“An exhibit,” Maisie said. “You’d know that if you just listened to her.”
Again, bewilderment washed over Felix’s face.
“It doesn’t seem possible,” he said slowly. “But do you think these people are in a zoo?”
“People? In a zoo?” Maisie said dismissively. “No, I do not think they are in a zoo.”
“Would you like to eat with us before you leave?” the woman asked Maisie. “You must be hungry.”
Maisie was in fact very hungry.
“What . . . what is that you’re cooking?” she asked.
The woman smiled again. “Dog,” she said as if that were the best possible answer.
Maisie’s stomach lurched and for an instant she was afraid she was going to throw up again.
“No,” she said. Then she remembered to add, “Thank you.”
“Now what’s wrong?” Felix asked her, seeing her face grow pale.
Maisie sighed. “I don’t want to eat roasted dog. Do you?” she said, frustrated.
“Dog!” Felix repeated, his eyes wide.
“What is wrong with you?” Maisie asked him again. “Didn’t you hear her? She invited us to eat that dog they’re roasting over there.”
“How do you know that?” Felix said, equally as frustrated.
Maisie studied her brother’s confused face.
“You really can’t understand her?” she asked him.
“How could I understand a bunch of clicks?” he said, throwing his arms up. “And more important, how can you understand them?”
“I . . . I don’t know,” Maisie said. “But they are all speaking in perfect English.”
“No they aren’t,” Felix insisted.
The woman touched Maisie’s arm. “The exhibition is opening soon. If you aren’t staying, then it’s best that Juan and Miss Martina escort you back out before the crowds arrive.”
“All right,” Maisie said.
The woman looked at Felix sadly.
“Such a shame your brother doesn’t speak Tagalog like you do.”
“Tagalog? I don’t speak Tagalog!” Maisie said, suddenly as confused as Felix.
Miss Martina waved her arm at Maisie and Felix.
“This way,” she said.
And a baffled Maisie and Felix followed Miss Martina and Juan through the Philippine village to a large gate.
“Good-bye!” Miss Martina and Juan said.
“Thank you,” Maisie said—in English.
They seemed to understand her because they answered, “You’re welcome. Enjoy the Exposition!”
Maisie and Felix stood outside the gate, watching as it closed.
“Did you understand what she said?” Maisie asked her brother.
He shook his head. “Unlike you, I don’t speak Tagalog.”
Before Maisie could puzzle over this new strange turn of events, a little girl eating an ice-cream cone walked by with her parents and little sister. She was about six and had strawberry blonde hair and a face sprinkled with freckles.
She looked right at Maisie and Felix, took a big lick of her ice cream, and grinned a gap-toothed grin.
“This is ice cream!” she said as if it was the most marvelous thing in the world.
“I know,” Maisie answered grumpily.
“You don’t have to be so rude,” the girl’s mother said. “Maybe you’ve been here long enough to taste it, but this is her first-ever ice-cream cone and she’s excited.”
With that, the woman said to her daughters, “Come on Meelie, come on Pidge. Some people can try to ruin even the most perfect day.”
As the family walked away from them, the freckle-faced girl turned around and stuck her tongue out at Maisie. Then she broke into a fit of giggles and skipped to catch up with the rest of her family.
“Imagine never having ice cream until you’re six years old?” Felix said.
Maisie brightened.
“You understood all of that?” she asked him.
Felix scowled at her. “Well, I do speak English, you know.”
“I don’t know where we’ve landed,” Maisie said with a sigh. “But it’s definitely someplace very strange.”
Felix agreed. He took a moment to look around and try to figure out where this strange place might be. What he saw puzzled him even more.
In the distance, a very tall clock stood. Its face and even the numbers appeared to be made out of flowers.
Above everything loomed a Ferris wheel, maybe the biggest Ferris wheel Felix had ever seen.
But if they were at an amusement park, why were all those Philippine natives fenced in?
As if she read his mind, Maisie said, “Remember when we met Harry Houdini? The freak show?”
Felix nodded. “Do you think that’s what that village is? People go in there to gawk at everyone?”
“Maybe,” Maisie said. “Let’s walk around and try to find out.”
They headed off in the direction of the Ferris wheel. The crowds grew thicker as they walked. The women they passed wore dresses with lots of ruffles and flounces and oversized floppy hats. The men sported summer suits, bow ties, and straw hats. The clothes were different enough that Maisie decided it had to be later than the 1890s when they’d been to Coney Island and met Harry.