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"Daddy, don't. . ."

He paused and looked at me, blinking madly.

Suddenly he tilted his head as if he had just heard something no one else could hear.

"Oh, Pearl," he said in a hoarse whisper.

"What is it, Daddy?"

"I don't think . . ."

"What, Daddy? What don't you think?"

"I don't think she's ever coming back," he said.

8

A Letter Comes

.

I sat by the front window and waited, my eyes

constantly searching the street for signs of Mommy. Daddy's words had put butterflies in my stomach. They fluttered in a frenzy and crawled through my chest. My heart felt like a lead fist pounding my blood through my veins. The grandfather clock bonged; Aubrey turned down the lights and the traffic outside all but disappeared. Still there was no sign of Mommy. Daddy made a few more phone calls, all dead ends. He came to the doorway occasionally and we exchanged looks of futility.

"Did you look in on Pierre?" he asked after a deep and long sigh.

"Yes. He's asleep. He barely ate."

Daddy nodded, looked at his watch, and then returned to his study, where I knew he was drinking himself into a stupor.

Finally, a little after nine-thirty, I saw a figure cross the street and approach our gate. When she stepped into the light, however, I realized it wasn't Mommy. It was a very tall, thin black girl in a long black skirt and a gray sweatshirt. When she headed for our front door, I rose in anticipation, but Aubrey was there before me to answer the bell. I think he was just as nervous as I was about Mommy's

disappearance. Daddy either hadn't heard the bell or was too unsteady now to come out to see who it was.

"Yes?" Aubrey asked.

"I have a letter to deliver, sir," the girl replied with a French accent. "I was told to put it directly into the hands of Mademoiselle Pearl or Monsieur Andreas," she added firmly.

"You can give it to me and I'll deliver it," Aubrey said, his hand out.

"I'm sorry, sir, but I cannot give it to anyone else," she insisted.

Aubrey was about to reply when I stepped closer. "It's all right, Aubrey. I'll look after this. I'm Mademoiselle Pearl. How can I help you?"

The tall girl studied me a moment and nodded. She didn't look more than fourteen or fifteen, but she had a strong and confident air about her that suggested she was older. She had a very smooth and shiny complexion with large ebony eyes, which captured the entryway light and sparkled like polished onyx, "I was asked to deliver this to you," she said handing me the letter.

I took it quickly. There was no name on the envelope and no return address. "Who sent this?"

"Everything is explained in the letter," she said. She didn't smile, but she fixed her eyes on me so intently that I felt as if she were delving into my very soul. Then she gave me a small, tight smile, turned, and walked out. I watched her step quickly over the tile patio and into the darkness from which she had so suddenly emerged.

Aubrey waited beside me, his face full of concern.

"It's all right, Aubrey," I said. He closed the door and returned to his quarters.

I looked at the envelope more closely and noticed some sort of red powder on the flap. I opened it quickly and saw it was addressed to Daddy and me and it was in Mommy's hand.

My heart stopped and then began beating madly. Without reading the first word, I pulled open the front door and lunged down the steps. I ran over the tile drive and into the street just as the tall, black girl turned the far corner. She was walking very quickly.