The Long Way Home by Ann M. Martin

Author:Ann M. Martin [M. Martin, Ann]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2013-08-26T04:00:00+00:00

Dana lay sweatily in the bed in the little room at the top of the beach cottage in Lewisport. Beside her, Julia sprawled across far more than her half of the bed, arms and legs flung out. Dana inched closer to the edge and finally sat up, swinging her feet to the floor. She remembered her mother saying that when she and Aunt Rose were little, they sometimes slept wrapped in each other’s arms. Dana could not imagine sleeping in Julia’s arms. She preferred not to touch her twin. She knew this was wrong. And yet, well, there were simply some things that certain people couldn’t bear. Marian, she remembered, couldn’t go near a sink if she saw a hair in it. Adele was afraid of birds — which had made walking with her along a street in Manhattan an interesting experience as Adele hopped about, avoiding pigeons that landed on the sidewalk. And Dana did not like being in such close proximity to Julia. She needed her space. But there was almost as little space here in the cottage as there had been in the apartment on Eighty-Eighth Street.

Dana sat on the edge of the bed and leaned her arms on the windowsill, looking across Blue Harbor Lane at the ocean beyond. She imagined, as she often did, her mother sitting on the bed and doing the same thing when she was a little girl and had shared the room with Rose.

Dana breathed in deeply. She smelled salt air and wet sand and dewy beach grass — all of which, she had to admit, were nicer than most Manhattan smells. She shook her head. The wet air made her hair wavy, and the breeze coming through the open window made the waves shiver.

Dana conjured up an image of the house long ago, when there weren’t even screens on the windows. She used to think that seemed quaint. But now that they were living in Maine — living here for real, not just vacationing here — the cottage seemed less quaint and more shabby. It was, after all, a beach cottage, furnished with ancient beds, tables, dressers . . . and not much else.

“Where’s the rest of our stuff?” Julia had asked on their first day in the house.

“It’s all here,” Abby said patiently.

“But — but,” Julia stammered, realizing that the boxes of clothing and books and knickknacks that surrounded them were not to be followed by any of their furniture. “You mean — this is it?”

Her mother had sighed. “There’s no room for anything else. The cottage belongs to Pop and it’s already full of his things. We’re lucky to be able to move here. It’s a fresh start.”

And it’s free, Dana had thought. Her mother and Papa Luther might not get along, but at least Papa Luther wouldn’t charge them to live in the beach cottage.

Peter had burst into noisy tears. “What about Tail and Squeaky?”

Abby had put her arms around him. “They stayed in New York. Remember, lovey? They’re city cats.

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