Cutler 04 - Midnight Whispers

portrait back on the dusty shelf.
    "I can't believe all this stuff," Gavin said, looking from one side to the other. "There must be years and years and years of things up here."
    "My daddy and his daddy and daddy's daddy saved everything," Charlotte revealed. "Whenever something was replaced, it was brought up here and stored just in case. Emily used to call this the household graveyard. Sometimes, she would try to frighten me and look up at the ceiling downstairs and whisper, 'The dead are above us. Be good or they'll come down during the night and peer in at you through windows.' "
    "Peer through windows?" I repeated. Gavin raised his eyes, expecting I would talk about what I had thought I saw and felt last night.
    "Yes," Charlotte said. "Emily hated coming up here. That's why I played up here all the time. Emily would leave me alone," she said and laughed. "And I didn't have to do all the chores she wanted me to do."
    Charlotte may be a child at heart, I thought, but in some ways, she was still very clever.
    "Come on," she urged and led us toward the trunks to the right. "The farther in we go, the older everything is," she said.
    We walked past rows and rows of cartons, some filled with old papers and old books, some filled with old dishes, cups and antique kitchen implements. We found cartons of old shoes and boots, and cartons just filled with springs and screws and rusted tools. Gavin found a box of old ledgers and took one out to look at it.
    "This is amazing," he said. "It's a listing of slaves and how much was paid for each. Look."
    I gazed at the open page and read, "Darcy, age 14, weight eight stone and four, twelve dollars."
    Gavin continued to sift through the books.
    "And there are ledgers describing the crops and what they got for them, things bought and how much they had to pay—it's all very historical and probably very valuable to a museum or something," he said.
    Jefferson found an old rusted pistol, the parts locked by age and grime.
    "Bang, bang, bang," he cried, waving it.
    "Be careful, Jefferson," I warned. "You don't want to cut yourself on anything rusty."
    "Christie," Gavin said after opening a small dark cherrywood chest, "look at this." I knelt down beside him. In the chest were all sorts of items from a woman's vanity table: pearl-handled combs and brushes and mirrors, some with cameos on the backs and handles. There was costume jewelry including strings of good imitation pearls and pearl earrings, pins and bracelets and a silver necklace filled with imitation rubies and emeralds. Everything looked handcrafted and in remarkably good shape, despite its age. It was as though this attic were truly a magical place that kept its contents frozen in time.
    "It's all so beautiful," I said.
    "It will look beautiful on you," Gavin whispered, his face so close to mine. It was as if a warm hand brushed across my breast. I felt myself flush and looked quickly at Aunt Charlotte, who was throwing open trunks and boxes, exclaiming excitedly as she made one discovery after another of things she had known as a child. For her it was like finding old friends.
    "Here are some nice clothes, dear," Charlotte said, opening a large metal trunk. I found dresses with short bodices and gusseted skirts, dresses with bodices high at the neck and sleeves that were close fitting and gathered at puffs at the top. There were colored bodices with white skirts, some with colored waist-belts. Another trunk was filled with thinly padded petticoats.
    Additional trunks had more late- and turn-of-the-century fashions. I unearthed cloaks and horseback-riding garments, bonnets and satin shawls, as well as velvet wraps. Jefferson found a trunk filled with parasols and another trunk full of high boots, the leather still in remarkably good condition. Meanwhile, Gavin wandered to the left and found trunks of men's clothing, from knickers to overcoats and army uniforms. He liked the World War One uniforms and tried on one with a jacket that fit him well.
    Jefferson and I began trying things on and modeling for each 'other, laughing as we paraded about in the ancient garments and footwear. Even Charlotte joined in, donning a shawl or a jacket and laughing at her visage in one of the old vanity mirrors set back behind the trunks and cartons. Suddenly, we heard an extra laugh. At least, Gavin and I did. Charlotte didn't appear to notice and Jefferson was far too occupied. I grabbed Gavin's arm and whispered.
    "What was that?" We looked