“Are you trying hard?” he asked.
“Yes, but there’s a lot going on here with my father’s new store and all, Kent. I’m not trying to avoid you,” I promised.
“That’s good news,” he said. I knew what his first question would be when I arrived at school the next day.
I joined Cassie in the kitchen and began to set the table.
“Maybe Daddy wil
l want to eat with Mother again,” I suggested.
“No. I’m going to feed her much earlier. He won’t eat well if he has to eat in that bedroom with her half in and half out of it. I won’t allow it,” she added, as if she had truly taken over our home. When I looked at her with surprise, she said, “I’m just trying to do what’s best for all of us.”
I nodded. She projected such strength and authority, it did feel as if I was talking to my mother or father and not my two-years-older sister. I felt I had to get her permission for everything now.
“I want to go to the movies Friday,” I blurted. “You think that will be all right?”
She paused and studied me. “Don’t tell me that Kent Pearson asked you.”
“All my friends are going, Cassie.”
“All your friends? Oh, so now you are one of the gang?”
“You said that would happen. You were right,” I added, hoping that by giving her a compliment, she would be nicer about it.
“I suppose you should get out of here. Right now, this is Casa Depression. We’ll run it by Daddy.”
“Thank you, Cassie.”
“I know what I told you, but I didn’t mean that you should jump right in with them. Be careful. Remember all the things I told you and warned you about, Semantha. You are destined for bigger and better things. You’re a Heavenstone.”
I nodded, even though I didn’t feel that way. I never felt I would have as special a future as Cassie would have. My grades weren’t outstanding. I had no unique talents. When I had been in a school play two years ago, I had had a minor part, so minor, in fact, that I had been ashamed to go out on the stage when I knew Cassie was sitting with my parents in the audience. I hated calling myself just average, but I didn’t know how to change it. Most other students were like me but didn’t seem to care. Maybe that was because they didn’t have as exceptional an older sister or older brother and didn’t come from a family that was as famous and successful as ours. Sometimes, I wished I had been born into an ordinary family in which no one put too much pressure on anyone or expected any of them to be in Who’s Who.
“Finish setting the table,” she said, and I hurried off, thinking I had somehow slipped out of Cassie’s chains of disapproval and control. It cheered me up enough to have an appetite.
When Daddy came home from work this time, I could easily see he wasn’t as happy and was quite worried about Mother. Whatever Dr. Moffet had told him and Cassie weighed on him. It was almost as if he carried pounds and pounds of iron on his shoulders. He looked like someone suffering from a terrible migraine, too. He barely smiled at me and didn’t even ask how my school day had gone. He always asked that. This time, he nodded, mumbled something I didn’t hear, and then went quickly up the stairs to see Mother.
From the look on Cassie’s face, I knew she was even more concerned than I was.
“This is all too much, even for him,” she muttered. “You know, a man of his age is a prime candidate for a heart attack.”
“Why? He’s always been so healthy, Cassie. I can’t remember him being too sick to go to work.”
“This kind of sickness doesn’t show itself, Semantha. It wears at him inside, and he won’t talk about it. Don’t ask him, either, or tell him he looks bad. That would only make things worse. When he tells you he’s worried about Mother, just tell him she’ll be all right. Tell him to give her time. Understand? Especially, don’t break out in tears or even look like you will.”
“I’ll try not to, Cassie.”
“I hate that expression, ‘I’ll try,’” she mimicked. “People use it to anticipate failure and provide an excuse. ‘Well, I tried, didn’t I?’ What good is that if you fail? Imagine a doctor, a surgeon, coming out of the operating room to tell the man’s wife that he tried. The man is dead. That’s all that really matters.”
I didn’t say anything. I supposed she was right. When was she ever wrong?
Later, she brought Mother her dinner. I went up with her. Daddy was still in the bedroom, sitting there looking almost as dazed as Mother. She still seemed dopey to me. How much medicine had she taken? Was it supposed to be this strong?
“Oh, good,” Daddy said brightening when he saw Cassie holding the tray. “Maybe food will give her some energy.”
Cassie set the tray down on a bed table and propped Mother up using her big pillows. She opened her eyes and looked at all of us as if she didn’t know us.
“You have to eat something now, Mother,” Cassie said. “I made you some hot oatmeal and some toast. I put some fruit in the oatmeal and honey, just the way you always make it for us.”