Edie in Between by Laura Sibson

Author:Laura Sibson [Sibson, Laura]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2021-08-24T00:00:00+00:00

“Something erased I wish to see,

Reveal yourself anew to me.”

The watch appears, filling a space that was empty a moment before. Without taking my eyes away, I point. “Look, there.”

“Where?” Tess asks.

I’m staring at a men’s watch. It doesn’t look terribly impressive as far as watches go. It’s just a Timex with a metal band.

“Do you see it?” I ask. “The Timex stopped at 9:18?”

“Yes.” Rhia breathes the word.

“I see it now, too, but I swear it wasn’t there before!” Tess exclaims.

A shiver of excitement runs through me.

“Tess, could you ring the bell on the counter?” I ask. “I’m afraid it’s going to disappear again if I look away.”

Tess rings the bell.

“Coming!” Ms. Alvarez trills. “Coming, coming, coming!” She walks behind the counter and stops before me. “You found something?”

“May I see that men’s watch, please?” I point to the watch that was invisible just a few seconds ago, but which now appears to be very solid.

“Of course!” she says. She opens the cabinet from the back and snakes her arm in to grab it. Her hand hovers over each of the two watches on either side and for a moment I’m not sure she’ll see it.

“Tell her,” Rhia whispers.

“It’s a men’s Timex with a metal band. Between those where your hand just was.”

I haven’t moved my eyes from the watch. I see her hand hover for a moment longer.

“Oh! I see it.” Her hand lands on the watch. My relief is immediate. “I must have been looking from an odd angle,” she says. “I missed it at first. Here you go.” She sets the watch in its open box on the glass top of the display case.

“Do you have any way of knowing who brought this watch in originally?”

She lifts the box and looks at its underside. “Let me see if I can find some information in our files.”

“Thank you.”

“In the meantime, feel free to look at it more closely, if you like.” She turns to head to the back room.

I lift the watch from its holder and place it on my wrist. Almost immediately, dimness clouds my eyes. When my vision clears, I don’t see the antique store or Rhia or Tess. I see a girl and her father on a dock, fishing. The dock looks sturdy and freshly stained and I recognize it as the one at the cabin, before it began to submerge. This is my mother when she was a child, maybe nine years old, with her father. He’s showing my mother how to hook a worm. My mom giggles and shows him her fish face. She crosses her eyes, purses her lips, and waves her arms like gills. She used to make the same fish face at me. It never failed to make me laugh. At the gong of a bell, they both look up. My grandfather consults his watch.

“Time flies when you’re having fun, eh?” he says to my mother.

“Yup. Mama must have lunch ready,” she says.

“Good! I’m so hungry that I almost ate this worm!” my grandfather says.

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