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"Yes, she's eating breakfast" Aunt Sara spotted

so and entered the room "She and Cary will be off to school soon But that's all right" Aunt Sara went to the dresser and moved a picture of Laura back to the exact place it had been She turned to ether and then we'll walk to school, stopping at Laura's grave in the ce" She returned to the doorway "Come down as soon as you're ready" She took a deep breath and closed her eyes "It's going to be a glorious day I can feel it"

She left and closed the door I gazed at the picture on the dresser I had obviously not put it back exactly where I had found it

The roo with the

strengtheninga shrine I felt guilty enjoying the things --her bed, her clothes, her beautiful vanity table

Nevertheless, after I showered, I put on the dress Aunt Sara had chosen for me to wear on my first day in a new school I had seen how important it was to her that I do so and I didn't have the heart to refuse I gazed at myself in the mirror Were there any resemblances between me and eneral things: both of us being about this height and weight when she was e Our hair color wasn't the same, nor our eyes, nor the shapes of our faces

Cary and May were already gone by the time I went downstairs

"I knew that dress would fit I just knew it!" Aunt Sara flitted around the kitchen excitedly She had prepared soh that accoood She sat and sipped coffee, watchingthe town, the school, the places Laura enjoyed, the things Laura liked to do

"She was always in the school plays Were you eve

r in a school play?"

"No, but I was in the school's talent show, playing my fiddle"

"Oh Laura wasn'tin the chorus, but she didn't play an instruine she could have though Laura could do just about anything she put her mind to

"I was so different," Aunt Sara continued "I only went as far as high school My father didn't believe a young girl needed e, but I didn't know for what I was never the best student It was finally decided I would marry Jacob and be a homemaker"

"What do you mean it was decided?" I asked

"Jacob's father andJacob and h school" She followed that with a light laugh that re-lasses