Just a Little Reminder Read Online Free PDF

shoebox full of unorganized knick-knacks.
    At the front corner of the room was Mom’s wedding trunk, and I didn’t have to open it to know what I’d find inside. Along with her scrapbook, picture albums, and keepsakes, I’d find her wedding dress. I lifted the lid anyway to find it—the simple, white, A-line gown she’d worn on the day she married my father. How it hadn’t collected years of dust, dirt, and stains… I’d never know. I was certain that it was just as beautiful as it was the day she’d bought it.
    I pulled it from the trunk and lifted it to my body, certain that it would fit like a glove and fall just below my knees.
    But Mom had never let me try it on. She wanted me to save it for my own special day.
    I didn’t let myself admire the dress for too long; I didn’t need to bring myself to tears. I had enough to worry about without letting memories of my parents flood my mind. I folded her gown exactly the way I’d found it and tucked it safely back inside the trunk.
    I turned away from the wedding mementos and sifted through some old boxes nearby. It was shortly after I started digging around the attic entrance that Charlie poked his head through the opening.
    “Hey, Pumpkin,” he said, watching me with wide eyes. “Looking for something?”
    I ignored the question for only a moment, but then I turned back to my uncle with a puzzled expression.
    “ Hmm?”
    “What’re you lookin’ for?” he asked, taking another step up; no longer a floating head, I could now see my uncle from the chest up.
    I sat only feet away, still planted firmly in the same spot I’d found just a while earlier. 
    I wiped some dust from my jeans and stood up, keeping my head low so I wouldn’t smack the wooden beams overhead. I let my eyes sweep the stacks of boxes, piles of papers, and countless pieces of junk Charlie had collected over the years.
    “Julie?”
    “Do you remember seeing Dad’s cedar box?” I asked, holding my hands only nine inches part. “About this big? His name’s engraved across the front.”
    Charlie’s chest swelled with a deep breath.
    “Why?” he asked, and he had to clear his throat to keep his voice from cracking. “What do you want with it?”
    “You know where it is?”
    “It sure as hell isn’t in this attic collecting dust,” he said, blinking a few times. He tried to act as if the dirt from the floor had gotten in his eyes, but I could see that the mere mention of my father’s box had gotten to him.
    “I want to give it to Luke—”
    “You need to come on down, Julie,” he said, dismissing what I’d said as quickly as I’d said it. “I don’t like you poking around up here. It’s too dark; you could get hurt.”
    I nodded once and pushed Dad’s things back into place.
    “Are you going to let me have the box?” I asked.
    “We’ll talk about it,” Charlie said, stepping down. And though his lips said we’ll talk about it , his tone communicated something more along the lines of sure, when hell freezes over . “Come on.”
    Stomping toward the opening—hell-bent on communicating my frustration with him—my foot hit a rickety floorboard, and my entire leg fell through the attic floor. I tumbled forward and slammed against the wood, and the force of my body brought a whole section of the attic floor—along with me—crashing down to the second-floor hallway.
    A few boxes toppled down with the floor, and Mom’s wedding trunk landed square on my back.
    Charlie jumped from the last step and threw the trunk off of me, and we watched as debris poured over the broken ceiling.
    Most of the attic floor—everything above the hallway, anyway—had given out, and most of it had fallen on the two of us. Luckily, though, we were both more shocked than hurt.
    Matt swung his door open and looked down at us as we stared up at the giant hole in the ceiling. His eyes drifted upward, and his jaw seemed to unhinge.
    “Whoa,” Matt whispered, still looking at the gaping hole.