"I slammed my door shut and turned up my music to drown out their voices.
"Later, they each took turns coming to my room to complain about the other. I ignored their complaints and reminded each that it was the week of the Honor Society inductions with a ceremony on Thursday night. I was still a member, somehow keeping my grades up, and there was a reception. Everyone's parents would be there. However, my father had to leave for Texas and my mother had already booked herself in Atlanta for a cosmetics convention. Neither had remembered the affair, but what I understood was when my father knew my mother wasn't going to be there and she knew he wasn't, they were both comfortable with not being there. Know what I mean?"
"Neither would look good to Dr. Morton because they both had deserted you," Cat said.
"That's right."
"But what about you?" Misty asked.
"Yes, what about me?"
They waited.
I smiled.
"I decided I wasn't going to attend either. I had another obligation too."
"What obligation?" Star asked.
"My obligation to run away," I said. "And that was just what I did."
5
"It's probably a good time to break for lunch," Dr. Marlowe said.
"I'd rather hear Jade's story," Misty whined. "Speak for yourself, girl. My stomach's
rumbling and her story will still be here when we get back," Star told her. "Jade could use the rest, I'm sure," Dr. Marlowe said.
I wasn't hungry, but it was a good idea to stop for a while. When I rose, I felt as if I had been running, not sitting. Riding a roller coaster of emotions, even only in memory, was exhausting.
On a table on the closed-in patio, Emma had set up a buffet of cold cuts, cheeses, some salad, bread and rolls. There was a variety of cookies, too.
"I changed my mind," Misty said when she set eyes on it all, "I'm glad we stopped for lunch."
Star grunted, but Cat actually broke out in a wide smile. I say broke out because for her a smile was something smothered beneath shyness and fear most of the time I had been with her. Whenever she did smile, I felt as if it had escaped from under the weight of sadness that usually soaked her face like ink in a blotter.
"Just dig in, girls," Dr. Marlowe said.
We filled our dishes and sat at the table, Dr. Marlowe joining us last. Emma rushed in and out, replenishing meats and cheeses as if she had three times the number of people for lunch than were actually here.
"Thank you, Emma," Dr. Marlowe called to her as she hurried back to the kitchen.
"Why doesn't Emma eat with us?" Misty asked. "Maybe she's afraid she'll catch something," Star said.
"What could she catch, a bad attitude?" I said. Star looked at me for a moment and then shook her head and bit into her sandwich.
"Emma has always been very shy," Dr. Marlowe offered. "And she likes to think the best of people, look harder for the good in everyone."
"That's why she's the way she is," Star muttered.
"What do you mean? You don't know how she is:' I said. She smirked as if I had said something stupid. "Well, do you?"
"She's living here with her sister like some maid. What has she got for herself? I'm not blind and I don't look at the world through . . . what did you call them?" she asked Dr. Marlowe. "Rosy-colored glasses?"
"Rose-colored. That's what Emma wears," Dr. Marlowe said, nodding with a smile. "She's not as unhappy as you might imagine, Star. She's
comfortable, safe and she's home. She knows I'll do whatever I can for her and she would do the same for me. The way the world seems sometimes, that's a lot."