Tiger Lillie Read Online Free PDF Page A

everything.
    As Dad spoke about their dinner out, the way he placed his hand on hers during the movie at The Grand, I could just picture the two of them together, swaggering arm in arm down Eastern Avenue on their way for drinks and dinner at Haussner’s. I believe it was the first time I’d ever really thought of them as carefree, young, and in love.
    Lillie arrived home from school after his story. She put down her book bag and kissed our cheeks.
    “Good day, babe?” Dad asked.
    “Oh yeah. We started Much Ado About Nothing. And J got a copy of The Bell Jar out of the library. Dad, can you believe her use of language?”
    My ears started burning. A good burn. I loved it when they talked about books! Lillie wasn’t the writer I was, really, but she always loved books. We all loved books.
    Lillie had set up one of her craft tables at a small church bazaar, and she asked me to help her man it. I sat there selling all sorts of little trinkets, jewelry, and doll clothes. She paid me ten percent of the profits and put the rest into her school account to pay off her bill.
    That night, I sat and read The Bell Jar as she answered phones for doctor’s offices who’d signed on with a business she started named Hello There! Answering Service. My sister was a whiz. And I sat beside her most nights, reading and drawing while she answered calls and studied.
    She fixed us a cup of tea, and I saw the sadness in her eyes when she sat down across from me at the dining room table. I never knew how she kept so upbeat after Teddy disappeared. Dad felt his way through the room, sat down next to her, and took her hand as though he somehow knew she needed him just then. It was a cosmic experience for me. Dad and Lillie were always so close.
    Mom called me into her bedroom, and we read our books, sipped the tea Lillie made, and listened to Beethoven. I felt at peace.
    Lillie
    Thirteen years, four months, and two days ago, Teddy disappeared. He said we’d meet at Friendly’s for ice cream after graduation, but he never showed up. And Teddy always showed up. Teddy always made good on his promises.
    I’ll never forget the way Teddy stood up for me the summer we turned eight. As the only girl in the neighborhood, I endured more boy games—cowboys and Indians, marbles, baseball cards, and stickball—than any girl should. And mostly, I liked it. But there we were one day, playing army like we always seemed to do after we tired of riding bikes or roller skating.
    Some boys from the next street over didn’t deem me combat worthy.
    “Hey, they don’t allow girls to fight, so neither will we!”
    “Yeah!” some of the others answered.
    Teddy stood tall. By this time, he looked over all our heads and was easily the nicest-looking boy in school and just the nicest, period, and he was my best friend, not theirs, and well, they’d better watch it because that look glittered in his eyes. He always got to be Sarge. “She can’t help it if she’s a girl.”
    “That don’t mean we have to allow her to play,” a boy named Nicolas said, an ugly sneer marring his face. “Girls don’t know how to fight, period.”
    Teddy thought a moment. “Hey, they do too have girls on the battle-field.”
    “Oh yeah? Where?” Nick asked.
    I still stared at the grass, but I looked over to see Teddy thrust out his puny, little-boy chest. “The army nurse! They have army nurses.”
    “Army nurses!” Scowl, mumble, kick the grass.
    “Yep. And Lillie’s our army nurse.”
    “No way. She has to be a German nurse.”
    A German nurse! I wanted to cry. I wanted to run in and tell Mrs. Gillie.
    “An American nurse.” Teddy took a step forward. “You got anything to say about that?”
    I watched him defending me, standing up for me, being my boy hero, my boy wonder, and just then, at that moment, I loved him.
    Nick backed down. Nobody stood up to Teddy for long. “Okay, I guess.”
    The other guys agreed because, well, they knew which boy was the best, and