Dear Sonia,

Thanks for postcard number two! Do you have any stationery? Then you could fit more words. My Thanksgiving was good, too. Mom and I went to my dad’s restaurant, like always. Dad and Jesse (your dad!) came and sat with us whenever they got work breaks. Sheila (your aunt!) came, too. A lot of people go to restaurants on Thanksgiving, did you know that? That’s why my dad always has to work.

After we ate, I helped in the coat room while my mom and Sheila talked. There are three coats in the coat room that people left behind a long time ago. They are always there, even when the restaurant is closed. Angus calls them the orphan coats, and he named them Gerald, Phoebe, and Tim. Whenever Angus comes to the restaurant, he visits them and shakes their sleeves like they’re people. It’s pretty funny.

I finished the “my breakfast table” project. When I showed Mr. Home my diagrams, he told me his parents got divorced, too, when he was thirteen.

My mom’s kitchen table is round, with three chairs. Dad’s table is rectangular. I labeled one chair “Jesse.” It’s the chair he always sits on. You’ll see. I told Mr. Home all about how our dads are getting married, and I also told him about you. We have a fourth chair at Dad’s, if you are wondering. We actually have six. I also put an arrow pointing under the table, and wrote “Rocco.” Jesse told me you know about Rocco already. But did he tell you that Rocco really likes to be under the table while we eat?

Carolyn Shattuck (remember her?) keeps trying to read my letter! She is so annoying. She made me look at her diagram. She has a brother now because her mom got married again and had a baby. Carolyn labeled his chair “highchair,” and his breakfast food is “gross banana mush.” I wish she could get 10s on her spelling tests, even if I never will. Then she could go to Mr. Home’s radio parties and leave me alone.

Angus’s breakfast diagram looks like this: a rectangle labeled “Angus” (this is his bed, with him in it) and, right next to it, a circle labeled “brownie” (this is his breakfast). Angus had a big fight with his mom about his “fundamental human right” to save his dessert for breakfast. Angus won. So now he sits up in bed every morning and the first thing he does is eat yesterday’s dessert. But he doesn’t get to have dessert after dinner. I don’t know if I would make that trade.

Mr. Home loves Angus’s diagram so much he asked to make a copy.

We made practice butter again this week. It turned out better than the first time.

This is the longest letter I ever wrote!

Your future sister,

Bea

P.S. Your aunt Sheila says that if you get a shiver for no reason it means that someone is walking on your future grave. Do you believe that?