"What if you want to buy something?"

"Everything is bought for me. It was always that way."

"Damn. Well, maybe there's a way you can get some money when we need it. My mother thinks your treat-aunt must have a fortune buried or hidden somewhere in this house. Your grandmother has an account set up so my granddaddy can buy or charge things that are needed, but he can't get money out of it. Wait," she said after taking another sip from her bottle of whiskey. "I got an idea. You'll need money for things in school, you know?"

"What things?"

"Lunch, for starters, unless she prepares some for you. which I doubt. Tell her you need ten dollars a day. She won't know the difference."

"What will I do with it?"

"What will you do with it? You kidding? We'll buy stuff. like the booze and music and cigarettes and magazines. This is our clubhouse. We don't want to invite boys over unless we have stuff. right?"

I shrugged. "What boys?"

"Boys, boys. Damn. Don't you want a boyfriend now?"

"No, but I would like a girlfriend who could stay over," I said.

"A girl to stay over? I don't know what girl's going to want to stay over here. Maybe we'll invite some girls to our clubhouse, but we have to be very careful who we invite. We don't want no

blabbermouth here telling people about what we have and what we do. introduce you to my best friends."

"What will we do here?"

"Lots of stuff. Look," she said, getting frustrated with me. as Ian often did. "Don't worry about it for now. I'll educate you as we go along. Believe me, you're going to have more fun than you ever had, than you ever dreamed you would have. You're in good hands when you're with Alanis King."

"Your name is Alanis King?"

"Yeah, although since Daddy run off. Mama's been talking about calling ourselves Marshall. I'm kinda used to Alanis King. Changing our names is like burying him."

"Who?"

"My daddy, that's who. Don't vou listen?"

She stared at me, then she drank some more of her whiskey.

"Try it again," she said, offering me the bottle. You have to get used to it first. Go on. You don't want to be a child. Not with your body and stuff. Besides, this is like training. First time I drank something. I got sick as hell because I didn't have any training." She pumped the bottle at me. and I slipped off the chair and took it. "Just do it slower, a little at a time. Go ahead."

I sipped and swallowed. It was still hot in my throat and chest. but I didn't cough. She nodded, happy, and encouraged me to take another drink and another.

"That's it. You got it. See. Go ahead, take one long swallow now."

I did. She was happy and took the bottle back,

"This is some of Granddaddy's finest. He don't know how much he has. Sometimes, I pour a little water in a bottle and he can't tell what I took and what I didn't,"

I sat again. I could feel it bubbling in my stomach. "You like sitting there in that stupid dress?'

"I don't know."

"You don't know? How can you not know? You look stipid. Just take it off. She's asleep and won't care anymore anyway. Here," she said. rising. "I'll help you by undoing these dumb safety pins. I swear, this is the silliest..."

She started to undo them, and the dress began to float around me again. She helped me take it off completely and tossed it on the floor. Then she stared at me. I was wearing an undershirt and panties. I could smell the whiskey on her breath and wondered if it was that strong a smell on mine.

"What's this?" she asked, lifting my locket in her palm.

"Pictures of my parents." I said. She dropped it as if it had been hot.

Tags: V.C. Andrews Early Spring Horror
Source: readsnovelonline.net