heirs of Phinneas Pickworth are alive, they can rent this apartment for a dollar a year.â
âA dollar?â Maisie gasped. âFor this whole place?â
âThe money is kind of symbolic. Thatâs the agreement Great-Aunt Maisie made when she couldnât afford the upkeep on Elm Medona any longer.â
âWhy didnât she just sell it?â Maisie asked.
âItâs where she lived her whole life,â their mother said. She collected the paper plates and wiped the crumbs from the table onto them. âYou should hear her stories about growing up in this place. Her father built it as a summer cottage, but the family liked it so much they ended up living here full time. She and her twin brother used to slide down the Grand Staircase and hold tea parties on the lawn.â
âGreat-Aunt Maisie is a twin?â Maisie said, surprised.
âYou have more in common with your namesake than you thought.â Their mother grinned. âShe has a twin brother, Thorne, who lives in London. Growing up, they used to be as close . . . well, as close as you two. According to Great-Aunt Maisie, they had adventures like no one else. Adventures they could have only at Elm Medona. She seems to believe thereâs something so special about this place that she canât let it go.â
Maisie shook her head. âI canât imagine anything that special here.â
âWait until you get the VIP tour,â their mother said. âMaybe youâll change your mind.â
âDonât count on it,â Maisie said, cutting another piece of pound cake.
âMaybe weâre in for a big surprise,â Felix said.
He said it to make his mother feel better. But secretly he hoped something amazing did lay in store for them in Elm Medona.
The Woman in Pink
On Monday morning, Felix felt his mother kiss him good-bye. Or maybe he dreamed it. But either way, when he got out of bed, she was gone, and a note lay on the kitchen table that said:
Have a great day! Iâll be at work setting up my office! Enjoy the tour and stay out of trouble!!! Love, Mom.
A giant box of cereal and two bananas sat on top of the note. Felix took a paper plate from the counter, cut himself a big piece of leftover pound cake, and poured a paper cup full of milk. Over the weekend, his mother had unpacked all the real dishes and glasses and carefully arranged them in the cupboard, but if he used something, he would have to wash it himself. Unlike their apartment in New York, there was no dishwasher here.
He had already finished his first piece of cake and was working his way through half of a second one when Maisie walked into the kitchen. She didnât bother getting a plate. She just cut a piece of pound cake and bit into it, letting crumbs fall everywhere.
Outside, thunder rumbled.
âGreat,â Maisie said. âItâs going to rain, and weâll be stuck inside forever.â
âWe have the tour today, anyway,â Felix reminded her.
The phone rang, startling them. Theyâd lived here three whole days, and the phone had not rung even once.
âHello?â Felix said tentatively.
His fatherâs voice said, âFelix? Felix?â
âDad!â Felix shouted.
Immediately Maisie tried to pull the phone away from him. âDad!â she yelled.
Felix turned the receiver so they could both talk and listen.
âHowâs Newport?â their father asked. âHowâs Elm Medona?â
âHot,â Felix said.
âBoring,â Maisie said.
âSounds like Doha.â Their father laughed.
âMaybe you should comeââ Felix stopped himself. He almost said
home
, but where was that exactly? Â âBack,â he finished.
âWell, the museum is great,â their father said. âAnd I like the job a lot. I just miss you guys, and hot dogs andââ
âMom?â Maisie said.
âLike I said. I miss you