What My Sister Remembered Read Online Free PDF

Aunt Helene put a hand on her hair and began smoothing it.
    “Beth dear, Bethy ... ” she murmured.
    Beth didn’t wake up.
    “She’s a very heavy sleeper,” Aunt Helene said. “She could sleep through an earthquake.”
    “Molly’s the same way,” said my mom.
    “Beth, dear ... Beth ... ”
    Beth curled herself up into a tight knot.
    “Wake up, dear! We have to go now. Beth!”
    Suddenly, Beth rolled over onto her back, opened her eyes, and blinked up at the ceiling.
    “We have to go now, dear,” her mother said softly. “You can take a little nap in the car if you’re still tired.”
    “No!” Beth said.
    “We’ll get to the hotel as fast as we can, darling, and you can go right to bed if you like, or maybe we can order something up from room service.”
    Beth looked up at the three of us standing by the bed, and tears began rolling down her face.
    “Beth!” Her mother sat down and tried to put her arms around her. “It’s all right, darling, it’s all right. You’re just a little tired and ... ”
    Beth shook her off. “I want to stay here,”  she sobbed, the tears streaming down her face. “I don’t want to go.”
    She sounded like a little girl. She didn’t sound anything like Beth.
    “But, darling, you know we have plans. If you don’t like them, we can do other things.”
    “I want to stay here,” Beth cried.
    “Maybe,” my mother said nervously, “you can both stay over. We do have a couch that opens up in the living room.”
    “That’s very sweet of you,” Aunt Helene said, “but I really need to get to the hotel. My husband will be calling us this evening, and I have some other arrangements I need to make. Please, Beth!”
    “I want to stay here,” Beth cried. “You go and let me stay.”
    “Well ... ” my mother said slowly, “well ... of course ... ”
    “Please, Mom!” Beth sat up and snuggled against her mother’s shoulder. “Please! You always wanted me to come back.”
    “Dear, I just don’t know if your aunt and uncle ... ”
    “Oh, sure.” My mother laughed in a strange, nervous way. “Beth is always welcome here. Of course, we’d love to have her, and maybe Walter can drop her off tomorrow.”
    “Can I see Jeff?” Beth turned toward my mother while her mother practically picked her up onto her lap and curled her arms around her.
    “Well, I don’t know,” my mother said. “I can try to call him, but I don’t know what he’s doing today.”
    “And Alex too? Can I see him ... and Lisa?” Beth sounded so eager and excited that my mother turned away, embarrassed. “I’ll call them. I don’t know ... ”
    “Mom.” Beth looked up into her mother’s face. “Mom, I want to stay. Please!”
    Her mother kissed her and murmured, “Of course, sweetheart. As long as it’s all right with your aunt.”
    “Oh, sure,” said my mother, straightening up some papers on my desk.
    “But Beth ... ” Aunt Helene hesitated. “Are you sure? You know, we could come back another day, or maybe Molly could meet us in the city. Maybe she could even come back with us today, and tomorrow the three of us could have a day in town. We could have lunch at the Russian Tea Room, and—”
    “I want to stay here, Mom. I really want to stay here.”
    “Well ... ” Aunt Helene looked over toward my mother’s back as she continued straightening the papers on my desk. “I guess I could come back and get you tomorrow.”
    “That’s right,” Beth said. “Tomorrow! And maybe if Jeff—and Alex and Lisa too—if they can’t come today, they can come tomorrow. You could see them. You’d meet Lisa—we’d both meet Lisa.”
    My mother turned, a look of disgust on her face. She didn’t think meeting Lisa was such a big deal.
    “Now, Karen, are you absolutely sure?”
    “Of course,” said my mother. I could see that she wasn’t happy to have Beth stay overnight, and I knew why. It would bring back all those old sad memories of the accident, and how Beth had turned