Three Sisters by Norma Fox Mazer Read Free Book Online

you make a living at that, either.” Why did everything she say sound like God’s word to Moses on the mountain?
    “I do all right. I don’t think about it any more than I have to.”
    Karen watched the-two of them dueling. Worthy opponents. She enjoyed the contest—this was different than Tobi and Mom going at each other.
    “Food, folks.” Karen’s father set a bowl down in the middle of the table.
    “Arnold,” her grandmother said, “sit down, dear,
    you look tired. Are you overdoing things?”
    “I’m fine, Ma.”
    “Then you must be getting old.”
    “It happens to us all,” her father said mildly.
    “Does it?” Grandma sat up even straighter.
    Liz tapped her spoon on her glass. “Hello, everybody, I have something to tell you all.” She held
    out her hand. Among her silver rings was a new one on her thumb. “Scott and I are now engaged to be engaged.”
    A hum of talk arose. “Engaged to be engaged,” her grandmother said. “What kind of nonsense is that?”
    Karen’s father tipped back in his chair. “That’s a new one on me, too, Mother.”
    “Congratulations,” Karen’s mother said, and added, “I think.”
    “Come on, guys.” Tobi raised her eyebrows at Liz. “You people act like you’re in the Stone Age. You’ve heard of that. Everyone does it.”
    Karen toyed with” her melon. So Liz and Scott were making their relationship really tight. Scott was going the distance, all right. She might even have a brother-in-law sometime soon. So why didn’t she feel terrific and happy?
    “You have two children?” her grandmother was saying to Jason.
    “Right. My daughter’s name is Georgia. Named after Georgia O’Keefe.”
    “The artist,” her grandmother said.
    “My son’s named after Picasso.”
    “How very interesting.”
    “When he lived here, Pablo was a funny name, but in Spain, it’s ordinary as dirt. So I’m told by my wife. The bitch.”
    The word dropped into the conversation like a stone in water. A short, vibrant pause. Tapping the edge of her glasses on her mouth, Karen’s mother looked at Jason. And Tobi, her face flashing warning signals, looked at her mother. You could always tell when Tobi was on the verge of exploding. She
    got red right under the roots of her hair.
    Karen’s stomach clenched. She pushed back her chair and left the table. “Where are you going?” her mother said.
    “My camera,” she improvised hurriedly.
    She stood in the doorway, snapping pictures, focusing on hands. Grandma’s hands, liver-spotted, strong. Her father’s hands, the blunt, clean nails. Scott’s, bitten-down, raggedy nails, a blood blister on one of his fingers.
    “Take me and Scott,” Liz said.
    Karen took deep breaths, unclenching her stomach. The dangerous moment seemed to have passed. Jason was devoting himself to the food. Her mother had put her glasses back on. Karen stood up on a chair, focused. Liz and Scott. Tobi and Jason. Mom and Dad. Click … click … click. … All those pairs. This was a regular Valentine. To rumple things up a little, she took Mom and Grandma, Scott and her father, Jason and Liz. Uncouples. A series. The happy family at the table. Sweet Harmony in Suburbia. Ms. Freed is know for her satiric yet sympathetic exposition of suburban life… .
    “Too bad you didn’t invite David over today,” Liz said when Karen sat down again.
    “How is the boy?” Tobi, though, was still perched on the edge of her chair, as usual picking at her food. “Is he still going to be the brilliant young scientist?”
    “I guess.”
    “And who,” said Grandma “is David?”
    “My friend.”
    “Friend? Do you mean you have a boyfriend, Karen? You’re too young for a boyfriend, darling.”
    Karen’s father zeroed in for a wink. Liz smiled, tapped her lips. Another poem coming? At once, Karen remembered a funny, slightly humiliating moment some weeks ago. Rashly, she had said to Liz, “Why don’t you write a poem about me?”
    And Liz, smiling, had