"Don't you have any homework?" I asked her.
She didn't answer. She was so absorbed in what she was reading that I might as well not have been there. She didn't even hear Great-aunt Frances come to our room with the dresses in her arms. She was already wearing hers. a Chinese silk dress with an embroidered bird across the bodice. As with other costumes she wore, she was unable to pull up the zipper to the top, and the dress hung on her shoulders.
The moment Alanis saw her, she closed the book. She didn't have to worry, because Great-aunt Frances obviously thought it was some schoolbook.
"I don't mean to interrupt you kids doing your schoolwork. but I thought you'd like to choose from these three," she said and put the dresses on the foot of the bed. Then she pressed her hands together, bowed, and shuffled in her slippers out of our bedroom.
Alanis turned to me and broke into laughter.
We looked at the dresses. Alanis decided to wear the long dress with a red cherry blossom pattern and thought I'd look better in the green, sleeveless mini-dress with the dragon and phoenix pattern. On me, it was well below the knees. and I needed only a few safety pins to keep it on.
We laughed at each other in the mirror.
"I don't look so bad. you know. I can tell you this." she said. "This is a lot more fun than eating at my house."
When her granddad arrived with the take-out Chinese food, however, he looked very angry.
"You don't belong here. Alanis," he told her. "I want you to come home."
"I don't have a home." she replied. "Besides. I'm in China now. It takes a long time to get home."
She hurried away to set the table and pretend with Great-aunt Frances.
Her granddad looked at me with heavy eves. "'Watch yourself," he warned and left.
I wished I could tell him it would all be fine, that Alanis was happier here and we were becoming good friends. We wouldn't get into any more trouble, and maybe she would even do better at school. Greataunt Frances certainly enjoyed her company.
Now that Alanis had decided pretending was really fun, she was into it almost as much as Greataunt Frances. She even struggled with chopsticks and refused to use the fork.
Afterward, we both pitched in and cleaned up the dishes, silverware and the kitchen itself even better than we had previously.
"You are two very nice young ladies," Greataunt Frances told us. "You've already brought me more happiness than I had before you came."
"Maybe you can tell my granddad so he doesn't nag me to come home so much."
"Oh. I will," Great-aunt Frances promised.
Alanis gave me one of her satisfied expressions.
"I'm going to watch some television with your aunt," she said. "Don't you want to do your
homework?"
"I can do it all in a study hall tomorrow. Don't worry about it," she told me.
I was nervous about her watching television with Great-aunt Frances. however. Earlier, she had complained about how Great-aunt Frances talked to the television set and made it hard for her to watch television with her. Why did she want to do it again? Why wouldn't she want to come up to read the book. anyway? She saw my concern.
"Stop being a worry wart," she emphasized.
Not wanting to waste any more of my own time. I hurried upstairs and got into my homework again. I didn't want to do another poor job and have Mrs. Morgan scowl at me and give me a poor grade. If I worked hard. I thought, maybe I would have time to read another of Ian's letters before I went to sleep. As long as Alanis remained with Great-aunt Frances watching television. I could return to Grandmother Emma's bedroom and take them out of the closet.
However, the schoolwork took longer than I expected again. and I was so tired that I lowered my chin to my hands, propped up on my elbows. I nearly fell asleep at my desk. I opened my eyes when I heard Alanis enter the bedroom. She stood there smiling at me.
"Guess what?"
"What?" I asked, rubbing my eyes and sitting up. She held up a key.
"What's that?"