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cottage. It looks like a normal cottage, like every other cot-
tage in Euphrasia. What if it s just a mirage? I m clearly
hallucinating.
But the fullness in my stomach tells me I didn t imagine
the bread and cheese. I keep walking. I don t see the gum
or the wedge-shaped rock. Instead, there s a line of bushes
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that looks like a dinosaur and a clump of blue flowers. I see
them over and over, like I m on a treadmill.
Again, at the end of the day, it gets dark. Again, I find
the blanket and pillow. Again, I sleep.
This time, I m playing Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
I m on the million-dollar question, and it s multiple-
choice.
What is Princess Talia s fondest wish? Malvolia reads.
A to fall in love? B to travel? C to be a great queen?
D to please her father.
They all seem like pretty good answers. She wants all
those things. I can t decide.
Then you will fail. Malvolia looks a lot happier about
that than the host of Millionaire usually does. Of course,
you could take the prize you have already earned.
What s that? I ask.
A first-class ticket back to Miami . . . with your father
questioning why you wasted his time in this manner!
I groan. Hey, wait! I try to remember when I watched
this game. What were the rules? Do I have any lifelines
left? I ask Malvolia.
She looks annoyed. You can phone a friend.
Phone a friend. Phone a friend. But who would I call?
Travis is here in Euphrasia, and my other friends don t even
know Talia.
Then I have an inspiration. Can I call Talia?
Malvolia sighs. She is on your list.
I hear the sound of a ringing phone, then Talia answers.
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Thank God she remembered how to answer the phone.
But where would she get a phone?
Oh, yeah. Dream.
Hello?
Thirty seconds, Malvolia says.
Hey, Talia, I m trying to get up this hill to save you,
and I need to know: What s your fondest wish? A to
fall in love? B to travel? C to be a great queen? D to
please your father?
Talia laughs. Oh, silly, you know the answer to that
one.
No, I don t. That s why I called you.
But you do. I told you about it, remember?
No. No! Just tell me! She s maddening. But that s
Talia.
When we went to get the passport, Jack. Think.
The buzzer rings, and Malvolia says, Time s up. What
is your answer?
And suddenly I remember Talia, that day at the pass-
port guy s place. She was so excited about the airplane.
She clapped her hands and said, It is my fondest wish to
travel!
So that s what I tell Malvolia. B. Final answer.
Again, I wake before I can find out if I got the question
right, if I won the million dollars. Again, I look around and
find that I have moved up the hill. Now I m at the halfway
point. There s food and water. I eat and drink. I wonder if
it s even worth it to walk uphill, since by now I m pretty
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sure that my getting there is more tied to answering ques-
tions in my dreams. But I have a feeling Malvolia wants
me to walk. I m tired and have muscle aches where I didn t
even know I had muscles. I need some Bengay bad.
But I walk. Everything swims in my head and I wonder
what I ll be asked next. I can barely concentrate for it. Still,
I push uphill, against the wind.
When I collapse on the blanket for the third time, I
dream that I m playing Trivial Pursuit with Malvolia. We re
sitting in my parents house, and I m looking across the
game board at her. We both have all the wedges, and I m in
the center of the board. Malvolia reads from her card.
What is Princess Talia s full name?
Full name? She had seven or eight of them!
Malvolia holds up her hands. Tis difficult to win. Oh,
and you must recite them in the correct order.
Wait a second, I say. I used to play this game with
Meryl all the time. This isn t how it works. I get to choose
the category for the final question.
Malvolia shrugs. All right, then. Choose.
I want a sports question.
She chuckles. There is no sports category in this ver-
sion of the game.
So it s like, what, the Silver Screen edition?
She hands me the box.
I read, Trivial Pursuit: Insanely Difficult Edition.
I look at the instructions for the list of categories:
Yellow Neolithic Civilizations
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Green Theoretical Physics
Pink Twelve-tone Composers
Blue Sino-Tibetan Languages
Brown The Norse Saga in Literature
Orange Princess Talia
Uh-huh, I say.
Malvolia drums her fingers on the table. Her nails are
long and purple. Which category do you wish to try,
then?
These are impossible.
Not if you are smart.
Well, that kills it. I ll take the Princess Talia question.
Just give me a minute.
Very well.
She continues drumming her fingers on the table. I
glare at her, and she stops but begins to whistle the Jeop-
ardy theme song, like Meryl used to do when I was trying
to think of the answers. I put my hands over my ears.
Talia Aurora. I remember Aurora for her grandmother.
Then, there were three kings names, in alphabetical order.
What were they?
I m gonna wi-in, Malvolia chants.
No, you re not, I snap.
I think I am.
I put my fingers in my ears and begin to hum. Talia
Aurora Augusta . . . Three kings, then three queens.
There is a time limit for this, Malvolia says, loudly
enough to be heard even with my ears stopped up.
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No, there isn t.
Yes, there is. She sounds exactly like Meryl.
I throw the rules at her. Find it, then.
You lose points for your rudeness.
I d be able to think better if you d be quiet.
She is, for a second while she examines the rules, and in
that time, I hear Talia s voice.
Talia Aurora, I repeat after her. Augusta Ludwiga
Wilhelmina Agnes Marie Rose . . . of Euphrasia.
In an instant I am awake and three quarters of the way
up the hill. There is no food beside me this time, and the
wind howls louder than ever before. Is Malvolia angry that
I got the hard question right? It doesn t matter. I m almost
there, and I need to keep going.
This time, when I walk, I do get closer to the cottage. I
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