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"Alison should have heard some of this, just so she learns how lucky she is. I swear, she's more spoiled than year-old apples. The complaints start flowing out of her mouth before she opens her eyes in the morning. You get along well with your brother?"

"Yes, very well," I said. "He always looks out for me."

"Yeah, well, Alison throws a fit every time I try to do anything for her." He stared at me for a moment. "I bet you're really good in the play. You have a really nice speaking voice."

"Thank you," I said and looked away quickly. His intense gaze was making me feel very selfconscious.

"You think we have time to row across the lake and back?"

"No. I have to set out the luncheon," I said.

"You really are helping my grandmother a lot."

"Well, she's helping me, too."

"My family's finally done something I can appreciate," he said. He continued to stare and then he nodded. "Maybe I'll come see the play."

"

Oh, it's not going to be anything," I said.

"Hey, don't be so negative. Think positive about the things you do. That's what I do. Besides, I'm a critic. Leave it up to me to decide how good it is or isn't," he said laughing. "Come on. I'll show you my favorite place on the lake. We have time at least for that, don't we?"

I hesitated and looked back at the house.

"Come on," he urged taking my hand. He tugged me hard and I fell toward him. He embraced me to keep me from falling into the water. "Sorry," he said gazing into my eyes and still holding me close to him. "Sometimes, I don't know my own strength."

I pulled away quickly.

"No, you don't."

He laughed again, but he didn't let go of my hand. I had to follow him along the shoreline until we reached a place where there were half a dozen large rocks.

"Whenever I come down here, I always sit on one of these rocks and watch the water. You can see the fish clearly here. Come on, try it," he urged. He guided me onto a rock and we sat looking down. Sure enough, some catfish appeared. I cried out at the sight of them. "Haven't you been down to the lake before?" he asked, astounded at my surprise at the fish.

"Yes, but only when I first arrived. I've been too busy."

"Well, then I'm glad I came along. After lunch, we'll take another walk," he said. "I'll show you where I once built a tree house and you can recite some lines from the play. Too bad we just can't leave them all in there and have a picnic by ourselves."

"I don't think ..."

"I'm just kidding. I should spend some time with my grandmother, too. Tell you what," he offered before I could disagree, "I'll even help clean up after lunch and force Alison to pitch in. If she doesn't, I'll threaten to tell my mother about her smoking pot at a friend's house. What do you say? Okay?"

I looked away, unable to fight back a smile. I felt so strange. On one hand I was thrilled by the attention my new brother was lavishing on me, but on the other, I was a little frightened about what he would do and say once he learned the truth.

Lies, I thought again, are like termites weakening the foundation of your very soul.

Brody wasn't exaggerating about Alison's flair for complaints. At lunch they flowed out of her mouth faster than freshly sprayed roaches in any of the apartments in the Projects. She thought it was too hot in the dining room. She complained about the seasoning in the shrimp salad being too spicy. The lemonade was too bitter; she'd rather have a Coke, but Grandmother Hudson didn't have any Cokes. Wasn't there any normal bread? The crust was too hard on the French bread. It was stale. She spotted a smudge on her glass. The dishes weren't that clean. Why didn't we go to a fancy restaurant?

Our mother tried to please her. Brody told her to stuff it and Victoria simply glared sullenly. Apparently, she hadn't been satisfied with their socalled family meeting, and the way she was staring at me from time to time made me feel very

uncomfortable. This wasn't turning out to be as good as I had hoped our first get-together would be. Where was the love that was supposed to flow among members of the same family? What did family really mean to these people? I wondered. Did I even want them to ever know we were related?

Just as he promised, when the meal ended Brody volunteered to help clear the dishes and told Alison to help, too.

"Why? I'm not the maid. She is," she whined.

"Rain wasn't brought here to be my maid," Grandmother Hudson said sharply.