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Anyway. Daddy's gift gave Mommy an idea. It was an idea that needed to be nurtured between her and her good spirits. She went out alone night after night and listened for advice, and then, one day, she told Daddy she wanted him to take her shopping. She knew exactly where she wanted to go, and she said she would take us to lunch, too, which surprised him, but he was so happy to take us all out for the day, he didn't question anything. He didn't have any idea what it was she wanted to buy either.

She took us to a jeweler whom we would discover she had known for a long time. He had moved his shop to the main street of a village almost thirty miles away from us, which was where Mommy preferred to do most of our supermarket shopping anyway. Daddy complained about that and made her shop locally whenever he could. It was as if she never wanted local people to see us and ask her any questions about us or her. As soon as we arrived in the town. Daddy grumbled.

"I don't know what was so important about driving this far. There's nothing much here for the children." he said.

"Yes, there is," she insisted. "What's here is exactly for the children." she told him.

Still puzzled, he drove along the main street until she told him to stop, and she got out, taking us both by the hand and leading us into the jeweler's shop called Bogart's Estate Jewelry, Daddy followed, scratching his head, amused, but also a little embarrassed. What was this all about? He wondered. I could see it in his face because the same look was in mine. Noble was disappointed it wasn't a toy store.

When the store owner revealed he knew Mommy well, no one was more surprised than Daddy because Mommy never bought herself any jewelry, at least that he or I knew.

"Hello, Sarah," he said. "It's been a long time." "Mr. Bogart, how are you?" Mommy asked him. He shrugged.

"I don't ask myself so I don't have to worry about the answer." he said. smiling.

About Mommy's height. Mr. Bogart had a mostly bald head but curly gray hair along the sides. His eyes were like Noble's and mine, blue and then green when he moved from the dimmer light to the bright sunshine streaming in through the small front window. He had soft, very light red lips and a slight cleft in his round chin. He was dressed in a black leather vest over a white shirt and a pair of black slacks, but wore what looked like black leather slippers with no socks. I saw how red his ankles were, as red as a rash.

His shop wasn't very big. It was narrow with dark wood and glass cases on both sides. The cases were filled with all sorts of jewelry, including watches of all kinds. There was something burning on one of the counters. I recognized it to be similar to the in' cense Mommy burned occasionally.

"These are my children," Mommy said, taking us both by the shoulder and pushing us forward to stand in front of her.

Mr. Bogart looked at us carefully and nodded slowly. smiling.

"Gussie's eyes," he said.

"Yes," Mommy replied. smiling. That was the first time I had heard that Noble and I had our maternal grandmother's eyes. Why hadn't Mommy ever said so before? It was as if she needed Mr. Bogart to confirm it first and had brought us here to his shop just for that.

Daddy cleared his throat.

"Oh, this is my husband. Arthur Atwell, Mr, Bogart."

"Pleased to meet you," Mr. Bogart said, extending his small, puffy hand.

Daddy shook it quickly, nodded, and then looked at Mommy with an expression that said. "What are we doing here?"

She turned away from him quickly.

"I've come because it's time the children had their amulets, Mr. Bogart."

"Of course,' he said. "I was expecting you,"

"Huh?" Daddy couldn't help uttering.

"Amulets?"

Why was Mr. Bogart expecting us? I wondered. too. A little while ago, he didn't seem to have known who we were or that Mommy had a boy and a girl.

"I know what I need." Mommy said.

"I'm sure you do." Mr. Bogart replied with a twinkle in his eyes and stepped around to walk to the case on the left, closest to the front of the store.

Mommy moved us toward it. too. Daddy, now looking more upset, stood back and folded his arms, which was something I knew he did when he was growing angry.

"Sarah," he said through his clenched teeth. "what are you doing?"

"Please. Arthur, this is important," she muttered and turned back to the jewelry case. She studied everything a

nd then nodded and pointed to a pendant on a gold chain.