Seeing Red Read Online Free

her hands
on her face and just cried and cried. Stop crying! You’re
embarrassing yourself. She couldn’t say anything. She should be
consoling them, too, but couldn’t think of a single thing to
say.
    “S-s-sorry guys,” she stuttered between sobs. “I’m
so embarrassed. I don’t know what’s gotten into m-m-me. I think I’m
going to get going.” She took a deep breath and stood up. The
only thing that would make this moment even crappier would be
falling flat on my face. And with that thought, her heel got
caught in a crack on the asphalt floor, and she fell forward,
leaving her shoe caught in the crack. Great! Just great! In
a nanosecond, two pair of arms grabbed her, hands everywhere,
saving her from her own klutziness—but not from further
humiliation.
    “Umm, thanks, boys. I guess you remember how
graceful I could be.” She said with a nervous laugh. “Anyway, see
you.” She walked away, this time being extra careful.
    Oliver and Alexander looked at each other,
confused.
    “No, no, no. We haven’t seen you in seven years.
You’re not going anywhere. Let’s go have a drink, or have you
eaten? Let’s go eat.” Oliver spoke quickly. Alexander winced; she
knew he was still hung over and the thought of a drink was probably
making his stomach turn.
    “Okay. I guess.”
    “There is a diner right around the corner. Follow me
in your car,” Oliver said as they all started to say their goodbyes
to the other attendees at the funeral.
    Bob reached for Jillian’s elbow and pulled her
aside. “Wait, Jill. I have something for you.”
    “Okay?” Jill asked, but Bob pulled her to the side
and spoke so no one else could hear.
    “Helen wanted you to have these boxes. I found them
last night when I was going through her things. There was a note
indicating to give them to you as soon as possible.”
    “What’s in the boxes?”
    “I’m not really sure. Looks like papers and
journals. It didn’t say anything other than to give them to you.”
He helped her load the boxes into her trunk, gave her a hug, and
walked away.
    “What was that all about?” Alexander asked.
    “I’m not really sure. Bob said that Helen left me
these boxes. Let’s take a look at them over lunch. Let’s go, boys.”
She said with a forced smile.
    The two brothers looked at each other. Oliver
shrugged, and they all left, ignoring the mystery of the inherited
boxes.
    A few minutes later, the twins and Jillian were
sitting in a small diner in San Antonio, Texas, sharing pie and
having coffee, staring at one of the boxes that Bob had given
Jill.
    Jill cautiously looked inside the box, and to her
surprise, all she saw were papers and things that looked like old
handwritten books. She shrugged and looked at the twins.
    “What is this?” She rummaged through the box. All
three stood up and looked into the box that was sitting on top of
the table. They each grabbed some of the notebooks and papers.
    “These are Helen’s journals. Remember she would
write everything down,” Oliver said with a half-torn sheet of coir
in his hand.
    “Is this coir? I haven’t seen this since we left the
island.” Jill asked.
    “Yes. Remember when we ran out of paper, she started
using coir from the island. There was coir aplenty! I can’t believe
these survived the rescue.” Oliver said.
    “I remember you used to write too, Jill,” Alexander
interjected.
    “Of course, I remember, but it’s been years since I
wrote anything but an essay for school. I can’t believe these were
salvaged. And look,” she said, grabbing some composition notebooks.
“They don’t all seem to be from the island. Some are dated from
before we were marooned and some are dated after. No wonder there
are so many boxes.”
    “Wow. She wrote all her little sayings on them. I
think about her funny quips all the time,” Oliver said.
    Jillian smiled. “I do too. I loved her sayings. She
had one for every situation.”
    Alexander grabbed the heavy box and set it on