Bella put her small case on the bed , took off her sandals and leaned forward to sniff at the wall. Everything had a new smell in this place, not homely, not decrepit, perhaps ancient clinical. The wall was even slightly warm and her cheek rested for a moment gainst the faded pattern and the girl took out a pen and traced a line along the top of her head. She giggled at the touch of the pen on her head. Down stairs Maya was moving things around. Ten minutes and then come down if you like and you eat something.
Bella glanced down at her deep pink toe nails and shuffled her feet admiring her long toes. Why had she come?
She had of course because her Aunt had asked her and college had been so lonely and because most importantly of all, because she had dreamt of something too strange to ignore. So she was upstairs in the blue house, where years before, Aunt Minnie had created a very special world. Minnie looked at her from a photograph on the lavender fireplace, a small taut woman grinning on a beach, holding out a short board, sand shining on her skin. Bella held the picture to the light, laughing back at the mouth captured in the act of teasing.