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Show in my father's house/ 261 leaving old waterstains like the dirty clouds of feeling now obscuring my view. "No. He doesn't love me," I whispered. ^ In the next room, my father's voice droned on, dictating, preaching, planning. He had forgotten all about me. "He doesn't love me after all." The next morning, Jeanne's brown eyes sparkled in greeting. "Well - is he going to buy it?" I shook my head, lowering it so that she wouldn't notice my red eyes. "He wants a place closer to...his office." "But why? He travels so much, he's hardly ever there!" I sighed heavily. "Look, Jeanne, we have to talk. Not now. After school." All day I rehearsed what I would say to her. Various stories formed, then flew apart like clouds in a windstorm. I couldn't lie to Jeanne anymore. She, of all people in the world, knew who I really was. If ray background made her turn against me, then I was nothing anyway, and one thing about Jeanne - I could trust her not to get my family in trouble. We met at the grammar school and sat on the lawn. "All those things I made you think - about my father being a travelling salesman and that we're just being nice to Aunt Helga by including her in our family - I didn't exactly lie, but I...See, Aunt Helga really is in my family." I waited for it to sink in. "Well of course she is. She's your mother's twin. Jeanne's eyes pleaded with me to cheer up. She patted my arm. |