What Emma Left Behind

by Anne Spackman

  * * * * *

  "Gee, this attic could sure use a spring cleaning." Caera coughed and waved her hand in the air to clear the dust. Beside her, Claudia was shuffling through a stack of old newspapers.

  "July fourth, eighteen seventy-two. Whew! When was the last time anyone was up here?

  "Well, dad had the place reinsulated about six years ago."

  "It was a rhetorical question, Caera."

  "Oh." Caera shrugged sheepishly before turning to help Ana, who was carrying several sleeping bags that she had found to throw in a heap beside the attic door. The twins had six sleeping bags, three mummies (special camper’s sleeping bags) and three barrel sleeping bags also especially made for camping. As Mrs. Johnson had said, every little contribution helped. Ana dropped the last few sleeping bags and ran over to Claudia.

  "What are you looking for?" she asked.

  "Well, we need to find a little edible plants guide and fishing gear for starters," Claudia began. "And we need headlamps, some fishing poles and a net, and all the multi-day backpacks we can get." Claudia had already opened one box and was strewing its contents all around her.

  "Oh. Well, can't we look in these wooden boxes?" Ana gestured to several large crates piled on top of one another in the corner where she was standing.

  "Nah, I don't know what those are. Besides, Caera and I put the equipment away last time, so they won't be in there."

  "Well how 'bout the trunk?" Ana pointed to a large black trunk behind Caera. It was made of cast iron.

  "No, Grandpa said he lost the key for that trunk years ago."

  "I miss your grandpa," Ana said sadly. "He was kooky but a lot of fun."

  "Yeah," Claudia agreed. "I remember he had lot of strange collections and papers lying all over the place. Dad got rid of most of it when Grandpa died. He keeps talking about having that trunk opened to see what Grandpa kept in there, but he's too busy to do it."

  "Plus it weighs a ton!" Ana observed, trying to budge it just an inch.

  Claudia moved on to a cardboard box full of tools. Ana walked back to the crates. The ones on top weren't as heavy as the others but were still too weighty to move; nevertheless, Ana wanted to get one down and try to pry it open.

  While Caera and Claudia searched for equipment, she rocked it backwards and forwards to use some of the force of its weight to help get it down. Unfortunately, her hand slipped from it, and it landed on the attic floor with a crash. Caera and Claudia ran over in time to see bits and pieces of broken wood and a pile of old clothes.

  "Ana, are you okay?" Claera helped her up.

  Meanwhile Claudia was inspecting the crate's contents.

  "Look, you guys! I don't believe it!" She held up a dress that was at least a hundred years old. Ana squealed with delight and picked out another, a satin ball gown that at one time must have been deep rose-colored but was now a faded pink. The creases in it seemed almost permanent; Claudia guessed that the clothes had been folded and put away for storage and were eventually forgotten. Caera lost no time in joining them and selected an emerald green dress trimmed in lace that looked elegant despite its age.

  "Wow, let's try these on!"

  "First you've got to look for one that's your size, Caera, or you'll be swimming in it," Claudia reminded her sarcastically.

  Caera spared a moment to shoot her a dirty look, then grabbed at the pile. Ana and Claudia laughed and started searching for the best dress, which looked like it was going to be the emerald one that Caera had found. Claudia spied a blue dress at the bottom of the pile and lifted it out, going to the other side of the room to try it on.

  "Look, it's my size!" Caera heard her and narrowed her eyes before rummaging through the crate some more, but Ana had noticed something that had been lying underneath Claudia's dress. She reached for an old, brown leather book and opened it carefully.

  "Hey, you guys! I think I found something!" Caera was still absorbed in her ransacking, but Claudia shouted from the other side of the room.

  "Well, bring it over and lemme see it!" Ana ran to Claudia as quickly as she could in the dim light, accidentally tripping over one of the sleeping bags that was lying around. The book hurtled through the air and landed at Claudia's feet, and she bent over to pick it up. "This has got to be the oldest book I've ever seen." Claudia held the pages in one hand and the cover in the other then flipped through the pages to see what the book was about. "Wow, a journal!”

  "It can't be!" Caera was now behind her sister and was trying to get a look at the book.

  "No, it's not Emma's diary," Claudia said quickly, in case her sister got too excited. "Just an old rhyming book from the looks of it," she added, leafing through it.

  "How boring!" Caera pronounced.

  "Hey, neat! This book was printed in the 1750's!" Claudia said.

  "Really?" Caera asked, inching closer.

  "Oh wow!" Claudia exclaimed.

  "What?" Caera and Ana turned their attention back to her.

  "One of the rhymes has been circled."

  "Huh?" Caera said, her nose wrinkling. "Which one?"

  "It says, 'Steal not this Booke, for if You Do, the Devil will be after You', but someone has crossed out 'this' and marked in 'my'."

  "Oh my gosh," Ana blurted suddenly, after a moment of consideration. "You don't suppose—"

  "Emma did it?" Caera finished, her face ashen.

  "I think I've had enough of the attic, don't you?" Ana interrupted in frightened tones. She looked as though she were ready to bolt down the stairs. Her fear spread contagiously to the twins.

  "I have, too," Caera said.

  "Let's get Dad to bring this stuff down." Claudia added.

  They all nodded, dropped the dresses, and ran down the stairs.