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"Nothing to be sorry about. I enjoyed being with you."

He kissed me good night when we pulled into the driveway, and then he backed out and I walked slowly to the front door, hoping that my grandparents were at least waiting up in their bedroom so I wouldn't come under close scrutiny. I still had a little headache, and my stomach felt very weak.

I was lucky. My grandfather called to me from the bedroom as I climbed the stairway.

"How was the movie?" he asked. I paused at their door and looked in. Both of them had been reading in bed, probably to keep their minds from dwelling on me.

I saw no reason to lie.

"We didn't go to a movie. One of Craig's teammates had a party to celebrate the team getting into the play-offs."

"Who's that?" he asked.

"Mickey Lesman."

"Oh yeah. First baseman, right?"

"How do you know that?" I asked, amazed

"I follow the team in the papers. Nice party?"

"It was okay. They started to get a little wild, throwing each other into the pool, so Craig decided it was time for us to go."

That was all true.

"Really? Very mature of him. Good," my grandfather said.

My grandmother was just listening to us, looking at me.

I decided to give them everything.

"Craig asked me to be his prom date. I said yes," I told them.

"Prom date, huh? Well now, that's something, right, Elaine?"

/> "Yes," she said. "That's very nice, Alice. I'll help you find a nice gown. When is it?" she asked, and I gave her the date.

"We're all going to stay out all night and then go to a picnic at Bear Mountain."

"All night?"

"Now Elaine, kids can do that. We did, remember?"

She was quiet.

"I'd just like to know all the details," she said. "I'm sure we will," he told her. "Right, Alice?" "Yes," I said.

"Prom, huh?" my grandfather said. "I remember I looked like a penguin in my tuxedo. I was so stiff in it that I could have been mistaken for a storefront mannequin. I'm sure Craig will look a lot better," he added.

I said good night and went to my bedroom. I didn't realize how tired I was until I lowered my head to the pillow. I barely closed my eyes before I fell asleep. I woke once in the night because of a nightmare in which I heard footsteps above me, and then I slept later than usual the following morning. When I did wake up, I had a dull headache and did the best I could to hide it from my grandparents.

My grandmother was excited about my going to the prom now and talked to me at breakfast about the various dress stores she wanted us to try. Since she had the weekend off, I couldn't very well postpone a shopping safari, even though I felt I could easily sleep away the day. I was more than grateful now to Rachel for showing me how to brighten up my face. It surely needed the makeup, lipstick and eyeliner. My grandfather was going to spend part of his Saturday catching up at his office, so for the first time in a long while, it was going to be only my grandmother and myself.

She couldn't wait to call Aunt Zipporah and give her the news about the prom, however. Before we left, I spoke to her on the phone.

"I never heard Mom so excited for you, Alice."

"I think she's more nervous about it all than excited."