Melody (Logan 1)

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