THE NOSE AND HIS PERFUME

Chapter Five

Chapter Five: The Machine

It got lumpy and stuffy overnight in the fort, and despite having gone to bed late the night before, the children woke up early the next day, Beau with the imprint of a hard, pie-shaped Trivial Pursuit game piece on his cheek. Though it was early in the morning, the Varshavskys had already gone to work at the store. The children dismantled the fort and returned the tent to Bunny’s room. As Beau helped Bunny put the tent back up in her room, they started talking about the Gingerbread Village again, while Penny sullenly picked apart a hole in her sock.

Bunny had hoped that Penny might wake up in a better mood, but she seemed even more miserable than she had the day before. Bunny was used to Penny thrilling at little things, like their marshmallow decorations, but now she didn’t even seem interested in the Gingerbread Village. The twins couldn’t stop talking about the Nose’s miniature village display, rehashing every detail, wondering how the Nose did it. When Bunny urged Penny to tell them what she saw in the miniature village, Penny looked like she was about to say something, but then changed her mind.

“What?” Bunny asked.

“I don’t remember,” Penny said.

“What do you mean you don’t remember? It was yesterday,” Beau said.

Penny shrugged. “I remember going in the village, and I remember leaving, but I can’t remember what happened in between, except…”

“What?” Bunny asked.

“It was in that part of the village with bushes decorated like a Christmas tree.”

“—the hedge maze,” interjected Beau.

“Yeah. I remember seeing this huge decoration there, like a giant ball of light.”

“I don’t remember seeing a giant ball of light,” Beau said.

“I think I was the only one who saw it. No one else was there. I was all by myself.”

“Sorry,” Bunny said, still feeling guilty for having lost her in the miniature village.

“That’s okay. It was the decoration that made me sad,” Penny said.

“A decoration made you sad?” Beau asked, doubtfully examining Penny.

Bunny shot him a warning look to be nice.

“Go on,” Bunny said.

“There’s other stuff I can’t remember too now,” Penny said. “Like I was trying to remember what I did last year for Christmas, and I couldn’t.”

“You came here. You come here every year,” Beau said.

“The Varshavskys flooded the roof of the store? They made a skating rink on the roof?” Bunny prompted. “You really don’t remember that?”

“That sounds dangerous.”

“It’s a big roof. It was really fun. I can’t believe you don’t remember that. What else?”

“How should I know what I forget if I can’t remember it? It’s not a big deal.”

“But you’re never sad.”

“What do you mean?”

“Usually, you’re pretty happy and excited about everything,” Beau said.

“That’s stupid.”

Penny tried to tell them it wasn’t important, but Bunny ignored her.

“Show us what you saw,” Bunny said.