"Yes," I said, even though I wasn't really sure I did. I'd never even had anyone sleep over for a night when I was at Grandmother Emma's, and sometimes Ian had been so involved in his projects. I hadn't seen him much at all.
"We have a lot to do. It's best that I'm here." Alanis said, nodding like someone convincing herself.
She rose quickly and went to the closet. "What is all this?"
"My Great-aunt's things."
"Well, why are they in your room?"
"This was once her room and she hasn't gotten around to getting her things out. She said some of it could fit me or you. She told me she would give away whatever didn't fit us."
"I wouldn't be caught dead wearing any of this," Alanis said, sifting through the clothes. "And neither should you, C'mon. Let's get it all out of here so there's room for my things. too."
She started to pull clothing off hangers and toss garments onto my bed. When she started on the shoes and boxes on the closet floor. I lunged forward, realizing she would discover the bag of Ian's letters.
"What's that?" she asked when I took it out quickly.
"Nothing," I said.
"It can't be nothing."
"Just same old letters I kept.'
"From who? Your brother?" she followed quickly.
"Yes, but I'm not supposed to let anyone else read them. I'm not!" I said firmly, tears coming to my eves.
"Okay, don't bust a blood vessel. I won't read them. I'm sure they would be boring anyway." She paused, then turned back to me. "Isn't there a return address on the letters? That'll tell you where he is."
I shook my head.
"Someone ripped it off all the envelopes."
"Who would have done that? The Grandmother from Hell?"
"I don't know," I said.
"Whatever," she said and shrugged as she went to the dresser drawers. "I can't believe she left all this in here." She started flinging things out of the drawers, "I'll need at least three of these drawers. Put some of this in that carton now," she told me. "I'll get some big garbage bags for the rest and we'll take it all down to the basement. Aren't you excited about us being together all the time?" she asked when I just stood there clinging to the bag of letters and looking at the clothing on the floor.
I nodded.
"You don't look very excited. But don't worry," she said, smiling and tapping the book Ian had given me. "I'll show you how to get excited. Okay, I'm heading over to Granddad's to break the news to them. I'm telling them you asked me to stay here, so go down and tell your great-aunt you did and ask her if it's okay."
"What if she says no?'
"She won't. Tell her I'm helping with the housework, the cooking, everything, and with your homework, too! Don't forget that. She likes the idea of my being your big sister. This is perfect," she said, looking around the room. "The bed's certainly big enough for both of us."
"The bathroom's very small," I said. "There's hardly room for my things."
"Don't worry about it." She looked at the book. "For now, let's keep this under the bed." She slipped it under. "I'll be back with the garbage bags. Don't just stand there. Get everything in a pile and go down to tell your great-aunt."
She rushed out. I felt swept along in a wind swirling about the room. My first thought was. Where do I hide Ian's letters? I didn't trust that she wouldn't sneak into the bag to read them. and I still had many more to read myself. I decided the best place to hide anything was in the untouched room, the room reserved for Grandmother Emma. I hurried down to it and put the bag of Ian's letters in the closet. Then I returned to my room, piled up the clothing Alanis had tossed around, and went downstairs to ask Great-aunt Frances if Alanis could move in. A part of me was hoping she would say no. I couldn't help being afraid of having Alanis actually live with me.
"She wants to move in?" Great-aunt Frances said, sitting up on her sofa. Her show had just ended. "What a wonderful idea. She'll really be like your sister then, won't she? And you say she'll help us with the cooking and cleaning?"
I nodded. "She already took all your old things out of the closet and drawers to make room for hers."
"That's okay. That's fine. Remember I told you to put whatever you don't want in bags and we'll give it away?"
"Yes."
She clapped her hands together. "Oh, this will be fun. The three of us will dress for dinner tonight. We're going to have steaks and potatoes and peas. We'll make the steaks on the grill in the back. It's going to be a Western dinner. so I'll go look for the cowboy hats I have and some great skirts and blouses. We used to wear them to a barbeque."
