He, and the whole world, would really, truly like you."

There was a pause. Crickets sang through the darkness. Finally, Jack said, "You can do that?"