"Good. Let's keep it all a secret. okay? You good at keeping secrets?"
I nodded. "There were lots of things Ian told me not to tell anyone. and I never did."
"I bet he told you lots of things. Whatever he told you, you can tell me."
I shook my head.
"No. Ian wouldn't like it."
"You'll tell me stuff and I'll tell you stuff," she said confidently. "We'll be best friends, and best friends don't keep secrets from each other, otherwise they wouldn't be best friends. right?"
"I suppose," I said. although I didn't like the idea of betraying Ian.
"You have a best friend back home, someone you had over and had you over?"
"No. Grandmother Emma wouldn't let me have anyone stay over,"
"She sounds like a real winner, too. Sure you don't want to just taste this?" She held up the bottle. "You don't taste it, you won't ever know if you like it." She kept it up, holding it toward me. "You don't have to be afraid doing anything with me. I wouldn't tell. It would just get me into bigger trouble. Go on," she urged, jerking the bottle toward me. "You can't know how good something is if you don't try it. right?"
I saw she wasn't going to be satisfied until I did try it. so I slipped out of the chair and took it and stood there looking at it.
"Just take a sip. girl. It won't turn you into stone or something."
I did. It burned my throat and I spit. She laughed and took back the bottle.
"Don't worry about it. That's just what it does the first time. You'll get used to it."
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why would I want to?"
"You won't know why for sure until you drink more of it," she said. She smiled, "Then you'll thank me."
She took another sip from the bottle to show me how much she enjoyed it. I looked toward the stairway. It was getting late. and I wondered if Greataunt Frances had woken up and realized I wasn't there by now. I really wanted to start reading Ian's letters. too. Alanis saw how fidgety I was.
"Relax. We don't have no curfew. My mother's at work and my granddaddy's already asleep himself, just like your great-aunt. We're on our own." she said, smiling. "It's early and we're just starting to have some fun, right?"
It was interesting talking to her, but nothing was really any fun to me yet. However. I nodded and sat again. I was getting tired. but I was afraid to say so. It had been a long day for me, so long it seemed more like a week. My body felt as if I had ridden a roller coaster because I'd had so many ups and downs emotionally and I'd had to fight continuously to keep my tears under lock and key.
"We can have a lot of fun together, more fun than you would ever have back at that mansio
n." Alanis leaned forward. "Are you rich. too? I mean, do you have your own money?"
"No. I don't have any money."
She grimaced. "Don't give me that."
"I don't."
"Don't you get an allowance or something?"
I shook my head.
"They didn't give you money when they sent you here?"
"No."