Read Online Unclaimed Treasures by Patricia MacLachlan - Free Book Online

the Egyptians—pictures of things loved to send you off. . . .”
    Willa listened, their words bringing death closer. A death every few minutes, a birth every few minutes—something she had heard once on the radio. The baby was coming—a birth. Would a death follow? It was time. Time to do something extraordinary.
    The Unclaimed Treasures were near the garden arguing about tempo. Her mother was in the garden again . Would she root there? Her father was keeping close watch over Ted and Wanda. The light in the upstairs studio was on. Matthew painted on and on. Old Pepper and Nicholas talked of death and parrots.
    What was ordinary? What was not?

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    10
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    Thoughts of things extraordinary filled Willa. They washed over her at night, waking her in the moonlight. They touched her as she stood with Matthew in the attic room, watching him watch her. After a while, she would turn her head, ever so slowly, to look at the beautiful creature in the mirror. She was always startled to see the girl in the long white dress, even though she willed herself not to be startled. Watching the two thirds of a trio practice faithfully each day in the garden kept the thoughts alive; and seeing Old Pepper nod to himself under the tree, as if agreeing with his own thoughts of death, nearly overwhelmed her. Her own mother, too, was a constant reminder of things extraordinary. Or were they things ordinary?
    Willa began asking.
    â€œAh, extraordinary, let’s see,” murmured Aunt Lulu, leaning forward, her flute under her arm. “Playing all the sharps and flats,” she finally answered with a sideways glance at Aunt Crystal.
    Aunt Crystal disagreed, shaking her head vigorously.
    â€œA glossy ibis,” she pronounced.
    â€œA glossy what?” asked Willa, staring.
    â€œGood writing,” said her father, leaning back in his chair, pipe smoke circling him. “A good paragraph. A good sentence!” he nearly shouted in growing frustration, making Willa jump. She saw the manuscript of Ted and Wanda on his desk.
    â€œHappy children,” said her mother, pausing by the back door, her basket full of carrots. “Happy lives. Why?”
    â€œPeace,” said Old Pepper, lounging in his wheelbarrow.
    â€œPeace,” agreed Bella-Marie.
    At last Willa began a list at a neighborhood picnic. There were long tables with red-checked tablecloths that rippled in the breeze. And baskets of breads and fruit. Willa’s parents and Matthew sat in the shade of the apple tree, their voices soft. The Unclaimed Treasures tuned by the garden. Old Pepper sat on a picnic bench, peeling an orange in one long and perfect spiral, Bella pulling the end gently with her beak. All shapes and sizes of Atwaters spread out about them.
    Willa’s list was a two-columned list.
    Things Ordinary        Things Extraordinary
    Under Ordinary Willa listed eating. At once there was more disagreement.
    â€œEating is extraordinary,” said Horace, his mouth full of apple.
    â€œNo,” said Nicholas. “Eating is everyday. Like sleeping. Going to the bathroom.”
    â€œGoing to the bathroom can be extraordinary,” said Horace, thoughtfully.
    â€œEating is ordinary,” said Willa firmly. And the list went on.
    Things Ordinary
    1. Eating
    2. Sleeping
    3. Bathroom
    4. Chores
    â€œChores can be extraordinarily important,” said Willa’s father. Willa smiled. Her father loved washing the clothes. She would find him, often, leaning over the washing machine as it agitated. “Do you know,” he once announced in great awe, “that some washing machines are up-and-downers, and some are back-and-forthers?”
    â€œWashing clothes is ordinary,” said Willa’s mother with feeling.
    â€œExtraordinary,” said Willa in a loud voice, “is as follows.” Her father smiled.
    â€œOne, Flying. Two, Becoming king. Three, Finding your true love.