In the Walls

By Sara Hebert

If you walk the halls of my grandparents’ house, you’ll see hallways that would better be described as ‘corridor’ (a term suited to the vastness of their estate). In the sunroom at the corridor’s end you’ll discover walls lined with towering bookcases. The middle case on the far wall conceals a small closet, where my father used to hide. My grandfather didn’t threaten him, so much as his new bride who resembled a serpent more than a woman. She would shed her skin and bathe in sunlight, when my grandfather was away, while my father peeked through cracks in the bookshelf.