"Alanis might not want to," I said.
"Of course she'll want to. You tell her. Oh. I don't remember if I defrosted the steaks."
She rose and went to the kitchen. I followed her.
"Oh, dear," she said.. "I did forget. Well, it will just take a little longer to cook them, that's all."
She took the packages of meat out of the freezer and put them on the counter. They were like rocks.
"I'd better go look for the clothing," she said. "This will be great fun."
I decided to wait for Alanis upstairs. I wished I could be as excited about it all as Great-aunt Frances seemed to be, but it still made me nervous to think of someone sleeping in my bed and sharing my room. I didn't want to say anything that would make Alanis angry, though. What if she could help me find out where Ian was and we did visit him? Maybe she could help me get to visit my mother.
I went into the bathroom to see how I could rearrange some things to make room for hers. Once she discovered the untouched room reserved only for Grandmother Emma and she saw that bathroom, she would want us to use it for sure. I knew that would upset Great-aunt Frances. I wondered what
Grandmother Emma would say when she found out Alanis had moved into my room. Felix would surely tell her. Maybe her granddad won't let her do it; I thought.
I heard the front door open and close. Alanis, carrying full garbage bags, started to charge up the stairs, then stopped when she saw me in the hallway at the top of the stairway.
"Well? What did she say?"
I told her everything, adding, "She went into the basement to look for things for us to wear to a barbeque."
"That's great, I'll put on the costumes, wigs, masks, anything to move in," she said and continued up.
"But you laughed at us when we did it before," I reminded her.
"We have to make your great-aunt happy. My mother couldn't care any less about my moving in, especially when I said I'd do all the work. Granddad wasn't there so he doesn't know yet, but he'll have to accept it because I'm doing it," she said with determination. "These bags are full of my things. We'll empty them, put my things in the closet and dresser and fill the bags up with those old clothes. C'mon, let's finish setting up our room."
Our room?
I followed her into the bedroom. Sometimes. I thought, everything just happens so quickly that you hardly have a chance to think. That seemed to be the rule for my life. I felt like someone caught in an ocean current and carried along. I remembered when that had once happened to me and my mother had pulled me out of the water. It hadn't mattered one bit if I had been able to swim or not. The ocean had just been too powerful, and so were all the things happening to me now.
Alanis took her things out of the bags as if she thought someone would stop her if she didn't empty them quickly enough. I saw she didn't have all that much more clothing than I had. At the bottom of one bag was all her makeup, hair sprays and brushes. She showed me the CD player and discs. too.
"I still have Chad's CD player. We'll listen to music every night while we do homework, whenever I do it, that is." She looked around as if my room had been a palace. "This is going to be so great. Even when my father was with us. I didn't have a room this big. Cram, let's get rid of her things and make more room for ourselves."
She began to fill up the emptied bags. and I started to do the same. When we had stuffed most of Great-aunt F
rances's clothes into the bags. Alanis hung up her things and put other things in the drawers she had emptied.
"I have to tell you something," I said as I watched her organizing her things so happily.
"What?"
"There might be a ghost in this house." She stopped and looked at me.
"What did you say?"
"There might be a ghost. Sometimes at night. I hear crying, and it sounds like someone moving through the walls."
She stared at me. "If you don't want me moving in, just come out and say it directly."
"No. I want you to move in."
"Then don't talk stupid," she said and returned to her clothing.
"My great-aunt forgot to defrost the steaks for the barbeque," I said. "My brother would say she was absentminded."
Alanis paused and shook her head. She sure is. Who knows what's in her head? That's why it's good I'm here. We need to take complete charge of everything as soon as possible. It's best for your greataunt.."
"Here she comes." I whispered, hearing her footsteps in the hallway.
She appeared in the doorway with armfuls of clothes, hats and even cowboy boots,
"Okay, wranglers, here we are," she announced and dropped everything on the bed. "Pick out your outfit. I have mine in my closet,"
She looked around the room as if we had already done loads of things to change it. Her eyes fell on my pictures, and she went to them quickly.
