Double Take by Melody Carlson

door open. She suspected her German was not working for him. Or else he was questioning her identity, but she hoped not. Certainly she hadn’t blown it already.
    She followed him into an old-fashioned kitchen that was lit by several kerosene lanterns. There he greeted a very round woman with tired eyes, obviously Aunt Rachel, then he went out of the kitchen, saying something about putting Anna’s bag in a room. He seemed eager to get away.
    “Anna! Anna!” The plain-looking woman put a lid on a black pot, then rushed over and wrapped her arms around Madison and pulled her close.
    “Aunt Rachel.” Madison returned the hug. Her nose was being assaulted by so many different aromas now. Food cooking, perspiration, mustiness—not terrible smells, but they would take some getting used to.
    Rachel held Madison at arm’s length, staring into her eyes, and in that same odd German she said that Anna was different. Madison nodded nervously. How could it be that Rachel was already suspicious? Anna said it had been two years since she’d seen her aunt. Wasn’t it possible that Anna had changed somewhat since then? As a distraction device, Madison pointed to Rachel’s bulging midsection, inquiring to her well-being.
    Rachel shook her head, telling her she wasn’t feeling too good.
    Madison made a sympathetic face, then hearing the voices of children in the other room, she nodded her head toward the doorway, asking about the children. “Un die Kinner?”
    Rachel let out a sigh, pushing a loose strand of mousy brown hair behind her ear, saying that as usual the children were loud and busy. As if on cue, the young voices in the other room grew shriller, and Madison was unsure of what to do. She wanted to look around, study the old-fashioned kitchen, figure things out. But that might draw Rachel’s attention. What would Anna say or do now?
    Before she could think of anything, Rachel took Madison’s face in both her hands and examined her closely. Her words said that Anna looked older, but Rachel had a question in her gray eyes, as if something was not quite right.
    “ Ja , ja ,” Madison said in a dismissive way. Was the jig up—had Rachel already figured it out? Before Rachel could press deeper, Madison offered to go check on the children. Thankfully, this seemed to please Rachel.
    Madison hurried from the kitchen into the next room, which was boxy and plain. Although the wide plank floors were attractive and a big rock fireplace dominated one wall, the general impression was sparse. There were a few pieces of rustic-looking wooden furniture lining one wall. There were no paintings, and other than several strategically placed kerosene lanterns, there were no decorative touches of any kind. On a worn rag rug in the center of the floor, three boys dressed in old-fashioned trousers with suspenders were arguing loudly, it seemed, over a wooden board game.
    “Hello,” Madison said cautiously.
    One of the older boys jumped to his feet. “Nicht Anna!”
    She recognized the word for cousin and paused for a moment, trying to recall the twins’ names. She took a wild guess as to which one this was. “Ezra?”
    “Ja!” He laughed as she ruffled his blond curls.
    “And Noah.” She pointed to the identical boy. That was easy. She’d gotten lucky with the twins, but it wasn’t likely to happen again. She pointed to the younger boy. “And Jeremiah.”
    He smiled shyly, then, while his brothers were distracted, he grabbed up some pieces from the board game and took off running. The two older boys yelled something unintelligible and chased after him. Jeremiah ran into a little dark-haired girl who had just toddled around the corner, knocking her onto her bottom on the hard floor. She burst into loud sobs. Just like that, chaos erupted, with the older boys yelling at Jeremiah and the toddler wailing. Madison wanted to cover her ears.
    Instead she went over and picked up the crying girl, attempting to soothe her, but little