Page 53

"Where's mine?"

"Oh, there's time enough for yours, dear. I want you to get settled in first."

"It's not fair," I said looking after poor May. "Maybe I can help May."

"No, dear. She'll be fine. Come." Aunt Sara led me to the porch. "Tell me all about your day at school. Laura used to describe everything so well that I felt I had been right there beside her," she said with a short, thin laugh. She sat in a rocker and I sat on the small bench.

A tiny song sparrow perched itself on the red maple tree and paraded as if to show off its plumage. The afternoon sun had fallen behind a thin layer of clouds, and a cool breeze passed through my clothes, giving me a sudden chill. I looked toward the beach where the sunshine was still strong.

I told her how I felt about my teachers and how I thought I really wasn't behind in my schoolwork, how I was even a little ahead in some classes. She listened attentively, but she looked disappointed, as if I wasn't telling her what she really wanted to hear.

"You didn't make friends with anyone yet?"

"Theresa Patterson's nice," I said and she grimaced.

"You should make friends with the daughters of the better families in town, dear. That way you'll get to meet nice, respectable young men." She smiled. "I'm sure you will. You're too pretty not to succeed. It's what I always told Laura, and sure enough. . . sure enough. . ." She hesitated as if she had forgotten what next to say and then she turned abruptly toward the ocean. "We're going to have a neap tide tonight, Jacob says."

"What's a neap tide?"

"It's when the moon's at its first or third quarter. It's at its third quarter. The breakers could be as high as seven feet. Stay away from the water tonight," she added. She sighed deeply. "Laura went out on the neap tide and never came back. I never laid eyes on her face again." She shook her head slowly. "Only Robert's body was recovered."

"But Laura has a grave," I said.

"Yes. I had to have a monument for her, a place for her spirit." She smiled. "Only a clamshell's toss away as you saw. I can go there whenever I want and talk to her. I told her all about you last night, so I'm sure her spirit's looking over you. That's why I know she'd want me to give you this." She dug in her dress pocket. "Hold out your left hand, dear," she ordered. I did so slowly and she put a gold charm bracelet around my wrist and locked it on before I could resist. "Oh, it looks perfect on you."

"I can't take this," I said. "It isn't right."

"Laura wouldn't want you to have it if it weren't right. It will bring good luck. You know why, don't you?"

I shook my head, afraid to even guess.

"You were born June twelfth, right?"

"Yes," I said, holding my breath.

She widened her smile.

"Don't you know, dear?"

"Know what?"

"Laura was born June twentieth. You're both Gemini. Don't you see?"

I shook my head, still holding my breath.

"Gemini, the twins. That was Laura'

s sign, that's Cary's sign, and it's your sign," she said. "Isn't that wonderful?"

"I don't know anything about astrology," I said.

"One night when it's clear, show you your constellation. Laura and I loved to see it in the night sky." She gazed up as if it were already night and the sky were blazing with stars. May timidly appeared in the doorway. Aunt Sara asked her if she had completed her chore and she signed back that she had.

"Maybe May can show me the cranberry bog?" I suggested. Aunt Sara nodded, disappointed that I didn't want to sit and talk some more. She reluctantly told May my request. May beamed, took my hand, and urged me to follow her.

"Come right back!" Aunt Sara called from the porch. "We will," I promised.

"I've got nice flounder for tonight's dinner. It was one of Laura's favorite meals," she cried.