FORTY SEVEN

KAREN

I arrived in Cumberland Valley by four o'clock. It was my community where I was born. People here are mostly farmers raising corn and soybeans; some also do dairy farming.

"Phew, home at last. It has been a long while now," I commented after parking in front of our house. Someone came out; it was my junior sister still in junior high, Aria.

"You're back, sister," she said happily and helped me with the luggage. "How was it in New York?" She asked curiously.

"It's great. I'm sure you will like it when you come," I said.

"Mummy said I will go to a boarding school in New York for my high school just like you," she announced.

"Wow, that's great," I praised as we walked inside the house. It was a duplex, quite modern; our family could be considered well-off in Cumberland.

"Where's Mom?" I queried.

"She went to see her friends."

"And Derek?" I asked again.

"He went to the farm," she replied.

"Oh, that's good." Derek was my immediate younger brother, the only male in our house, and he