White Picket Fences by Susan Meissner Page A

he decided to drop everything and go to Poland. Tally had come home from registering for her junior year, and he was sitting at the little built-in table in the double-wide trailer they were renting. Open on the table was a little cardboard box he’d kept in the trunk of his car for the past two years. “Just some of my father’s stuff,” he’d said of the box, which she knew contained the silver lighter, a pocket watch, her great-grandmother’s wedding ring, and a letter from his dad that he’d never opened.
    The letter lay open on the table.
    “You’re home early,” she said.
    He turned toward her, and his face looked weary and energized at the same time. “I’m not working for Mr. Charles anymore.”
    She leaned against the door frame, mentally preparing for whatever he planned to tell her. When her dad quit a job, there was always a new plan. “Why not?”
    “There are some things I just won’t do, Tally-ho.”
    A moment of silence hung between them as she weighed the chances of staying in San Antonio. “What happens now?” she finally said.
    “I’m going to Poland.” He picked up the letter and waved it. “All this time I thought this was either a lecture or an apology. I didn’t want either one. It’s really the map to treasure, Tal. Allthe gold and jewelry my father hid in his backyard from the Nazis? I know where it is. It’s all here in the letter.”
    She heard him, every word. But she still whispered, “What?”
    “When he was just a kid, my dad hid the family’s gold and jewelry before the Nazis came for them. He buried it in the backyard. My grandfather told him to.”
    “But…”
    “It’s probably still there. I’m going to go get it.”
    “But school starts next week…”
    “I’m not taking you on this trip, Tal. You’re going to stay a week or two with your grandmother in Tucson. It’s all arranged. When I get back, we can live anywhere we want.”
    “But, Dad…”
    “We can’t stay in San Antonio, Tal.”
    In that moment she knew that whatever Mr. Charles asked her father to do, it was illegal. And now he knew too much. She let her body slide down the closed door until she rested against it on her bottom.
    “Sorry, Tally. I really am. But we can’t stay.”
    For a long moment, she said nothing.
    “When are we leaving?” she finally said.
    He stood. “Now would be a good time.”
    He let her sit there for a few moments before extending his hand to help her up. “You can pick the next place, Tal. Anywhere you want. You want to go back to Manhattan, we’ll go. Anywhere you want. Except Texas.”
    “Why Grandma Virgie’s?” She reached for his extended hand.
    “Because she’ll be so glad to see you, she won’t ask questions.This is our little secret, Tally. My dad told no one about this except me. He told me it was my decision whether or not to do anything about it. Well, I want you to go to college and have a nice house to live in. So I’m doing something.”
    She watched him grab the wedding ring and pocket watch, knowing their first stop out of town would be a pawn shop. “How long will you be gone?”
    “A week, ten days. Two weeks, tops.” He shoved the ring and watch into his pants pocket. “I’ll be back before you know it.”
    An hour later, San Antonio was in their rearview mirror.
    That was more than three weeks ago. He had promised to call. He hadn’t.
    She hadn’t read the letter. She didn’t know where he was headed, just somewhere near Warsaw.
    “Hey.”
    Tally’s eyes snapped open. Chase was standing next to her.
    “Were you actually asleep? I said your name twice. Come on. Let’s go.”
    “I wasn’t asleep. I was just…remembering.” Tally stood slowly, moving as if she had in fact been sleeping and was suddenly wrenched from a dream.

fifteen
    A manda closed the door to Penny Ryder’s office and began to walk the tiled corridor to her classroom. Her heels drummed a beat on the hard floor, punching the quiet air with a steady