THUMP! A moving box landed in the hallway. Maple Wren dropped her crayons and ran to her bedroom door.
Then Maple Wren went very still. Bare tape rolls lay on the floor. Her posters hung half down, fluttering in the fan breeze.
She hurried from room to room, patting the window seat, the kitchen table, and the creaky stair rail. "Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye," she whispered.
Dusty sunbeams filled the house. It smelled like lemon soap and boxes.
At the front step, Maple Wren peeked next door and waved. By the fence, her friends waved back. One tossed a striped sock that plopped onto Maple Wren's head like a silly hat.
Across town, Maple Wren pushed open the new bedroom door. Tap-tap went her footsteps on the empty floor.
She stood in the doorway and looked at the plain walls and the bright square of window light. Then she put her old blue blanket on the bed first.
Box after box, Maple Wren set her lamp by the bed, her drawings on the wall, and her favorite books under the window.
Still, the room looked too neat and strange.
Maple Wren listened to the scratch of tape and the rumble of a truck outside.
Then she propped a photo from next door on the shelf. Maple Wren pulled the blanket smooth and started one more box.
Soon Maple Wren climbed onto the bed and looked all around. Her blanket, her drawings, her books, and the photo glowed gold in the late light.
A car door shut outside. Maple Wren smiled and tapped the wall softly with her knuckles.
"Hello, room," she said, as the curtain lifted in the fresh breeze.
