"Why shouldn't he call it that?"
"Yeah, I want to meet your brother one of these days."
"He can't come here."
"Well," she said, swaying a little, "maybe we'll find out where he is exactly and go see him."
"We will?"
"Why not? We get the money, we can do anything we want. right?"
"I don't know."
"Well. I do, damn it, so stop saying 'I don't know.' You just work on getting us the money."
She let go of my shirt and I rose quickly.
"Trust me. I'm the best friend you gonna ever have," she said. She hugged me and stepped away. "I'm going out this way," she said, nodding at the basement door and turning off the radio. "I'll see you tomorrow. Remember, don't tell your great-aunt about this clubhouse. Don't tell anyone and don't mention it around my mother or my granddaddy, okay?"
"Okay," I said.
"Take that dumb dress up with you in case she asks about it," she called to me.
I returned from the stairway and scooped it into my arms.
"I'll see if I can get Granddaddy to drive us into town tomorrow. We can hang out at the mall or something. Don't you have any money at all?"
'No.' I said.
"Well, ask her for some in the morning. Tell her you need stuff for school like notebooks and pens and things. You do anyway, and if I tell Granddaddy that, he'll be more apt to drive us there, okay?"
"Okay," I said,
"I still want to hear more about that weird brother of yours," she called from the basement door.
"He's not weird. He's smart." I said.
"Same thing to me," she said and left laughing,
As I started up the stairs, my chicken and ice cream dinner, mixed with the whiskey I had drunk, announced itself again in my throat and I gagged before I opened the door and entered the hallway. I felt very dizzy. too. For a moment I just stood there. confused, Then I went to the living room and looked in at Great-aunt Frances,
She had slid down on the sofa so that her head was on the arm and her feet were dangling. I didn't see how she could stay asleep in such an uncomfortable position. The television was still on with the volume as loud as it had been, but she was fast asleep. I wanted to wake her and tell her I wasn't feeling well. but I was too frightened to do it. She would want to know where I'd been, and she might smell the whiskey on my breath. I thought. so I turned and started up the stairway to my room.
Before I got to the top, the food came up again and I had to cover my mouth and hurry down the hallway to the bathroom. I made it to the toilet
just in time and started to heave up everything. I was so loud, crying and vomiting, that I thought Great-aunt Frances would hear me for sure, but when I stopped and sat on the floor, I didn't hear anything but my own moaning.
I was surprised to discover I was still clinging to the big dress. I was hugging it to me, in fact. Finally. I was able to stand and walk. I went to my bedroom and looked for my pajamas. My head was pounding and tears were streaming down my cheeks. but I managed to change and crawl into bed. I was too tired to read Ian's letters, and that made me and at myself.
I realized I had left the light an in the bathroom and the bedroom door open. but I was too sick to get up and go out to turn it off. I just wanted to close my eyes. I embraced the bag of Ian's letters and turned on my side.
Images of the long and troubling day flashed on the insides of my eyelids. I moaned. I called out for Mommy and far Ian and I crunched my legs up against my stomach to make it feel better. Finally, I fell asleep, but I woke up with a start in the middle of the night, confused and lost. It took me a while to realize where I was. It was dark now. I imagined that Great- aunt Frances had finally come up to bed and put out the lights in the bathroom and hallway.
The shades had been drawn down on my windows so that even the moonlight was locked out. My eyes slowly got used to it, and suddenly. I saw someone sitting across from me. My heart stopped and started, and then I shifted and heard. 'How are you feeling, dear?" I realized it was Great-aunt Frances.
"My tummy hurts." I said,
"Yes. I saw what went on in the bathroom. Don't worry. I've taken care of it. It was just too much excitement too fast, coming to a new home, meeting me for the first time, getting used to your new bed. That's what my mother would tell me, and she would be right, of course. Mothers are usually always right. I've been sitting here worrying about you."