It was after nine o’clock when Eli arrived. He stepped
inside, placed his hat on the rack, walked into the living
room. Lizzie and Sarah were leafing through a
magazine entitled The Theatre. “That’s Ethel Barrymore,”
Lizzie said, pointing to an 8X10 black and white picture
inside the magazine. “She played Nora in a play called A
Doll’s House. Do you like plays, Sarah?”

“Yes, ma’am, but in 2007 we go to the movies – not plays so much. Have you ever heard of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix?” Sarah asked.

“No, can’t say that I have.”

“He’s a wizard who studies witchcraft, and he uses his
wizardry to battle Lord Voldemort’s legion of Death Eaters,” Sarah said. “It’s very popular, well it will be, I mean…”

“Wizards and Death Eaters, oh my,” Lizzie said. “Not sure
I’d like that. Not sure I’d like that at all. I once saw a
play called Polly of the Circus with Mabel Taliaferro. It was
a story about a circus woman who met a preacher and fell in
love. It was such a lovely show.”