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She looked down at the letter “Just for a while,” Ariel had written “Temporarily” Sara siven to her She wouldn’t have a clue hoork for somebody like R J Brompton

The whole idea was absurd, of course, but it was nice to daydream In fact, Ariel’s letter opened Sara’s eyes to a secret she’d kept even from herself: She wanted to see Arundel, North Carolina Not just see it as a tourist would, but see it froment about the place Her father had told her Arundel was “the center of hell,” yet Ariel wrote of the glories of her hometown

Sara knew she had relatives in Arundel, but she’d never met them Because of old wounds, she was sure that if she showed up there as Sara Jane Johnson she wouldn’t be welcoot to know them as Ariel and showed them she wasn’t like her father’s side of the family? What would happen when she finally told them who she was? Would they welcome her—or hate her?

Getting to know the people of Arundel sounded good in theory, but the truth was, she was afraid of the place

For seventeen years, what had been “done to them” was Sara’s father’s favorite topic of conversation—if you can call ues that never ended conversation She’d heard in detail how her rew up as part of “the fa to her father, was the center of all snobbery on earth “It begins there and radiates outward,” he said “Like the rays of the sun?” she asked when she was a child and still thought her father was actually talking to her “No,disease,” he said He told Sara that her mother had been one of the bluebloods, one of the elite, the four hundred, whatever he could think of to call them, but she had fallen in love with him—and that had been the end of her Sara’s father’s family was dirt poor, like the sharecroppers of the olden days, he told her,his family sound noble “But your ,” he said “Honest workers, that’s all ere, but they hated us”

Sara’s grandfather had disowned his daughter after she eloped She died in a car wreck when Sara was three, and her father finally drank enough to kill his body when she was seventeen

Sara looked back down at the letter

She was just finishing her freshe when she met Ariel for the first time Sara had been in the study roo for finals She hadn’t showered in three days and her hair was hanging in greasy strings around her face She was in her usual uniform of sweatpants and a stained sweatshirt, and her feet were encased in worn-out running shoes Not that Sara ever ran Or did any exercise Like e students, she lived on pizza and Coke

At first Sara felt, rather than saw, Ariel It was like when people say they feel a ghost When Sara looked up fro at a young wo in the doorway She was pretty in her si to bet cost more than she’d spent on all the clothes in her closet To Sara’s astonishht toward her “Could we talk?” she asked

Feeling clumsy and dirty, Sarawoman outside Sara wondered if she wanted her to cut her lawn Growing up, Sara had been the kid who cut the lawns and pruned the boxwoods She was the kid who baby-sat

The perfect young wowood She stared at Sara for a few moments, then told her they were cousins “I was told we looked alike,” Ariel said

Sara smiled at that Never had she looked like this woman did

“I didn’t call first because I didn’t know your nuht to just show up I really wanted to meet you”

“Yes, it’s okay,” Sara said, her eyes wide fro at her cousin so hard Could she really be related to this beautiful creature with her perfect hair, perfect clothes, perfect everything?

“Do you think we could correspond?” Ariel asked

“Write letters?” Sara asked “Sure, why not?” She was thinking that she’d have nothing to say to a woman whose life was so obviously different from her own Ariel reeked of money, education, and manners Sara had a flash ofin a drunken stupor

For awomen sat in silence, then Ariel looked at her watch—a tiny thing of gold and diahing