What Emma Left Behind

by Anne Spackman

  * * * * *

  On Friday evening the phone rang, and Caera and Claudia raced to pick it up. On the other end, Ana had just gotten home after her three day stay at her grandmother's house, but she sounded none the worse for wear.

  "You're never gonna believe this, guys!"

  "What?" Caera and Claudia echoed each other in "stereo sound", a phrase someone at school had coined long before to mean that the twins were saying the same thing at the same time.

  "Well, I was talking to my Uncle Max today. See, he and my Aunt Jean are really into antiques and old things, and on Wednesday they went with my Aunt Jacqueline, Uncle Phil, Aunt Margot, and Uncle Bob to look around town. "Seems they got a guide to all the historical landmarks while they were in the town tourist office. When I mentioned how we were going to check out some of the old buildings tomorrow, Uncle Max gave me the guide!"

  "That was nice of him," Claudia was pleasantly surprised.

  "Yeah, and it's really neat! For each house, it tells who built it and when, and what it's been used for over the years. I've already started marking the ones from the right time frame. I figure I can spend a few hours tonight and have them all checked over for tomorrow. "What time do you guys wanna meet?"

  "Is nine-o' clock okay?" Caera suggested.

  "Sure. How 'bout meeting by the old railway station?"

  "Sounds fine by me. See ya."

  "Bye."