The Good Sister Read Online Free PDF Page B

school start?”
    Merell said that city schools opened the day after Labor Day, Arcadia Academy a week later.
    “It’s still July, isn’t it? There’s plenty of time.”
    “It’s okay, Mommy. I understand.”
    Simone lay back, closing her eyes again. “You’re such a good girl, Merell. I wish I weren’t this… way.”
    Merell’s mother slept as much as Baby Olivia. NannyFranny said that babies had to sleep a lot because their brains were growing.
    “Mommy”—Merell took a tentative step closer to the bed—“is your brain growing?”
    “Christ, no. It’s getting smaller every day.” She waved Merell away. “Off you go—”
    At that moment Gramma Ellen walked into the bedroom without knocking. “Your sister’s here.”
    Mommy said, “Crap.”
    Merell stepped away from the bed and close to the window where the heavy drapes bunched against the wall.
    Gramma Ellen said, “I just saw her drive through the gate.”
    “I don’t want to see her.”
    Mommy loved Aunt Roxanne more than almost anyone else in the world, but the meany-men made her say things that weren’t true.
    “What does she want?”
    “What do you think? I suppose she’s seen the news like everyone else in this city.”
    Mommy groaned and pulled the comforter up over her head. “Tell her to come back when it snows.”
    “Very funny, but I don’t think you have any choice. You know how persistent she can be.”
    “Say I moved to China.”
    “She loves you, Simone. I’m sure she’s as worried as the rest—” Gramma Ellen stopped.
    Aunt Roxanne stood in the doorway. “Who’s moving to China?” She gave Gramma Ellen a quick kiss on the cheek.
    “You might knock, you know. You could have rung the bell.”
    “If I did that, Simone, you’d pretend to be asleep.”
    Gramma Ellen began making excuses.
    Aunt Roxanne held up her hand like a crossing guard. “Truth time, folks. What happened yesterday?” She had a no-nonsense schoolteacher
     voice and a tall, strong body. Merell thought it would take a whole lot to knock her down.
    Groaning like she had a tummy ache, Mommy pushed back the comforter and sat on the edge of the bed. She wore her bra and panties
     and her skin was the color of skim milk. “It wasn’t a big deal. I was in the pool with Baby Olivia and she squirmed out of
     my arms. That’s all that happened. She was screaming and twisting around. You know how she is.”
    Perhaps Aunt Roxanne had forgotten that Baby Olivia suffered from acid reflux and was in pain more often than she wasn’t.
     The doctor said she would outgrow it, but she’d been screaming for eight months and didn’t seem ready to stop yet.
    “It was no one’s fault, just a terrible misunderstanding.” Gramma Ellen tossed up her hands. “Honestly, I never saw such a
     tempest in a teapot.”
    “What about you, Merell? You called 911.” Though shestood in the shadows, Aunt Roxanne knew right where she was, looked right into her eyes before she could look away. “Why did
     you do that?”
    Gramma Ellen said, “Nanny Franny had been teaching them about how to use the emergency number and Miss Merell here just had
     to try it out.”
    “Is that what happened, Merell?”
    She wondered if lying would someday be easy for her, as it seemed to be for her mother and grandmother. Now it hurt, as if
     there were a dozen thick rubber bands around her chest. Nevertheless she nodded, agreeing with her grandmother. A moment later
     she slipped out of the bedroom unnoticed.
    *       *       *
    Ellen Vadis stood in the door of Merell’s bedroom and watched her granddaughter where she stood at the window overlooking
     the back garden and the terraces down to the swimming pool.
    She said, “Merell, I want to talk to you.”
    Ellen wondered what was going on in Merell’s quick child’s mind, what story she was dreaming up. Roxanne had been a deep child,
     but nothing like this one. This girl was the Mariana Trench, and Ellen had been dreading