living room.
A month later, Dad returned from a trip to town carrying a bouquet of flowers for Mother. Showing his pearly teeth, he said, “Eliza, with the money I made on my fishing trip and a bank loan, I bought a prime piece of property sixteen miles from here in Arletta. There’s enough cash to build us a home. Three guys from work have promised to help, and I’m hoping to have the house built by Easter.”
“I’ve always loved Arletta,” Mother declared, after she smelled the purple and yellow pansies. “But as I’ve told you in the past, I’d like to be consulted before you up and make big decisions and move the family, especially before our girls have finished out the school year.”
“You’ll love it in Arletta,” Dad assured her, giving Mother a kiss on her cheek.
The next day at school, Emily and I approached our teacher as soon as we entered the classroom. “My daddy’s building a house in Arletta, and we’re going to move there,” I said.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” replied Miss Forester. “Before you leave, I’d like to give you both a storybook I read to my nieces when they were your age.”
When Emily pressed her lips together and smiled, I asked, “Is it a true story?”
Miss Forester grinned. “You and Emily will have to find out for yourselves.”
On each day that followed, Emily and I were eager to go to school to be with our teacher. On our last day in her class, Miss Forester said, “I think you’ll love Arletta as much as I did while growing up there. Have a happy Easter in your new home,” she said, handing us the storybook.
As soon as Sis and I entered the house, we ran to the kitchen to drop off our lunch pails before rushing outside.
While lying on the grass under the cloudy sky, we held our new book in front of our eyes. We took turns reading the story about a happy rabbit who loved gathering dandelions and singing at the top of his lungs. My heart was filled with contentment as I lived in the rabbit’s imaginary world.
Chapter 3
PARADISE LOST
Before Easter, my family moved to Arletta into our beachfront house. In the cool of the evening, Sis and I followed Mother onto the front porch, where she lowered her tired body into her favorite wooden rocker.
When Dad joined us, he said, “I heard the city of Arletta was named after an old sunken ship that went down in the water near here.” Looking at my sister and me, he added, “Someday, I might learn to dive way down deep and see if I can find some sunken treasure.”
Leaving her chair, Mother exclaimed, “It feels like we’re living in paradise. Just look at the magnificent view we have of Mt. Rainier and an island across the water!”
“That long island is where I’ll be working, cutting down trees,” Dad pointed out. “It’s close enough for you to hear me talking across the water.” Looking into Mother’s eyes, he sighed and said, “I knew you’d love it here, Eliza. That’s why I built this house for you.”
“Oh, Henry, you do make me blush sometimes. Girls, get your bucket and shovel. We’re going down to the water to see if we can catch some food.”
After a few minutes of walking along the shoreline, Emily said, “There’s a crab.”
“Pick it up. We can eat it for dinner,” Mother said, when Emily backed away.
“I’ll pick it up,” I said, dropping it the second its legs moved.
“I’ll get it,” said Mother, grabbing it and putting it into the bucket.
“Look at the porpoises playing in the water!” Dad yelled from the porch. “Over there,” he said, pointing.
“They’re having fun playing,” I said. “Maybe they saw us moving in,” I added, looking up at Mother.
“I suppose you’re right,” she agreed, digging her long toes into the sand and uncovering a clam. “Did you see how easy it was for me to dig up that clam?” Mother asked. “Now you girls try it.”
Soon after I dug in the sand with my stubby toes, I shouted, “I found one!”
“I found one, too,” said Emily, picking it up with her toy shovel.
“I see that,” Mother said. “We need to find more, so I’ll have enough to make clam chowder.”
When the bucket was half full, Mother said, “Go show Daddy what we’ve found.”
Emily and I took off running across the sand and up the steps to our porch. “Mother’s going to make clam chowder,” said Emily, holding the bucket up to our father.
Daddy smiled when he saw our happy faces. “You’re good clam finders, and you found a crab, too.”
On Easter morning, my sister and I yawned sleepily while stumbling into the kitchen.
“Happy Easter,” said Mother, smiling. “Go into the living room. Daddy has an Easter surprise for you.”
“A bed for our dolls,” I said, touching it.
“I built the bed, but your mother stitched the little quilt,” Dad said, grinning at her.
“And I sewed you girls a play outfit with doll clothes to match,” our mother said.
“They’re yellow,” exclaimed Emily. “Just like a baby chick.”
“I love everything,” I said, hugging Mother and Daddy.
After Sis and I put on our new Easter clothes and dressed our dolls in their matching outfits, we played house and later built a sand castle down by the water.
In the morning, Sis and I rode the bus to our new school. When we entered the classroom, our teacher, Miss Overstreet, said, “Boys and girls, I’d like you to welcome our new students, Emma and Emily. Girls, you may sit at the desks on each side of Kayla.”
The girl with braids quickly helped us find the correct page in our reading books. Our plump teacher called on a boy with big ears and shabby clothes to read the first paragraph.
When Zane finished, Miss Overstreet looked at me with her bright eyes. “Emma, would you take the next paragraph, please.”
After reading a few sentences about a bear going to a party, I was happy that I only missed three words.
“Thank you, Emma,” the teacher said. “Now let’s hear from your sister.”
Emily hesitated while she was reading before stumbling over a few long words and losing her place.
“That’s okay, Emily,” said the teacher. “We’ll hear from you later.”
Emily took a deep breath and got red in the face.
Before
