The Summer We Lost Alice by Jan Strnad Read Free Book Online

back into the kitchen. We watch with fascination, like watching the fuse burn on a stick of dynamite. Before Aunt Flo can blow up, though, she shoos us out, saying that she doesn't want to see us or hear us until dinnertime.
    * * *
    Aunt Flo brings out the roasted chicken. It's burnt black because she forgot to set the timer. Alice is dying to blurt out, "That chicken's burnt to a crisp!" Uncle Billy looks at it and I think he'd rather eat cold cereal for dinner, but he knows better than to say anything. Catherine takes the platter when Uncle Billy passes it to her, but she doesn't take any chicken.
    "I'm not very hungry," she says.
    Aunt Flo has calmed down but now she's determined to go completely the other way. She tries hard to keep the conversation lively even if it's like pushing a rope.
    "They're having a farewell tea for Ruth Nichols," she says, "down at the church. She's retiring, you know."
    Uncle Billy says that, no, he didn't know, while he peels burnt skin off his chicken leg.
    "Moving down to Florida to live with her sister," says Aunt Flo. "Her daughter's coming out to take over the home. Her daughter, Lilian. She sounds like a fine young woman."
    " Uhm," says Uncle Billy.
    "Well, she's not exactly young. In her thirties, I guess. Single, though, so she doesn't have to worry about moving a husband and a passel of kids. More beans?"
    "Thanks."
    Deciding that Uncle Billy is a conversational well gone dry, Aunt Flo turns to Catherine.
    "How was your day, dear?"
    Catherine shrugs.
    "Did you see your friends?"
    "I saw Sammy. He was busy, though, working on his car. It was boring."
    Aunt Flo is about to say a few words about Catherine's boyfriend Sammy. She doesn't like Sammy because he says "ain't." She holds her tongue, though, and turns back to Uncle Billy.
    "And how was your day, Bill?"
    "Fine," Uncle Billy says.
    "Did you talk to the Nutters about their claim?"
    "Mm-hmm."
    "Well?"
    "Well what?" Uncle Billy says.
    "Well, did you settle the claim?"
    "Mm-hmm."
    Aunt Flo seems fit to burst, as if her sole mission on earth was to pry some pleasant dinnertime talk out of her family and their sole mission was not to let her do it.
    "I think," Uncle Billy says, and he pauses to wipe the corner of his mouth. Aunt Flo looks at him expectantly. "I think I'll have a few more of those potatoes." Aunt Flo picks up the bowl of mashed potatoes. She is that far from smushing them in Uncle Billy's face.
    S o it goes for what seems like a week. Finally dinner is over and we're told to clear the table. After that we can play in the backyard or go to our room. There is to be no TV. Alice protests. She wants to know what she did and Aunt Flo just says, "You know."
    "I'll do the dishes myself," Aunt Flo says, "no more company than this sorry lot is."
    Alice and I gather up the dishes and carry them to the kitchen. Alice skips over to the trash can and pulls out a cereal box.
    She sneaks it upstairs like it's some kind of prize.
    * * *
    Alice sits on her bed fondling some plastic buttons that pass for diamonds.
    "These jewels are all I have left of the royal treasure," she says. She wears the cereal box on top of her head like a crown. She is the Queen of Bohemia, held prisoner in a high tower by her own scheming family. They've stolen the rest of the treasure and buried it where she can never find it.
    I sit on my bed and sulk, my back to Alice. She got me into trouble with Aunt Flo and I don't get to watch TV for God-knows-how-long. Now she's wearing a stupid cereal box on top of her head and pretending to be the Queen of Bohemia. What is wrong with her, anyway? I haven't said a word to her since she crowned herself.
    "Tonight, we'll make our escape," she says. "The moon will be full, so we won't need flashlights. They won't be expecting us to make our break so soon.
    "I had this tower designed myself, to hold my enemies. I know the secret way out. I'll have to hide these jewels so nobody can steal them, in case we're caught. We may