Memories of You Read Online Free PDF Page B

language, seldom used and shockingly profane. The fact that Ari was saying them now showed how sad and lonely he was.
    “We get to fly to the ranch this weekend,” shesaid, watching a dark green beetle as it lumbered through the tangle of grass. “Daddy promised. It’ll be fun to see Tom and ride our ponies, won’t it?”
    But Ari wasn’t ready to be comforted. “I wish Daddy would get married.” He plucked another blade of grass. “We need a mother.”
    Amy turned to him in confusion. “We already have a mother.”
    “I mean, we need one who lives in our house. If Daddy got married, we’d all move back to the ranch and live together and be like a family.”
    “Do you think so?” she asked wistfully.
    “If Daddy was married, he wouldn’t worry so much what school we went to. When Mummy was home, Daddy and Van and Steve all lived on the ranch together. I hate being in this place.”
    “It’s not so bad here,” Amy said loyally. “Daddy wants us to go to school without having to ride so far on the bus, and Mrs. Klassen is really nice. I like the aquarium at school,” she added. “And the model of the hydrogen molecule. Don’t you?”
    Ari scowled. “I want to go back to the ranch. We need to find a lady for Daddy to marry.”
    “Maybe he could marry Margaret.”
    “You’re so dumb,” Ari said. “Daddy could never marry Margaret.”
    “Why not? She’s nice to us all the time, and she cooks and cleans and everything.”
    “I don’t know,” he admitted after a few moments of deep concentration. “But it can’t be Margaret. It needs to be somebody different”
    “Like who?”
    “I don’t know,” Ari repeated. “But I’ll think of somebody.”
    The twins lay quietly for a while. Then, like birds or fish moving in response to an invisible signal, they got up at the same moment and began to run, swooping down the grassy hill with their arms spread wide and their legs flying.
    They ran until they were exhausted, then climbed another hill, heading for one of their favorite places on the new farm. It was the oldest building on the property, a big stone barn nestled at the foot of the hill and surrounded by trees.
    The previous owner had used the barn to house a couple of vintage automobiles, and several improvements had been added to protect the valuable cars. All the windows were stoutly boarded, and a metal overheard door that was operated from outside by pressing a button had been installed. The control button was inside a panel that could be secured with a padlock.
    Although the lock had been removed along with the contents of the barn, the control button remained functional. Ari loved to press it and watch the big door slowly open and close, sliding as if by magic.
    When Vanessa reported on the existence of the automatic door, Margaret had immediately forbade the twins to play anywhere near the barn because they might get locked inside, a suggestion that made Ari scoff privately in derision.
    “How could we get locked inside?” he asked Amywhen they were alone. “You have to be outside to push the button. Margaret doesn’t know anything.”
    So they ignored the housekeeper’s order and continued to frequent the barn. Amy was a little anxious about their disobedience, but her loyalty to Ari always outweighed her caution.
    Now she followed him down the hill and crept along behind him as he edged toward the old building. The door was open which meant that somebody was inside.
    Ari glanced over his shoulder and nodded. Amy understood at once, following him to the base of one of the trees beside the barn. The twins climbed silently into the middle branches, then moved out of the tree onto the shingled roof and crept up toward the row of air vents.
    These vents were about two feet square and situated near the peak of the roof. Each twin stopped at the edge of an open vent. They clung to the rough shingles and slithered forward until they could peer down into the shadowy depths of the