"What's Ian getting to eat?" I asked.
"Ian's already had his dinner. Nancy brought him tuna fish and a salad."
"But he hates tuna fish," I said. I was sure she knew that.
"When you have nothing else to eat, you suddenly learn to love it," she replied.
"He won't eat it."
"That's enough about Ian. Finish your dessert and go up to take your bath and get ready for bed. You've had a terrible day and the faster you get it behind you, the better off you'll be," Grandmother Emma said.
"It wasn't terrible. I saw Mama," I told her.
She pressed her lower lip over her upper and tapped her fingers on the tabletop.
"She'll be fine," Miss Harper said. "Just give it some time."
"Yes. You're probably right, dear. Thank you," Grandmother Emma said, and dabbed her lips with her napkin. "I have things to do in my office."
"I'll see to her," Miss Harper said.
"Thank you." Grandmother Emma rose. "Do exactly as you're told, Jordan," she said firmly. Then she walked out of the dining room.
As soon as she did, Miss Harper stood up, reached over to take the remaining piece of pie away from me, and then nodded. "Time to go up and do as you were told," she said. "Go on."
I rose, pushed in my chair, and hurried to the stairway. Maybe Ian would be outside in the hallway. I thought, but when I got upstairs, he was not and it was still dark and quiet on his side. I heard Miss Harper coming up behind me so I went to my room and started to run the bath.
She came in behind me and stood in the doorway of the bathroom watching. I started to pour in some of Mama's bubble bath and she stepped forward and seized it out of my hand.
"You don't need that to wash."
"But I like it in my bath."
"You don't play in a bathtub anymore, Jordan. You're too old now."
"Mama uses it and she's older than I am,"
"Don't contradict me. Get undressed and into the water. You are to wash your hair, too. Who knows what filth your brother dragged you through today?"
"We didn't go through any filth. We just went in taxicabs and on a bus to the hospital."
She stared at me a moment and then nodded. "Your grandmother is absolutely right about you and your brother. You were simply brought up in too permissive an environment. It never fails. That's the world of children when they have selfish parents."
"My parents aren't selfish."
"No, they're the paragon of altruism," she said.
I grimaced. What was that? I'd have to ask Ian later, I thought.
"Get in the water. It's high enough," she ordered, and I went ahead and did so.
She looked at me more closely than ever and shook her head. "Nature can do some very freaky things,' she muttered.
"I'm not a freak!" I screamed.
"Stop that shouting,"
"I'm not," I started to cry.