Attics, Boxes and Little Black Bags

APRIL 18th
8:46  Oh God, I'm late on my first day. Well, I guess it's OK since it's not really work but still, I am getting paid. 
       This spring vacation was going to be great for me. Go down to the Cape with a bunch of friends and just hang out and relax. But no. Since I got a C in chemistry, I get to help some of our old family friends in town.  Unlike my older siblings, I am not an straight A+ student. Don't get me wrong, I get A's but I get B's, and the occasional C too.  
       All done getting ready so I hop in the car, roll all the windows down and blast the music. This doesn't go so great since with my long hair flying everywhere the road it just looks like cars behind the roots of a tree.  The music didn't turn out so great either since because of not being able to see, I'm drifting into the wrong lane and I can't hear the cars beeping and swerving away from me.
      Oh well, I'll just try again on a less busy street. 


9:08  Hey, I'm not that late which is good. 
         When I pull up to the Edwards house, I just can"t help but smile. Not because of the job that I'll be doing but because of the house.  It's one of those amazing old colonial type houses that looks like it's stuck in its own little time bubble just waiting for the General of the Minutemen to come home and sit by the fire waiting for dinner.  On the inside it's a different story though.
        It has been completely renovated and looks amazing. I love the old style of houses on the outside but a modern inside is a necessity.  Not modern as in glass stairways and everything is white and spotlessly clean but the other kind of modern.   
      The kind of classic American home with the big fire place and the granite counter tops and the all wood floors and the clean crisp paint on the walls.  I love those houses and I promise you, I will live in one even if it kills me, well it won't because it will be so amazing but you know what I mean.   
     I walk up to the door and ring the door bell and within ten seconds, Mrs. Edwards is opening the door and handing me a glass of lemonade.
   "Lilita! I started to worry! Thank goodness you're here now though.  I think I heard a loud thud coming from upstairs," she says while beaming at me. 
    What can I say, old people love me.  It's true ever since I was born old people love me. Even when I was a teenager who everyone hates the old people just love me. 
    " Thank you for the lemonade, its really good, is it made with real lemons?"
    " Why yes it is! The other stuff that you buy at the store is filled with bad sugars and not even flavored with real lemons!"
    I would say something like Well it's probably because people love the sugary yummy tasting stuff and don't like having one of those stupid sour faces and looking like an idiot, but I didn't because that would be rude and you aren't rude to the people who pay you.
    "Oh I know, I can't even say half of the things that are on the back of those bottles," I say but not letting the pause last to long to start another conversation," What do you want me to do?"
    "Well, as you know we are moving to a smaller house so we need to move everything out, today  you'll be helping Joseph clean out the attic."
    "Okay, where's the attic?"
    "I'll bring you up there," she says pointing me in the direction of the stairs.
     When we reach the end of a hall it doesn't look like there is anywhere to go but then Mrs. Edwards pull on a string and stairs come gliding down from the ceiling. 
   All of a sudden we hear a huge crash and things falling.
    "Oh you better get up there and help him out, he's been dropping things all day."
    "Okay I'll help him out." 
   As I reach the top of the gliding stairs I can see Mr. Edwards bending over trying to pick up old newspapers on the floor that he just dropped.
    "Lilita! How nice of you it is to help us out. I hope it's not interfering with any of your plans."
    "Nope, not interfering at all," I say as I start to pick up papers on the floor and put them back in the box, " Are you sure you want all of these old newspapers? It's getting kind of hard to read them and I'm sure you can always find the articles online somewhere."
   "Oh you young kids these days. Things weren't always as easy as looking things up on that Goggle web site," he says as he sits down in an old rocking chair.
   "I think you mean Google Mr. Edward. But it's not that easy, you have to look through hundreds of different sites to find what you are looking for, in a way it's the same as it was when you were a kid but just a different form".
   "Your father always says you're the more thoughtful one in the family. And I guess you're right, you can recycle those old things, I don't even know why I kept them. So lets make a plan, you'll open up boxes and I'll say what goes and what stays while I sit in my rocking chair, these old knees aren't what they used to be," he says while rubbing his knees.
   "Sounds like a plan," I say while looking around realizing there are hundreds of boxes to go though.

1:38 After who knows how many boxes and news papers we finished for the day.  With half of the work done I figured we would be done with the attic with one more day of work.  Thank God too because all of the dust up there can't be good for my health, or anyone else's for that matter. 
    As I was leaving the door Mrs. Edwards shoves what could be a hundred chocolate chip cookies into my hands and says to give them to my family.
APRIL 19th 
8:50 Decided to be early today and get this done as fast as posible.  If I'm done by 1:30 I still have time to get packed and go to the Cape before rush hour. Fingers crossed.
       So to hurry my day up in anyway possible I came with ice coffee instead of having to chat with Mrs. Edwards over lemonade, plus caffine keeps me awake. 
     Mr. Edwards was already up in the attic sitting on his rocking chair waiting for me to come. 
    "You ready to get this done today Lilita? I think that this might be our last day if we work fast enough".
    "I like that plan, a lot. So where should we start today?"
    "It's up to you, but just save that box over there for last," he daus pointing to a really beat up metal box in the corner.
    "Okeydokey," I say while pulling a box of records out, "Do you still want Bobby Darin, That's All?"
1:05 One box to go and there's time to spare. This is perfect, Mr. Edwards only wants to keep a few things so we are recycling everything else so everythings going pretty smoothly. 
     When we got to the box in the corner Mrs. Edwards seemed to get really quiet but that kind of quiet that was excited. I didn't ask, I didn't see the point, I just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. 
     I bring the box to the feet of Mr. Edwards and start opening that box up. Inside I notice that alot of the papers have the words CONFIDENTIAL and TOP SECRET writen on them. Mr. Edwards just says to keep on taking them out and make neat piles so that's what I do. 
     "Mr. Edwards, what do you want me to do with this bag?" I say while holding up a little black velvet bag.
     "I don't seem to remember that bag... Why don't you look in it and see whats inside," he says in a mysterious voice.
     "Uh ok," as I reach my hand inside the bag I can feel what I think to be little rocks, I pull a few of them out and see that they are diamonds... real diamonds.  "Mr. Edwards I think you might want to put these in a safer place".
     "I got these when I was in France when I was on a mission, a french duchess gave them to me for saving her life," he says, "They're for you now though. Take them. Save them for something really special like a car or a house, something that makes you happy".
     "No, I can't take these, it wouldn't be right".
     "Please, I insist.  When I said I saved a duchesses life, well she wasn't a real duchess, she was a fake. She was a thief and she stole those diamonds from your great grand father so they're rightfully yours".
     "Thank you, so much Mr. Edwards," I say while staring at the diamonds, "Can you tell me the story of how they where stolen?"
     "Of course. In 1912 your great grandfather first got the diamonds from a merchant....."

First Paragraph

     Bored, lonely, and sitting at home with a bunch of old people isn't what Lilita thought she would be doing during her spring break. But since her parents love her so much they thought she needed some guidance since she got a C- in her Chemistry (which isn't all that bad since the highest grade was a B-). But no. Lilita's parents didn't want C's, or B's, they wanted all A+ children and Lilita was threatening to ruin that.