"This is your mother and father?"
"Yes."
She stood there studying the picture.
"What a good-looking pair they are. Your father looks a lot like Blake," she said softly. She touched the picture as if she'd been touching both their faces. Then she put it down and looked at Ian's picture. "Your brother reminds me of my cousin Harris. He was very nice. I felt sorry for him because he had a lung disease and died in his teens. Emma was never very nice to him. She treated him like a leper. You know what a leper is?" she asked us. Alanis was already sifting through the Western clothing and not really listening.
I shook my head.
"People who had leprosy were called lepers and made to live in leper colonies. Sometimes." she added, her voice starting to drift and her eves turning vacant. "I felt like I was a leper, especially after my father died.
"Oh," she cried, recuperating from her sadness instantly, "no time for unhappiness, ever. Let's get started. Welcome to our ranch. Alanis. Partner. I mean." She clapped her hands to drive away the heavy moment and hurried out of the room.
"She's bonkers." Alanis said, nodding after her. "but that's good for us. I'm wearing this one," she said, holding up a Western- style blouse. "This skirt isn't really all that bad either," she added. "It goes well with my hat, and these boots actually fit me. Maybe there are some things I can use here. We'll take our time searching this house.I'll bet it's full of all sorts of treasures. Here," she said, tossing some garments at me. "Try these on. Let's get moving. We need to start the barbeque before Granddad comes over to raise hell."
After we both dressed in the Western clothes, we went down and found Great-aunt Frances in her embroidered red-and-brown shirt, a pair of very baggy jeans and a red cowboy hat. She had put on a pair of brown boots that were obviously men's boots a few sizes too biz.
"Oh. Alanis, darling, can you light up the fire for us?" she asked in a Western accent. "Ma hands are busy lassoing our fixin's."
Alanis widened her eyes, looked at me, and hurried out the back.
"Why don't you see about settin' the table. Jordan, honey. The men will be comin' in from the roundup any minute. There's a tablecloth in the top drawer there,' she added, nodding at a cabinet.
I took out the tablecloth and some dishes. Alanis came back in: she had already started the barbeque.
"I watched Granddad do this for her
sometimes," she explained. "We got steak dinners that way. That meat's going to be tough because it wasn't defrosted, but that's okay. She's happy. Granddad won't be able to say she doesn't want me here."
I set the table and hurried back and forth with silverware, napkins and glasses. Minutes later. Alanis had the steaks cooking. She was right about her granddad, Mr. Marshall came charging around the corner of the building, looking like he was bound to beat her. Fortunately. Great-aunt Frances came out just as he arrived.
"What's going on here. Alanis?" he asked, stopping and putting his hands on his hips. "What do you think you're doing. girl?"
"Why. Tex," Alanis said. "You're just in time for the roundup dinner."
"You are certainly invited. Lester,' Great-aunt Frances said.
He looked at her but turned back to Alanis quickly. "Your mother said you took your clothes to sleep over here," he continued.
"Not just sleeping over. Granddad. I'm settling in here." Before he could respond, she added. "Miss Wilkens has invited me. and I'm going to help out with all the chores."
"Now see here. girl--"
"Oh, she can stay. Lester. She's welcome."
Alanis smiled victoriously and her granddad stood speechless. fuming. Then he pointed at her.
"I know you're up to something. Alanis King. You don't volunteer for work. You do one wrong thing and make trouble for Miss Wilkens and I'll have you in the woodshed," he told her.
"Oh, she'll be no trouble. I'm sure. Lester...
He looked at us all again, shook his head and walked off. "Thank you kindly. Miss Wilkens," Alanis said. "I sure do appreciate your hospitality."
Great-aunt Frances smiled at Alanis's Western accent. "Why, you're as welcome as warm sunshine. darlin'."
Alanis beamed a smile at me. then leaned over to whisper. "See?" she said. "This will be easy as long as we play in her little shows. We're in control."
