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"A little community outside Columbia called Spring City. And I am a student at the University of North Carolina."

"How did you come to this place?" she followed.

-"Thelma, you're behaving like a private detective." Bunny intercepted, seeing the look on my face.

"I... a friend of my father's... made some introductions for me," I stuttered,

"Oh? And who would that be?"

"Thelma!"

"I'm just trying to make some polite

conversation. Bunny," she said, but pulled back to nibble on a finger sandwich.

"Has this modem Indian woman look reached the Carolinas yet?" Brenda asked me.

"I think I've seen women on campus wearing it, yes."

"You see?" Thelma said. "Women on campus. I'm sure there are no students your age. Brenda."

"This is not a style for young women only Madeline assured me of that." Brenda insisted.

"Madeline would assure you of anything to make a sale." Thelma told her sharply, and then turned back to me. "What business is your family in?"

"My father was a doctor." I said.

"Really. Is he retired?"

"He passed away recently."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Brenda said.

"And your mother?"

"She died a few years ago in a car accident."

"Oh, dear me, dear me," Brenda moaned, "Must you extract all this horrible information from the poor girl. Thelma?"

"Whether I do or not does not affect the reality of it. Brenda. My sister has always resembled an ostrich." she said. "keeping her head in the sand."

"I have not!"

"I suppose you will hear some talk of it if you interview the gossips in this town, but when my sister's husband. Marshall Carriage, died in his sleep. Brenda kept anyone from knowing about it for three days. She didn't even tell me."

Brenda's face looked as if it would crumple into sobs any moment.

"I think she expected a resurrection. It could have been quite a little scandal if that autopsy showed anything but heart failure," she added, stabbing her sister with a look that would have pierced an army tank.

"I have always found that if you ignore unhappiness long enough, it often goes away." Brenda calmly defended herself

"Did you ever notice a dead bird? One day, it's there, and then the next or a week later, it's often gone."

"Something ate it or carried it off," Thelma said in a tone of frustration.

"So what? It was gone, wasn't it?"

"Oh, give me strength," Thelma said. "Do you see this girl ignoring the unpleasantness in her life? I asked her about her parents, and she told me. She didn't manufacture some tale to hide the ugly truth, did she?"