Deenie Read Online Free PDF Page A

with my parents."
    "Maybe she'll write them a letter."
    "Maybe … but either way my mother's going to be plenty sore. You can't be a model if you don't have good posture."
    "So you can be something else."
    "Try and tell that to my mother!" I opened my purse, pulled out the chicken's foot and dumped it into the trash can on the corner.
    Six
    Every night after supper Helen takes off for Myra Woodruff's house. They do their homework together. I can't believe my sister has that much studying to do. Nobody expects much from my schoolwork so I get by with hardly ever cracking a book as long as I don't bring home any D's or F's.
    Ma says Helen is excused from helping with the dishes because she works at the library twice a week and she baby sits every weekend, so she needs all the studying time she can get. I'm never excused from helping in the kitchen. Ma usually does the washing and I dry everything and if, God forbid, I put something away that's just a teensy bit wet I never hear the end of it. My mother's very fussy about the kitchen. Well, she's fussy about the whole house. She spends hours and hours cleaning the place. She says our floors are so clean you could eat off them, not that anybody is thinking about doing that, but you could. One thing I'm sure of is I don't want to spend my life cleaning some house like Ma. Sometimes I think Helen's lucky. She'll be a doctor or lawyer or engineer and she'll never have to do those things. But if I don't make it as a model, then what?
    The phone rang just as I was putting away the last pot. I hollered, "I'll get it," and ran to the front hall.
    It was Mrs. Rappoport. I recognized her voice right away and she knew mine too because she said, "Hello Deenie. May I speak to your mother or your father please."
    I thought about which one I should call to the phone and decided on Daddy. If Mrs. Rappoport was going to discuss my posture Ma might get upset.
    "Who is it?" Daddy asked, when I told him there was a phone call.
    "It's Mrs. Rappoport, my gym teacher," I said, covering the mouthpiece with my hand.
    I stood right next to my father while he said, "Hello, this is Frank Fenner."
    After that he didn't say anything except a couple of "uh huhs" and one "yes, I see." He motioned for me to go away so I went back into the kitchen, wondering exactly what Mrs. Rappoport was telling him.
    "Who was on the phone?" Ma asked.
    "Mrs. Rappoport, my gym teacher."
    "What does she want?"
    "I'm not sure," I said.
    Ma sprinkled some cleanser into the sink. "Did you do something wrong?"
    "No Ma … nothing like that."
    She rinsed the sink clean and polished the faucet with the dish towel. "Then why is she calling here?"
    "I don't know."
    "Well," Ma said, putting down the dish towel, "I better find out."
    Daddy was hanging up when we got to the hall.
    "What was that all about?" Ma asked him.
    "When was the last time Deenie had a check-up at Dr. Moravia's office?" Daddy said.
    "In April," Ma told him. "She had to have one before junior high. Why?"
    Daddy looked at me. I don't think he wanted to say anything else but he did. "It seems that Mrs. Rappoport thinks we should take her for another one."
    "What for?" Ma asked, turning toward me. "Deenie, do you feel sick? Is there something you haven't told me?"
    "No, Ma," I said. "I think it's my posture. That's all."
    "That's right," Daddy said. "Mrs. Rappoport noticed it and thinks we should look into the situation. There might be some exercises that Dr. Moravia could recommend."
    "You're talking in circles," Ma said.
    Daddy gave her a sharp look which meant he wasn't going to discuss it in front of me.
    Ma said, "Deenie, you promised to practice standing very straight and tall."
    "I tried," I said.
    "I don't think so," Ma told me. "I think you've got other things on your mind so you forget what's really important!"
    "Thelma … " Daddy began.
    "Frank, that girl has got to learn … "
    "I don't want to talk about it anymore," I called, racing up the stairs.
    I got