feather

TWENTY-SIX MALIGNANT GATES

"Do not ride your bicycle around the corner," the mother had told the daughter when she was seven.

"Why not!" protested the girl.

"Because then I cannot see you and you will fall down and cry and I will not hear you."

"How do you know I'll fall?" whined the girl.

"It is in a book, The Twenty-Six Malignant Gates, all the bad things that can happen to you outside the protection of this house."