Then she spent an hour at the front window of their second-floor apartment listening to the squirrels scampering overhead, watching the willows wave in the breeze, and trying not to worry. Since there was no alternative that she could see, she waited patiently for her parents to emerge and explain. After a bit Penny began to notice things happening out in the yard. She saw a window in one of the cottages (the white one at the end) open. She watched an extremely old man holding something that looked like a violin case teeter to a rusted car that looked as if it wouldn’t go, but then it did. And then, then she saw a girl about her own age step from the bright orange cottage just below her window. Penny stood up and stuck her head through the window, trying to get a better look at the girl below her. It wasn’t Luella. Who was it? Whoever she was, she was the prettiest person Penny had ever seen. She had long, shining, straight blond hair pushed neatly back in a lavender headband exactly like the one Penny was now wearing.
