Dollenganger 06 My Sweet Audrina by V. C. Andrews Page B

under his chin so nothing would spot his pure silk tie. If cleanliness was next to godliness, Papa was a god walking the earth.
"Is it really June, Papa?" I asked.
"Why do you ask?"
"It seems only yesterday it was March--that man who brought Momma's new dress said it was March."
"That was months ago, darling, months ago. Of course it's June. Look at the flowers in bloom, the green grass. Feel how hot it is. You don't get days like this in March."
Vera ate half her pancakes and then was up and heading for the foyer to pick up her schoolbooks. She'd failed her grade and had to spend eight weeks of her vacation going to summer school.
"Why are you following me?" she bit out.
I held fast to my determination to make Vera like me. "Why do you hate me, Vera?"
"I don't have time to list the reasons." Her voice was haughty. "Everyone in school thinks you're strange; they know you're crazy."
That surprised me. "How can they when they don't know me?"
Turning, she smiled. "I tell them all about you and your quirky ways, staying close to the shadows near the wall, and how you scream out each night. They know that you're so 'special' you don't even know which year, month or day of the week it is."
How disloyal to spread family secrets. Again wounded, my desire to have her like me weakened. I didn't really think she ever would. "I wish you wouldn't talk about me to people who might not understand."
"Understand what--that you're a nutty freak with no memory? Really, they understand you perfectly, and nobody, absolutely nobody, would ever want to be your friend."
Something hard and heavy grew in my chest, making it ache. I sighed and turned away. "I just wanted to know what everybody else knows."
"That, my dear little sister, is totally impossible for someone with no brain."
I whirled about and shouted, "I'm not your sister! I'd rather be dead than be your sister!"
Long after she disappeared down the dirt road, I stood on the porch, thinking maybe I was crazy.
Again, at three, Aunt Mercy Marie came to sit on our piano. As always, my aunt and my mother took turns talking for her. The bourbon was poured into the steaming hot tea, and I was given my cup of cola with two cubes of ice. Momma told me to pretend it was hot tea. I sat uncomfortably in my very best white dress. Because Papa wasn't there, I was soon forgotten as those two women lit into each other, letting loose all the frustrations they had held in check all week.
"Ellsbeth," shrieked Momma after some insult about the house she loved, "the trouble with you is you're so damned jealous our father loved me better. You sit there and say ugly things about this house because you wish to God it belonged to you. Just as you cry your heart out each night, sleeping alone in your bed, or lying there restless and awake, jealous again because I always got what you wanted--when you could have had what I have if you'd kept your damned big mouth shut!"
"And you certainly know when to open your big mouth, Lucietta!" barked my aunt. "All your life wandering through this mausoleum and gushing about its beauty. Of course our father left this house to you and not to me. You made me want to vomit you were so sweet. You set out to rob me of everything I wanted. Even when my boyfriends came to call on me, you were there smiling and flirting. You even flirted with our father, flattering him so much you made me seem cold and indifferent. But I did all the work around here, and I still do! You prepare the meals and you think that's enough. Well, it's not enough! I do everything else. I'm sick and tired of being everybody's slave! And as if that's not enough, you're teaching your daughter your tricks!"
Highly indignant, my mother's beautiful face flamed red. "Just keep it up, Ellsbeth, and you won't have a roof over your head! I know what galls you, don't think I don't. You wish to God you had everything I do!"
"You're a fool. And you married a fool. Damian Adare only wanted what wealth he thought you'd Inherit.