the sunlight. Don't you agree?"
"Fine with me," I said. Then I looked at her, my eyes small, determined. "Don't come into my room. Grandmother. If you move so much as a picture frame
on the dresser..."
"I have no intention of entering your cave," she
said. "You'll have to repair your room yourself." "It doesn't need repairing. It needs to be left
alone," I told her.
"Have you done your homework?" she cried
after me when I turned away and started for the stairs. I paused and looked at her, a half-smile on my
face.
"Have I done my homework? Since when have
you ever asked about that?"
"Well, with your mother gone. I thought I had
better--.
"My mother isn't gone!" I screamed at her.
"She's just recuperating. At least she's able to
recuperate from her madness, which is more than
some people can do."
I charged up the stairs, anxious to get away
from her. She simply returned to her old movie,
wallowing in it like she would soak in a warm bath. It took me hours to calm myself down and do
my homework. It was nearly midnight when I went to
bed and still. Daddy had not come home. I fell asleep. but I woke to the sound of his footsteps on the stairs. Those stairs always creaked loudly, which was part of the charm of the house for me and for Mommy. Daddy didn't like it and Grandmother Beverly thought they should be ripped out and redone. She said the house was too old to be inhabited and complained vehemently about the creaks in the walls, the moans in the pipes, and the leaks in the roof. I would smile to myself, imagining her awake at night listening to the sounds, terrified that the house itself was coming alive and closing in on her. Footsteps on the stairway echoed with electric speed over the hallway floor and into her room as well as my own, but she didn't get up
to greet Daddy.
I rose quickly and went to my door just as
/> Daddy was passing my room.
"Daddy," I called in a loud whisper. He had his
shoulders slumped like someone trying to tiptoe
guiltily away.
"What are you doing awake?" he asked. "I heard you coming up. Did you get to see
Mommy?" He shook his head.