*Ding-Dong!* A lone church bell rang. Mrs. Swenson had died two nights ago at 9:25 pm. We were driving back from the funeral. Angel was sniffling in the backseat with me. All of the family was crying. Mom and Dad were only crying a little, though they were trying to hide it from us. At least the grownups could keep their feelings in. We reached the house at about 4:00 pm. I brought Angel to my bedroom and sat her on my bed. “It’s alright Angel. It will all be ok.” My voice was a mere whisper. Sadness is a very powerful thing. I finally got Angel to calm down and have dinner with us. Everyone just sat around the table. We barely touched our food. Angel finally mustered up her voice, and said “ My mother was very worried about what would happen to the Swenson Museum if she passed on. I am unable to take the museum because I am in college. When mother was sick I was barely able to work part time at the museum. Actually, the volunteers were the ones who ran the museum. I just… supervised.” Angel looked down at the table. Mother also tried out her voice. “ What will happen to the museum?” Nobody answered this time. The question hung in the air. What will happen to the museum? I have been thinking about it the past few days, and yet the question seemed to be in a foreign language. What IS the answer to the question? I pondered.

Dinner was over in a flash. I quickly and quietly went up to my room to prepare Angel’s bed. I struggled with the thought , How could things get much worse? On this final note, I spun around heading towards the door. Instead of finding the doorway empty, I saw Angel walking into the room. I screamed the loudest I could. “Oh goodness!” Angel said, “ I didn’t mean to scare you!” I quickly apologized for screaming and sat Angel on her bed. Mother came and asked what was wrong and why I had screamed. “I just got a little startled.” I lied. Truly I had been terrified, but I didn’t want to make Angel feel bad. “I really didn’t mean to scare you!” Angel said again. Her eyes were a little bit watery. I went to sit on the bed and gave her a hug. “It’s all right.” We both sat there cuddling each other. Mother finally left, and went to answer the phone. Then Dad came up the stairs and quietly stepped into the room. “I believe it’s your bedtime, Cara.” I sat on the bed for a little bit, and then gave Dad a hug. No matter what happened, I knew we would all be together.

“Wait up, Cal!” I cried out. Cal and I were heading out of school to go home. Cal finally stopped and I was able to catch up to him. “I can’t wait for Alex to come over for dinner tonight!” Cal exclaimed with joy. It was almost a week after Mrs. Swenson’s death. Since the Swenson Museum had closed , two days before Mrs. Swenson had died, Mom stayed home every day. Therefore, a babysitter wasn’t really needed, but sometimes we invited Alex over for dinner. Cal liked listening to Alex’s stories. Angel was still living with us while she went to college. It was actually a lot of fun to have Angel as part of the family. With her mother being gone, Angel seemed very grateful to have someone else with her. When we finally reached the parking lot, it was almost deserted. Our Mother’s car was nowhere to be seen. “I’ll go call Mom on the office phone.” Cal said. I waited for about fifteen minutes before Cal finally came back. “Mom told me that the traffic is too bad. She says that since we only live a few blocks away, we can walk back home.” We started on our way home. After a few minutes, we realized that we were on a very familiar street. “Hey, isn’t the…*cough*... Swenson Museum on this street?” Cal asked. I nodded toward an old looking, worn out, abandoned building that was to our right. “That is the famous Swenson Museum right there.” Cal looked at me wide eyed as if I was crazy. We continued the rest of the walk in silence. I felt the same as Cal. How could the Swenson Museum change so much? I thought to myself. The question lingered in my brain for a while.
How Could The Swenson Museum Change So Much?