Anastasia Has the Answers by Lois Lowry Read Free Book Online Page B

sure. "Boston, I suppose. Some courtroom."
    "Why? Be honest, now."
    Daphne took one more deep breath. "Well, because as time went along and they got older, their personalities didn't seem to match very well anymore. Like my mom didn't want to teach Sunday school or sing in the choir anymore, or go to all those meetings. But my dad really thought she ought to. He said it was her duty. But she wanted to get a job, because she had all this education and everything—she had applied to law school way back, before they got married, but then she never went—and my dad said it wasn't appropriate for the rector's wife to work, and they didn't need the money—"
She stopped for a moment, took another breath, and went on. "—and he didn't understand that it wasn't the
money;
it was, well, my mom said it was the self-esteem. But he said it ought to be enough self-esteem to be the wife of the minister of the largest Congregational church in the whole county, and when he said that, my mom swore at him—I'm not going to say what she said—"
    Anastasia giggled. "Why not? I've heard you swear lots of times."
    "Yeah, but nobody ever heard my
mom
swear, and I'm not going to ruin her image. Anyway, then she said they ought to see a marriage counselor, and he said, 'By God, I
am
a marriage counselor! And you should respect that!' and that's when she called him a sanctimonious creep, and he said—"
    "Hey, wait, Daph, how do you know all this? They didn't say it in front of
you,
did they?"
    Daphne shook her head. "I eavesdropped," she said. "From my bedroom closet, if I pushed the winter stuff aside and got up close to the wall, I could hear everything they were saying in their bedroom. It was a rotten thing to do, I suppose."
    "But necessary," Anastasia said. "I can understand that."
    Daphne wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "Anyway, that's about all of the 'why,' I guess."
    Anastasia looked at her in astonishment. "Well, that proves it! Don't you see, Daphne?"
    "See what?"
    "All those conversations you eavesdropped on—and they never knew you were listening, did they?"
    "No. I always shoved the clothes back where they belonged, so my mother wouldn't notice."
    "Well, they never mentioned you. Did they
once
say, 'And that rotten kid Daphne—which one of us gets stuck with
her?
'"
    Daphne giggled. "No," she said. "They mentioned me, of course. But it was always just how concerned they were about me."
    Anastasia stood up and looked down at her bare Fatal Apple toes. "Well," she said, "quit being a jerk. It wasn't your fault. How do your toes look?"
    Daphne stood up and looked down at her own feet. "Sexy," she decided. "Maybe I will get married someday, after all."
    ***
    Uncle George beeped the horn of the car after he pulled up to the curb. He didn't even come up and ring the doorbell of the apartment. And no wonder. When he came up before, Mrs. Bellingham said, "How do you do, you'll have to excuse me, I'm busy," very coolly; then she went to her bedroom, and Uncle George sat there on the living room couch, drinking a cup of coffee very awkwardly while Anastasia and Daphne tried to make conversation.
    "Hi, Uncle George," Anastasia said after she dashed through the rain and got into the car. "Thanks for coming to pick me up."
    "Forgive me for not ringing the bell," he said, "but I think that woman didn't like me."
    Anastasia rolled her eyes. "She was just acting weird, Uncle George. She just lost her husband and everything, and she's acting a little weird. I think she'll get over it."
    "Your friend Daphne is charming," Uncle George added. "And she has the most beautiful hair. It reminds me of Shirley Temple."
    Oh, gross. Anastasia could never tell Daphne that. Elderly people like Uncle George—and even Anastasia's parents—all liked those old Shirley Temple movies, where she danced around, smiling, showing her dimples—and sometimes her underpants, talk about
gross
—with her curls bouncing.
    Daphne, in fact—since she did happen