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Show Moon - 83 leap in between and begin his animated talking, his lovely hazel eyes demanding admiration. You noticed this, Mother, and tried to draw Caleb out. I noticed, too, but I didn't know how to be with either brother now. The world had become complicated, and I was pulling away from the family. I saw my brothers gazing at me sometimes with a hunger in their eyes, as if I might somehow be important to them-if only I knew what to say, if only my arms were not locked against my ribs, against reaching out and holding them to me in those quick moments of love. Lee was such an attractive child that strangers swooped down to speak to him. You told me that he stole money. James found it missing from his wallet. Caleb, who saved his money carefully, complained. Lee never stole from you or from me. I tried not to listen when you talked to me about his stealing, because I didn't want the responsibility of such knowledge. You seemed to think it was your own fault, and you would not let James punish him. You said that Lee was too young to understand. He was a sensitive child, you said, just like your own brother Michael. You said the money stood for love, and love was what we were none of us getting enough of. James took us on vacation to Italy. The tiled-roof houses in the mountain villages tumbled across the slopes as naturally as rockfall, and the sea was so blue I wanted to scoop it into my eyes. The dark, beautiful men spoke to me in voices that rose and fell like music. They smiled as if the sun had come back into the world. You told me not to smile back. You told me to brush the hair out of my eyes. You did not like me then. I did not like you either. The shadows under your eyes grew darker in Italy. I worried that the way men looked at me |