Tallahassee Higgins Read Online Free PDF Page A

junk food for one day."
    In my opinion you can never have enough junk food, but I knew better than to try telling Aunt Thelma that. Instead I slumped in the backseat and wondered what Liz was doing. Ten to one, she and the mother stealer were eating Big Macs somewhere.
    ***
    After dinner Aunt Thelma and I had one more fight. This time it was about television. I wanted to stay up and watch
The Bride of Dracula
on
Creature Feature,
but Aunt Thelma reminded me that my bedtime was nine-thirty on weekends.
    "You certainly can't stay up until two in the morning watching a horror film," she said.
    "Liz lets me see anything I want." I glared at Aunt Thelma. "And she never makes me go to bed."
    I'm sure Aunt Thelma thought I was lying, but I wasn't. I'd been watching horror films all my life, partly because Liz was scared to watch them by herself. And I'd always stayed up till I fell asleep, usually on the floor in front of the television set. Then Liz would carry me to bed.
    "Well, you aren't living with Liz now." Aunt Thelma turned off the television, right in the middle of an old
Fantasy Island
rerun. "So go on upstairs before I lose my temper."
    "Can't I at least watch the end of
Fantasy Island?
" I asked. "It's one of my favorites. This woman is going to drink from the fountain of youth—that's her wish—and then she's going to find out it's really awful to see everybody you love get old while you stay young, and the dwarf is going—"
    "That's enough, Tallahassee," Aunt Thelma rudely interrupted me. "If you know the show so well, you don't need to see it again."
    "But I don't remember all of it," I said. "I forget how it ends. There's always this twist, you know, and—"
    Aunt Thelma put her hands on my shoulders and turned me toward the stairs. "Go to bed," she said. "This minute!"
    "You hate me!" I yelled at her as Uncle Dan came up from the basement. "You hate Liz and you hate me!"
    "You do something with her," Aunt Thelma said to Uncle Dan. "I can't put up with this behavior."
    "All I wanted to do was stay up and see
The Bride of Dracula,
" I told Uncle Dan, "but she won't even let me watch
Fantasy Island.
"
    "You be a good girl and do what your aunt tells you, Tallahassee," Uncle Dan said gently as Aunt Thelma stalked off to the kitchen with Fritzi at her heels. "You know it's your bedtime."
    I opened my mouth to argue, but Uncle Dan just shook his head. "Go on, now," he said.
    Unhappily, I went to my room, undressed, and got into bed with Melanie. "Well," I whispered, "things aren't getting any better, are they?"
    "I hope Liz sends the money for your ticket soon," I made Melanie say. "Or we'll both go nuts."
    Holding silly old Melon Head in my arms, I stared at the shadows on the ceiling and thought up stories about the shapes they made. If I looked real hard, I could see Liz and Bob riding on a motorcycle right over my head. Liz's hair blew around her face, almost hiding it, but I knew she was thinking about me, feeling lonely for me, wishing I was there to do a little dance for her or tell her a new knock-knock joke.

Chapter 6
    S UNDAY WAS A GRAY DAY , full of rain and wind. I managed to avoid Aunt Thelma by spending most of the afternoon in Liz's room, reading her old horse books and worrying about school. What were kids like in Maryland? My clothes, my hair, my accent—everything about me might be weird. Suppose they laughed at me? Suppose nobody wanted to be friends with me?
    Before I went to sleep that night, I had a long talk with Melanie. "I've gone to ten schools," I told her, "because Liz never likes to stay in one place for more than a few months. And I've only had about three friends in my whole life, but it never mattered because I had Liz. Now I'm all by myself."
    I hugged Melanie and stared at Liz's horses galloping across the flowered wallpaper. "Do you think anybody will like me?" I asked Melanie.
    "Of course they will," I made her say. She was very loyal. "All the girls will want to sit next to you at