Dec 18, 2018 6 min read

¦ CHAPTER SIX

The diary

The story so far: Although Aunt Sarah said she had “better not” go up into the attic, Sally has done so. Now she has discovered an ancient trunk with the name “Sally” on a little brass plate.

The trunk opened with a faint screech. A puff of dust rose from its interior. When it had settled, Sally could see at the very top, rather crumpled, the yellow bonnet that the other Sally was wearing in the painting. Trembling with excitement, Sally lifted the bonnet from the trunk. Carefully, she placed it on her head. It fit exactly. She ran over to the mirror. Yes, it was the very bonnet in the picture!

Sally hurried back and reached again into the trunk. This time she brought out the pale blue dress in the picture, and then a lace-edged petticoat and a pair of high-buttoned shoes. She was laughing out loud by now, and Shadow had come to watch.

Everything, even the shoes, fit perfectly. Sally ran to the mirror and could hardly believe what she saw. She looked just like the other Sally in the picture. She swayed back and forth dreamily, watching how the skirt swirled around her shoe tops. And as she swayed, she found her hands were curving in front of her, as if they were holding something. The doll, she thought-that was the one part of the picture still missing.

The trunk! The doll had to be in the trunk! Oh, what if Aunt Sarah came back now! Sally ran frantically back to the trunk. This time she began throwing things helter-skelter from its dark interior-shawls and muffs, dresses and gloves, a pink silk parasol. At last there was nothing left. Sally was ready to put everything back in again when she noticed, at the very bottom in a dark corner, a small book. She leaned over the side of the trunk, picked it up, and brought it out.

The covers of the book were of soft brown leather, and there were some letters stamped on the front in gold, but it was too dark to read them. Sally looked up and found that Shadow was sitting in a small pool of thin sunlight that had made its way through one of the dusty windows. Sally looked uncertainly at him, and then walked over and sat down next to him. She held the little book into the light. Stamped upon the cover was the word “Diary.” Sally opened the soft cover and looked at the first page. “Sally” was written there. The yellowed old page seemed to be whispering her name in a graceful handwriting which had faded over the years. Beneath it were the words “Age eight.”

Why, she was just my age, Sally thought, and she turned the page. “January First” read the printing at the top of this page. The writing beneath it looked almost golden in the faint light. As she sat there on the attic floor, reading what the other Sally had written so long ago, Sally felt almost as if the other Sally was speaking to her.

“Dear Diary,” the other Sally had begun, “I will write something every day. It snowed all day and yesterday too. It is cozy inside with Mama and Papa and little Bub. He is my baby brother and we call him Bub because he makes bubbling sounds with his mouth. Mrs. Perkins helps my mama to care for him. She is very funny, because she calls everyone, even kittens, dear little things. I was playing with my doll Elizabeth (so that was the doll’s name, thought Sally-Elizabeth!) in my bedroom tonight, and Mama came and said that she had a surprise in the kitchen. It was a wonderful surprise! My black cat, Mrs. Niminy Piminy, has three new kittens! Their eyes are not open yet. I gave one of them to Elizabeth, and we played by the fire in the kitchen. Elizabeth’s kitten is named Tom, and he is black like Mrs. Niminy Piminy. I think that Elizabeth and Tom will be good friends.”

Sally turned the page, but to her disappointment the other Sally had not kept her promise to write every day in her diary. Sally turned page after page, hoping that there was more. But it was not until July 19 that she found another entry.

Sally settled back with a sigh of relief and began to read again.

“Mama said that I must take care of Bub and Patience in the garden. Patience is a very little girl and I did not want to play with her and Bub cried a lot. But Mama said that I must, for Patience and her mama were coming to visit. Patience broke the handle of one of my little teacups (so that was how it got broken, thought Sally, remembering the little cup in the cupboard downstairs). I told her I didn’t care, but I really did. And then Elizabeth saved a little hoptoad’s life! She fell over and she made me notice that Tom was trying to catch it, and the toad hopped right into my cup of tea, and we laughed. I saw Tom holding Elizabeth in his mouth, and I made him put her down. That naughty Tom! He thinks that Elizabeth belongs to him!”

Again, the entries stopped for a long time-until December 24. But the writing on this page had changed. It sloped down and had grown smaller and rather pinched looking. Something was wrong, thought Sally, and she began to read.

“Papa took Mama and me in the sleigh to get our Christmas tree from the forest. It is very big. We put Elizabeth on top for a Christmas tree angel. She looked very beautiful. Mama played the melodeon and we all sang Christmas carols. But when I looked up, Elizabeth was gone! We cannot find her anywhere. I miss her very much.”

NEXT Time: The mirror