On a cold winter night, in a big white house, the four Alden children and their cousin, Soo Lee, sat in front of a crackling fire. Grandfather was in his favorite chair. He was finishing up the last piece of coconut cake the family housekeeper, Mrs. McGregor, had made. Watch, the family dog, lay at Grandfather’s feet, waiting for a few crumbs to fall his way. “Now it’s your turn to act out a charade,” Jessie Alden told Benny. “What’s a charade?” five-year-old Soo Lee asked. She was still a little new at the games her older cousins played. “It’s a guessing game,” Benny answered. He was a year older than Soo Lee and loved all kinds of games, especially charades. “For candy charades, we pick a message printed on one of our candy hearts. Then we try and make everybody guess what it says. Only we can’t use words, not even one, just funny faces and motions.” “Oh, I get it,” Soo Lee said. “Henry’s candy heart said, Hug Me. That’s why he hugged me, right?”
