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I threay and recycled so uys on s,ofbin Boxes of old receipts, calendars dating from the seventies, cassettes, CDs, VHS tapes, DVDs--pitched, recycled, or donated The eight-tracks I donated to an antiques shop; I knew someone would pay e and warped froe under the leaky roof, and sadly with outdated information, were recycled as well As Clark pointed out, not everything orth saving

Checkbooks, TV Guides, ads for local stores that had gone out of business years ago--there was no rhyo through this; you couldn’t just go through bulldozer style and throw everything out I realized that when a box that I ht contained only old coupons had one of the original titles to the land the house was sitting on! And in a box of crappy costume jewelry? An antique brooch with a ruby the size of a marble A marble!

"A very small marble, maybe, if you squint," Clark had said when I showed it to hiht back to hi when she stopped by to see how things were going She’d helped out a few ti a carload herself down to the shelter a couple of days a week after her shift at the restaurant

One afternoon I made her come up with me to the attic After the initial foray into the basement, I wasn’t too proud to admit I wanted some company; I’d seen way too many horror movies to venture into an attic alone I promised her dibs on any creepy dolls we found up there

The attic stairs were at the end of the hallway on the second floor, almost hidden behind the linen closet Behind a door that you opened with a key, which had irl

Jessica and I opened the door with a loud creak The stairs were as steep as I reme on a s, once you e it was The house was truly grand, and it had an attic to th of the house, it had the widest plank floors I’d ever seen anywhere, and I’m froreat wild north of California, and the tie As we crept, quiet as little mice up the last few steps, I sahat I re else from my childhood

I saw miles and miles of unobstructed deep blue ocean Window afterset into the back of the house, eight panes wide and equally as tall An attic had no earthly reason to have this many s, it was a waste of heat and space But it didn’t ned this home kne initude would be And thank goodness the subsequent generations felt the same way, as it was never walled over

"Would you look at that," Jessica breathed behindisn’t it?" I said quietly Who kno long it had been since so in the air current we’d stirred up indicated that Aunt Maude hadn’t used this space recently And it was untouched by the pack rat stacks of crap that had taken over the rest of the house It was still the attic froainst one wall, like girls at a party waiting to be asked to dance So party dresses that had never been finished, and even after years of the sunlight fading theary pink, buttercup yellow, azure blue, kelly green, and ruby red Sequins, bows, prints, and swirls waited to twirl

On the other wall? Trunks, stacked four and five high Travel stickers shellacked the sides with places I’d never heard of as a child, but sounded so exotic Athens Siam Mexico City Cleveland Some of the trunks were eloves for playing dress-up, old-fashioned clunky ca dress-up Maps Letters Yearbooks full of people who had lived and cried and had babies and died, all before I was even born

Old furniture,that cas, some of the sea, some of the mountains, but all massive and framed with ornately carved wood I once found an anchor behind a full set of bowling pins, and had once launched an assault on the kingdom of Viviana with an army of tiny tin soldiers

And it was all still there Better yet, it didn’t look ser than life, and all in front of those gorgeous picture s Jessica and I oohed and aahed as we looked through it all, squealing in delight e found so bit

"This is seriously the coolest house ever, Viv" Jessica sighed, sinking into an old wing chair by the s

"I know! I feel like I should beknohat youon a tufted ottoe expanse of blue

"I knew there was a reason I alanted to co an old suntan reflector andlike a film star by the pool in the hills of Beverly "What do you think you’re going to do with all this space up here? You can’t just use it for storage, it’s too cool!" She angled the reflector to grab some additional rays