It sounded good and she looked very happy, but it made my heart flutter.
Alanis and I heard the phone ringing. but Greataunt Frances acted as if she didn't hear it.
"Your phone's ringing, Miss Wilkens." Alanis told her.
"Phone? I don't know what that is. darlin'. Phones haven't been invented vet." she said and ignored it.
Alanis raised her eyes toward the sky and handed me the barbeque fork. "Turn over the steaks," she told me and started toward the house.
I had never helped make a barbeque. Everything that had been prepared for us outside had always been done by a caterer Grandmother Emma had hired. A staff of at least a half dozen people had done everything, and we'd just gone out to sit at the tables and eat.
"We're having a guest." Alanis cried from the back door. "He just rode into town. so I thought it would be decent of us to invite him. I hope you don't mind. Miss Wilkens."
"Oh, my," Great-aunt Frances said with her hand over her heart, "a guest. Who is it?"
"Captain Stuart Gavin of the U.S. Cavalry. He'll be here in a little while."
"Oh, then. Jordan, why don't you bring out another setting and another steak," Great-aunt Frances said. "I'll put up another potato."
She hurried into the house.
"How can he come here?" I asked. "Didn't he tell us his father told him he had to stay at home?"
"Stuart's father and mother got called away. His father's brother had a heart attack," Alanis told me.. "I told him to put on his cowboy hat. See? If I had asked my granddad if we could invite someone over, he'd say no for sure. Like I told you, we're in charge," she emphasized. "Hey, the steak has to be turned. You're not minding your chores."
She pulled the fork from me and attended to the meat while I went in to get another setting and another steak. Great-aunt Frances was preparing another potato. She couldn't have forgotten what had happened to Stuart Gavin. I thought, or the phone call she had received from Mrs. Browne, yet she hadn't mentioned any of it when she'd heard he was coming.
I truly felt as if I had left the real world, as if I had been placed in a great dollhouse. Alanis was right. We would have no one telling us what we could and couldn't do. If we didn't feel like bathing, we wouldn't. If we didn't brus
h our teeth, no one would yell. We could eat whatever we wanted, go anywhere we wanted, stay up late, maybe even stay home from school. None of it would make any difference. No one would punish us. The very thought of having a party like this on a school night wouldn't have risked coming into my mind back at the March mansion. It made me feel as if I was in charge of myself. And vet, I felt bad about doing these things. We were taking advantage of Great-aunt Frances.
"Isn't this fun?" she asked me. "'Nothing chases the darkness out of the corners as quickly as smiles and laughter," she added and hurried out with bottles of soda.
Once again. I felt swept along, and followed her with Stuart's place setting and steak.
When he arrived, he stood there smiling at the scene before him.
"Wow," he declared. "This is a picnic."
To explain his arm in a cast. Alanis told Greataunt Frances he had been wounded in a battle with Indians. I could see Great- aunt Frances thought that was perfect. Stuart had no idea what was going on, but he was happy to play along. The potatoes, peas and bread were all right, but the steak turned out so tough that it took forever to chew a piece.
"I was just going to make myself a cheese sandwich for dinner," he said.
We saw Bones hanging back, watching us. The aroma of the meat had made him braver, and he came closer and closer until Miss Puss appeared and raised her back.
"Oh, leave him be," Great-aunt Frances told her cat. She scraped up some meat and brought it to Mr. Marshall's dog.
"What's going on here?" Stuart finally asked when Great-aunt Frances stepped away from the table. "Why are you all wearing the funny clothes and talking like you're in a movie or something?"
"Jordan's great-aunt likes to pretend when she has dinner. It's like being in a play or in a movie. And don't you make fun of it either." Alanis warned him.
Stuart grimaced. "It's weird," he said.
"So, it's weird. You don't think you're weird."
"Don't get so mad. I don't care."
"Besides," Alanis continued. "I've been invited to move in with Jordan. We're going to do lots of things together from now on."
"Move in? You mean, you're going to live here. too?"