2 THE WOMAN IN BLACK
Emma climbed out of the cabinet door, placed her tiny feet on the barren landscape. She felt hot sand between her toes and hard rock under her naked heel. She turned to see what her surroundings was. In either direction there was nothing but gray skies and one dead tree. The only difference was that, to the right, a woman in black was kneeling at a grave. To the left was a tree with moss that ran down it like a waterfall and tiny flies swarming around a hole at the top.
Giraud encouraged her to come with him to the left, but Emma was intrigued by the woman in black.
“Don’t go that direction,” he commanded. “That’s the wrong way to the farm. It is this way,” Giraud pointed to the dead tree with the swarming flies.
“I just want to say hello. You did say this was an
