Heart's Desire by Laura Pedersen Read Free Book Online Page B

sweet little girl she gave birth to,” I add.
    Louise flashes me a hostile look that basically demands to know,
Whose side are you on?
“It’s all because that attendance asshole Dick Collier called Mom and Dad after he caught me hanging out with some friends in the parking lot during gym class.”
    “I have to agree with you that this is one case where Dick isn’t just a nickname,” I admit wholeheartedly. “But it doesn’t sound as if that’s
everything.
”
    “My friends just happen to be cool, that’s all. They’re older and they have cars. And that way we can get out of this hick town.”
    Yes, it’s obvious Louise isn’t going to be bicycling anywhere in
that
outfit.
    “Well, Louise, I think Mom has a point about college guys. It’s a slightly different scene.”
    “Oh, fuck you! Just because you graduated early and go to
college
you think you’re some big shot and want to give me all kinds of older sister crap.
Puh-leeze,
Hallie, I remember when you were the local juvenile delinquent being accused of robbery, truancy, underage gambling, and God knows what else! Not to mention those lunatics you live with, including the high school geek.”
    I deduce from her remark that despite Brandt’s starting to look and sound normal, a perceived behavioral and social gap still remains between him and most of the adolescent world.
    From the way Louise turns away from me in a huff it’s obvious that she’d like to storm out of the room in order to finish making her point. But since she’s grounded and not allowed to leave the house, exiting will only lead her directly into the grubby hands of the little kids and possible assignments of table setting or laundry folding. So she turns to her computer and pretends that I don’t exist.
    That talk went really well,
I think.
Maybe I should be studying international diplomacy rather than graphic arts.
I flop down on my old bed, pull Darlene’s stuffed Tigger to my chest, and fall into a deep sleep. In my dream Tigger becomes the perfect boyfriend—devoted, considerate, and incapable of sending mixed messages, giving ultimatums, or playing mind games.

Chapter Ten
    WHEN I AWAKE DARLENE IS POKING ME IN THE STOMACH WITH a baton and the red and white plastic streamers flying off the ends scrape across my face. She hits a portable CD player and a loud march fills the room. I’m treated to her entire twirling routine, which concludes with a toss that puts a dent in the ceiling and almost takes out the overhead fixture.
    I clap my hands in appreciation. Louise is now cleaning out her drawers, acting as if both Darlene and I have ceased to inhabit the land of the living.
    Darlene grabs my hand and lisps, “Hallie, come thee the doll houthe that me and Franthie built.” I assume she means Dad built it and they play with it.
    Some dark grammar force buried deep within my DNA leaps to the surface and corrects her. “It’s Francie and I.”
    Louise gives me a disgusted look as if I have indeed turned into
one of them.
I shrug and go back downstairs, convinced that I’ve officially passed the torch to the new black sheep of the family, or at least to the sheep with the most black clothes and makeup.
    Back on the first floor I observe that Mom has re-covered the couches in something that’s not so much fabric as the indestructible material you find on seats in commuter trains. And the new floor covering has the distinct coarseness of indoor/outdoor carpeting, or better yet, Astroturf.
    Mom is busy preparing dinner and appears relieved that I was upstairs so long. “How did everything go?” she asks, wiping her wet hands on her apron. Mom possesses the eternal hopefulness of a full-time wife and mother and perennially pregnant woman.
    “Not that great. Let me think about it.” Frankly, I’m stymied. Perhaps Officer Rich has a line on some sort of scared-straight program through the county jail system. At the end of the day he’s a good guy and doesn’t always assume