saw the door had been moved.
I tried to call. I thought I had shouted. but I'm
sure it was barely louder than a whisper. Finally, after
what must have been another hour or so, she came
into the room. She was no longer in her business suit,
but what I saw now was so weird. I thought I was
surely still locked in a dream.
Aunt Victoria seemed to float past me. She was
wearing only a thin negligee.
She was very slender and I could see her ribs
outlined under the skin. She turned and raised her
arms, holding them frozen in the air for a moment
before dropping them to turn herself again in a strange
dance. The smile on her face was so different. It
looked more like a little girl's smile of joy.
She paused and looked at me as if she was
pleased.
"Oh. Megan. I'm so excited. I couldn't wait to
come in to tell you. Daddy loves me," she said.
"Daddy loves me more than he loves you."
She did a little spin again and drew closer to
me. My eyes felt locked, unable to turn an iota to the
right or to the left. Her face was mesmerizing. When
she spoke, she spoke in a little girl's voice.
"Daddy carried me up to bed. I had just finished
my cup of hot milk and he said I should go to sleep
now. I didn't want to. I wanted to stay up longer, but
he said I had to go to sleep or Mother would be angry.
She had left it up to him to take care of us tonight
while she was at her charity ball meeting and he had