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"I don't know. What difference does it make how or why Mr. Senetsky died?" Cinnamon replied. I'm here to learn my craft and you're here to become a professional dancer. Ice will make hit records. and Honey here will be playing in Carnegie Hall very soon. Howard's right. We're lucky."

She started away.

"My father committed suicide." Rose blurted. "The same way. It looked like a gun accident. but I was never fooled by any of that."

Cinnamon stopped and turned back to her. "Why?" she asked.

"He was having an affair with someone and..."

"What?" Cinnamon asked. "There was another child. Evan."

"That's why you called him your half-brother?" Cinnamon asked, Rose nodded. "What happened?"

"It got very complicated, and one day he didn't come home from a duck-hunting trip. My mother and I ended up living with Evan."

"That does sound complicated." I said, just to make her feel better.

"Didn't you say Evan was in a wheelchair?" Cinnamon asked.

"Yes, but he's quite a unique person. He's the one mostly responsible for my getting here. Moneywise, that is. He's a genius on the computer. too. I'll tell y'all more about him sometime. We've developed a good brother-sister relationship."

"That's nice," I said.

"I can't let him down."

"Seems like a lot of people are depending on us being a success," Cinnamon said.

"That's true enough," Ice added.

"Not the least of whom is Madame Senetsky," I said.

"She made it seem like, if we fail. we'll go straight to hell." Cinnamon said.

"Steven thinks he's already there," Rose reminded us.

We all looked at each other, and then, maybe out of a desperate need for relief, we all started to laugh, hugged each other, and laughed some more.

"Let's promise each other right now." Cinnamon said. "never to permit those two gifted geniuses, those wonderful prophets of beauty, to get under our skins."

"Or our covers," Rose added. Ice laughed the hardest at that.

We clasped hands in the middle like a team about to go out on the basketball court.

And suddenly I felt we were all going to be all right. We were all going to be just fine.

Was that the first illusion I'd experience in this house, or a bit of the truth?

3 Girl Talk

When we met to go down to dinner. Cinnamon looked naked and withdrawn without her makeup-- not that she was in any way unattractive. though. Even in the little time I had spent with her. I realized that her makeup was truly a mask from behind which she could feel safe gazing out at the world. Perhaps for her, more than for any of us. what Madame Senetsky had said about us performing constantly on one stage or another rang with truth. Ice and Rose joined us when they heard us in the hall.

"Where are the boys?" Rose asked. "I'm here!" Steven came flying out of his room. His tie knot was loose and his shirt wasn't quite fully tucked into his pants. Dressed up in formal clothing, he looked pretty much like a fish out of water. His sleeves didn't seem long enough and his jacket could use a good pressing. I thought.

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"How do I look?" he asked.

"You want the truth?" Cinnamon asked. 'Of course. Don't forget what Madame Senetsky