Reading the Bones by Gina McMurchy-Barber

Author:Gina McMurchy-Barber
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: JUV000000
Publisher: Dundurn
Published: 2008-02-07T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 8

I woke early to the sound of fat raindrops pelting against my window. I couldn’t go back to sleep because the resentment I’d gone to bed with the night before was still there, filling me with a darkness blacker than the clouds outside. So I stayed in bed, feeling tense and raw, wishing as never before that I was far away from here and back with my mother.

The phone rang, and I waited for my aunt to answer it. I was afraid I’d sent thought waves to my mom and now she was calling. I knew if I talked to her she’d hear something in my voice and start asking questions.

I tensed when I heard my aunt cross the hall and open my bedroom door.

“Peggy, that was the sailing instructor on the phone. He says it’s too stormy for sailing today and cancelled the lesson.”

My hands relaxed, but I didn’t say anything to Aunt Margaret. I turned over in my bed and heard her quietly back out of the room and shut the door.

When I decided to get up and dress, I opened the top drawer and was surprised to see rows of clean, paired socks. The other drawers were full of neat piles of pants and T-shirts, too. I remembered taking the large mound of dirty clothes down to the laundry room the other day, but never gave any thought as to how it would get clean and back in my drawers. Now everything I owned was tidy and folded — just the way my aunt liked it. I pulled everything out and mixed it all up, then stuffed the heap back into the drawers.

I decided to go over to Mrs. Hobbs’s house first thing and explain about the night before. I hoped she wouldn’t feel disappointed with me. I wondered if I should tell her about finding the ancient pendant and Mr. Grimbal’s sudden visit — and the big fight I’d had with Aunt Margaret. Maybe if she knew how unhappy I was she’d invite me to stay with her.

As I slipped into my clothes, I had visions of Mrs. Hobbs adopting me as her granddaughter. We could collect shells together and make necklaces. And she’d always bake double chocolate chip cookies and berry pies for me. And I would live happily ever after. “Right!” I said out loud as I snapped myself out of the daydream. “Things never work out that well for you.”

When I entered the kitchen, I heard my aunt’s and uncle’s hushed voices coming from the living room. I pulled on my old windbreaker and quietly slipped out the back door. When I stepped out into the chilly wind and steady drizzle of rain, I realized my worn-out jacket wouldn’t keep me warm. But there was no way I was going back inside the house.

As I walked down Kidd Street and over to Agar, I felt as if I were wandering through a ghost town. All the streets were deserted, and even the gulls were nowhere to be seen.

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