She paused as she maneuvered the car into the inside 
lane, then continued. "One thing you must remember, Tam. Your aunts may seem strange to you, and much, much older than they really are. You see, their mother, your grandfather's first wife, was born in Russia, and she brought up Lettie and Sophi very strictly. They were never allowed far from home alone, and somehow they never got over the old-fashioned ways they learned from their mother. Even the house is just as it was when their mother died - like something out of another century."
   Tam's mother frowned again. "When your grandfather remarried, years after his first wife died, and brought my mother home as a bride, she wasn't allowed to change a thing. But I think you'll find it interesting, Tam, if you think of it as being like something out of a book. And Lettie is a darling, really. You'll love her as much as I did."
   Turning around, Tam pretended to pet Rush in the back seat, so that her mother would not see the tears.
   "Why can't I go to Germany with you and Daddy? Why can't I go to school there next year? Please. Ple-ase!"
   "Tam, dear, we've been over this so many times. You are reaching an age when you should stay in school and make lasting friends, and besides–"
   Mother's sentences, Tam thought, were always melting away in mystery. Besides what–?
   "We're coming into Sausalito," her mother said, her 

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voice sounding brighter. "Soon you'll see the old wharf
where I used to–play."
   Sausalito was a good name, Tam thought, because it was a saucy town. As they wound around the narrow street she saw that the houses grew right out of the hill above them, and all were turned, like flowers, to look at the sun. The windows caught the late afternoon sparkle, but this was one afternoon that held no sparkle for Tam.
   She had lived in a lot of places; that was because her father was in the Air Force. She couldn't remember all the
cities, but the last two had been in Texas. Now her father was to be stationed in Germany for two years, and Tam couldn't understand why she was to be left behind to live with two aunts she had never even seen. Her mother had promised she could come to Germany next summer, but this was only June. A whole year without seeing your parents is an awfully long time.
   They were rounding another curve in the road, and Tam could see the sandy beach below. Little white sailboats floated on the bay like ballet dancers. Beyond them, San Francisco looked like a stage curtain with tall buildings drawn one on top of another in grayish-white chalk. The scene reminded Tam that her mother had promised she could continue her ballet lessons in Aunt Lettie's ballet school, but even that didn't make her any happier now. The time when her mother would leave her was coming too close.
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