then left in a dryer until my last tear evaporated. Cary lingered in his attic hideaway almost all
night. I was woken just before morning to the sound
of his footsteps on the ladder. He paused at my
doorway for a moment before going to his own room. He was up with the sunlight a little over an hour
later and had gone out with Uncle Jacob by the time I
went down for breakfast. Aunt Sara said they were
going to be out lobstering all day. I walked to town
with May and we spent most of the afternoon looking
at the quaint shops on Commercial Street, then we
watched the fishermen down at the wharf. It wasn't
quite tourist season yet, but the warm spring weather
still brought a crowd up from Boston and the outlying
areas. There was a lot of traffic.
Aunt Sara had given us some spending money
so we could buy hamburgers for lunch. She didn't
mind my taking May along with me. She saw how
much May wanted to be with me, and I was growing
more confident with sign language.
Aunt Sara remarked at how quickly and how
well I had been learning it. "Laura was the best at it,"
she told me. "Even better than Cary."
"What about Uncle Jacob?" I asked her.
"Doesn't he know it?"
"A little. He's always too busy to practice," she
said, but I thought it was a weak excuse. If my daddy
had to learn sign language to communicate with me,
nothing would be more important, I thought. About midday, I counted the change I had left
and went to a pay phone. It wasn't enough for a call to
Sewell, but I took a chance and made it collect to
Alice. Luckily, she was home and accepted the