Sydelle Pulaski also limps. But it's a fake limp, a way of getting attention. Sydelle the secretary hobbles around unconvincingly on a crutch painted with purple waves, hoping for at least a smidgen of sympathy for her non-existent injury. To be fair to Sydelle, she does need something to stand out from the crowd, being as how she's the only heir that doesn't have any kind of connection to Sam Westing. Technically speaking, then, Sydelle shouldn't even be in the game. But in any case, she's determined to make herself noticed. She's fed up of being ignored, and as she emphatically states on the night before Sam's alleged killing:
"No one ever notices Sydelle Pulaski. But now they will. Now they will."
Always beware of people who refer to themselves in the third person. At the very least, it indicates the presence of a monumental ego. In this particular case, it could also indicate the presence of psychopathic intent, of Sydelle hoping to murder Sam as a way of gaining the attention she so desperately craves.
The Westing Game, by Ellen Raskin, is a mystery novel aimed at children and young adults. It’s about the death of a man named Sam Westing, who then decides to split his inheritance among sixteen apparent strangers, including characters like Chris, Turtle, and Theo. They have to solve a puzzle he left behind to see who inherits the full $200 million.
In the early part of the book, Chris sees a limping person going into Westing House, but because he stutters and sometimes has trouble getting his body to do what he wants, he fails to tell his brother Theo about it.
Chris picks up the habit of looking at people’s legs in order to figure out who is limping. He notices that Crow tends to limp. Another main character that starts to limp is Theo. (He starts limping because Turtle kicked him.) Chris also thinks of Grace as limping a bit, because she has trouble with her high heels.
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