The Truth According to Blue
Page 22
Josef Broen, March 1694, Ten Silver Coynes, Plough Oxen
Cornelia Broen, September 1742, Sixteen Ounces of Copper, Linens for a Dowry
Isaac Broen, January 1781, One Gold Piece, One Good Rifle
I could see them, my family, building and growing, dipping into the secret rainy-day funds buried under the house when they needed to buy something important or special.
Until the last entry:
Sara Broen, February 6, 1820, Two Silver Pieces, Medicine for Fever
The rest of the pages were blank.
“What do you think happened?” Jules said. “There’s more treasure here. Why didn’t anybody spend it?”
“I don’t know. Maybe… maybe…” I couldn’t think of a reason. But there was one last place to check for information. “I’ll be right back. Otis, stay with Jules.”
I ran upstairs and tiptoed through the living room to retrieve the family bible. After all these years, its worn, brown cover still reminded me of the backs of Pop Pop’s hands. Down in the basement, I set the bible next to the ledger. Holding these books was the closest I could get to reaching my hands through time to hold Petra’s and Bram’s.
I flipped through the centuries, one page at a time, careful not to tear the fragile paper.
“What’s with all the Lucretias?” Jules asked in the early 1800s.
“Beats me,” I said. “We can go visit them in the graveyard across the street, if you want.”
We found Sara Broen on the next page, along with her husband, Peter, and their three sons. Except for the youngest son, Henry, who was born in 1816, the whole family died of fever in February 1820.
“Sara and Peter died before they could tell Henry about the treasure,” Jules said.
“So Henry never knew it was here. And because Bram was such a good carpenter, nobody else in my family found it for almost two hundred years.”
“Until now,” she said.
We sat in silence, absorbing the whoa-ness of it all, until we heard footsteps overhead.
“What time is it?” I asked.
Jules checked my phone. “Almost seven. How is it morning already?”
The basement door opened and Dad called down, “Blue? Jules?”
“We’re here!” I said.
“What are you doing down there?” Mom called.
I grinned at Jules, who grinned back. “Making history! Come and see!”
Otis woofed.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A gazillion thank-yous to: Ginger Knowlton, fierce champion of Blue and Otis (and me!); Lisa Yoskowitz and Hannah Milton, editors extraordinaire; Marc Acito, we both know what you did and I’ll never forget it; early readers Eliza Basch, Joy Goodwin, Emma Dryden, and Katherine Weber; and seafarers Jonathan Teller, Bruce Tait, and (pirate) Jack Nicolls. Bridget, Caroline, Ellie, and Muggsy Kahle; Sam Stern; Dorrie, Luke, and Jedi Nuttall; Frank and Quin Wisneski; and Annie Dycus: Thank you for sharing some of what it’s like to live with diabetes and diabetic-alert dogs. Nick, Joe, and Maya: There’d be no Blue without you.
Jennifer Yohalem, in forty years I’ve never once heard you complain about diabetes, but you did bring me the milkshakes you couldn’t have, back in the old days when people thought “diabetics” couldn’t eat sugar, and you tested my blood sugar because I thought it was fun, and answered all my questions, and taught me everything I know about diabetes without making me feel bad about how much I didn’t know. This book is for you.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nicholas Polsky
Eve Yohalem is the author of Cast Off: The Strange Adventures of Petra De Winter and Bram Broen, Escape Under the Forever Sky, and The Truth According to Blue. She lives in New York City.