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the sunlight. Don't you agree?"

"Fine with me," I said. Then I looked at her, my eyes small, determined. "Don't come into my room. Grandmother. If you move so much as a picture frame

on the dresser..."

"I have no intention of entering your cave," she

said. "You'll have to repair your room yourself." "It doesn't need repairing. It needs to be left

alone," I told her.

"Have you done your homework?" she cried

after me when I turned away and started for the stairs. I paused and looked at her, a half-smile on my

face.

"Have I done my homework? Since when have

you ever asked about that?"

"Well, with your mother gone. I thought I had

better--.

"My mother isn't gone!" I screamed at her.

"She's just recuperating. At least she's able to

recuperate from her madness, which is more than

some people can do."

I charged up the stairs, anxious to get away

from her. She simply returned to her old movie,

wallowing in it like she would soak in a warm bath. It took me hours to calm myself down and do

my homework. It was nearly midnight when I went to

bed and still. Daddy had not come home. I fell asleep. but I woke to the sound of his footsteps on the stairs. Those stairs always creaked loudly, which was part of the charm of the house for me and for Mommy. Daddy didn't like it and Grandmother Beverly thought they should be ripped out and redone. She said the house was too old to be inhabited and complained vehemently about the creaks in the walls, the moans in the pipes, and the leaks in the roof. I would smile to myself, imagining her awake at night listening to the sounds, terrified that the house itself was coming alive and closing in on her. Footsteps on the stairway echoed with electric speed over the hallway floor and into her room as well as my own, but she didn't get up

to greet Daddy.

I rose quickly and went to my door just as

/> Daddy was passing my room.

"Daddy," I called in a loud whisper. He had his

shoulders slumped like someone trying to tiptoe

guiltily away.

"What are you doing awake?" he asked. "I heard you coming up. Did you get to see

Mommy?" He shook his head.