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"This is horrible, Cary."

He sighed. "I know." he said, turning away.

"Cary?"

"We'll come back later, after we return from Grandma's," he promised. He stared at the whale for a moment more and shook his head. "Not that we can do anything. Come on," he urged.

I followed, but after a few steps, I looked back at the helpless giant creature that had somehow found itself trapped on this beach. It was probably too confused and stunned to realize what had happened and what was soon to come.

Just like me, I thought walking slowly behind Cary and gazing back every few moments: beached.

15

Cary's Attic Room

.

Perhaps it was because of the family secrets

that had begun to unravel around my heart: something frail within me cracked and ached as we turned up the driveway to my grandparents' house. I was on the verge of hysterical crying. Tears blinded my eyes. I turned away and stared out the car window so May wouldn't see how close I was to sobbing.

From what I now knew, I envisioned my parents, not much older than Cary and I, secretly holding hands and secretly pledging their love for each other in the shadowy corners of Grandma Olivia's house. Had Uncle Jacob always known? Was that one of the reasons he was so angry at my father?

Uncle Jacob shut off the engine. "Now remember, best behavior," Aunt Sara instructed, signing the same to May.

"If we behaved any better, Ma, we'd be in heaven," Cary quipped.

Uncle Jacob glared at him and Cary quickly looked away.

The car beside Uncle Jacob's in the driveway was much older, but so clean and shiny, it looked newer.

"The judge is already here," Uncle Jacob muttered. "He keeps this car better than most people keep themselves. There's a man knows the value of quality craftsmanship." He looked at Cary to drive home his lesson.

Grandma Olivia hired special servants for her formal dinners. A butler came to the door. He was a tall, slim man with a narrow, pointed nose and round, dark brown eyes. His hair was curly but so thin, I could see his scalp and the brown spots beneath the piano-wire strands when he bowed.

"Good evening, sir. Madam," he said with a smile that looked smeared across his face with a butter knife. He held the door open, gazing at all of us to see if any of us had a coat or a hat for him to take. We didn't. "Everyone is in the sitting room, sir," he said. He led us to it as if Uncle Jacob didn't know where it was. Aunt Sara thanked him and smiled back, but Uncle Jacob acted as if the servant weren't even there.

Grandma Olivia was in her high-back chair looking like a queen granting an audience. She wore an elegant black velvet dress and a rope of pearls with pearl earrings. Her hair was held back in a severe bun by a pearl comb decorated with small diamonds. Grandpa Samuel was more casual. He sat with his legs crossed, a tall glass of whiskey and soda in his hand. He wore a diamond pinky ring in a gold setting that glittered in the early twilight that poured through the open curtains on the window. His dark suit looked rather dapper, I thought. As before, he had a wide, warm smile when he looked at me.

On Grandma Olivia's right side sat a

distinguished looking elderly man. His gray hair still showed traces of light brown. It was neatly trimmed and parted on the right. He wore a tuxedo and a bow tie. When Judge Childs turned to us, I saw he was still a handsome man. His face was full and his

complexion robust with wrinkles only in his forehead. He had light brown eyes that dazzled with a glow more like those of a man half his age.

"You're late," Grandma said before anyone else could utter a word.

"We had a problem with the boat that kept us busy," Uncle Jacob said.

Grandma Olivia didn't consider that a valid excuse. "Boats can wait, people can't," she replied.

"Now, now, Olivia, don't be too harsh on those who still do an honest day's labor these days," the judge chided. "How are you, Jacob?"

"Fair to middling, I suppose," Uncle Jacob said. He nodded at his father, who still had his pleasant smile. "And you, Judge?"

"At my age, you don't dare complain," Judge Childs replied.

"Oh, come now, Nelson," Grandpa Samuel said, "you're only a year and a half older than I am."