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Show in my f a t h e r ' s house/ 258 lunchtime - and in case she gets sick." 6- I knew my father doted on Melissa - A beautiful toddler with shining ringlets and round ... * blue eyes - much as he once lavished affection on me. Now he had forgotten about me and my mother - what we wanted or needed - and thought only of Aunt Helga and Melissa. "Can we please stay in this district?" I asked. "I don't want to go to school where people know about us." Pain registered in my father's face. He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it. He passed a hand over his eyes. "We'll have to see." When night fell, and my father left, I called Jeanne. "Moving!" she gasped. "Where? Not out of the neighborhood!" My eyes burned. "I...I don't know. I think I can get my dad to buy a house in this neighborhood," I said recklessly- "Oh, I hope so!" she breathed. After an awkward pause, she asked, "Why...Why don't you stay in the house you've got? It's such a nice house." I cleared my throat. "You know my mother is a twin - I told you that." My brain spun as I tried to remember what I had and hadn't said. "Well...my parents sort of...help her...so she'll have a family too, you know. They want us to move into a duplex with her in one side and my mother in the other." "Oh!" Jeanne's voice was bright, approving. "What a lovely idea! Then your mother and she can be close. That's wonderful!" I swallowed past the lump in my throat. "Yes," I murmured. On Mo.nday, Jeanne's eyes glowed as I met her for school. "The duplex at the end of my block is for sale! I know your |
