Free Broken Wings by V. C. Andrews Page A

had gotten home last night. I went to see Keefer Dawson and he drove me here.”
    “You didn’t?”
    “All right, I didn’t.”
    “Wow,” she said again.
    Yes, I thought. Wow.
    She sat with me until I was finished with my sheet and blanket and pillowcase. Now that she knew more about what had happened, she had a laundry list of questions to ask about my life in Ohio. I told her as much as I could. I wanted her to think I was taking her into my confidence because I had a favor I needed from her.
    “You weren’t going anywhere tonight, were you?” I asked her.
    “No. Why?”
    “Can you do me a little favor?”
    “Sure,” she said, excited that I was taking her into my confidence.
    “Come up to my apartment to hang out.”
    “Oh, sure. I’d like that.”
    “And when my sister calls to see if I’m there, if she should, tell her I’m in the bathroom. As long as you answer the phone, she’ll believe it.”
    “You mean you won’t be there?”
    “No, silly,” I said. “I’ll be fixing my dent.”
    She made an O with her mouth and nodded, and then she smiled at me.
    “Wow,” she said.
    Maybe that would become my new name, I thought. Wow.
    After I made the bed with the fresh sheet, pillowcase, and blanket, I joined Mother darling and Cory, who were eating take-out Chinese Cory had had delivered. Mother darling was not much of a cook. I was a better cook than she was, in fact, because I was around Grandma more when she made our meals, and she taught me. “Your mother was never interested in learning any of this,” she said. “All she wanted to do was sing and hang out with nobodies.”
    I smiled to myself, remembering that.
    “You better sit down and eat ‘fore it gets cold, Robin,” Mother darling told me.
    I plopped onto a seat, petulantly. Cory was feeding his face as fast as he could scoop the noodles, chicken, and shrimp into his mouth.
    “You’re really in serious trouble now, Robin. I hope you appreciate the situation and behave.”
    I picked up a fork and started to serve myself some food. Cory glanced at me and then burped.
    “What she needs is a job,” he said, “but with her history, I don’t know nobody who’d hire her, except a pickpocket.”
    “He’s right, Robin. That’s somethin‘ we should think about. You have weeks and weeks yet before school starts here.”
    “I can’t look for work if I’m locked up in the apartment, now can I?”
    She thought a moment.
    “We’ll buy a paper and see what sort of work’s out there and then we’ll see about how to apply.”
    “I won’t hold my breath,” I said.
    “Damn girl, if you was my daughter…”
    “I’d commit suicide,” I finished, and he sat with his mouth open for a moment and then shook his head and got up.
    “I’m gettin‘ ready to go,” he told Mother darling.
    “Why are you so mean to him?” Mother darling whispered. “Don’t you realize we’d have nothin‘ and be nowhere if he wasn’t helpin’ me? The least you can do is show him some respect and appreciation, Robin.”
    “What? He—”
    “Don’t start,” she snapped. “If you can’t be nice, then just don’t be anythin‘. Just keep your mouth shut, hear?”
    I pushed the food away and pouted.
    “I don’t have time to baby you now, Robin. I’ve got to make a career happen. You’re just goin‘ to have to grow up or suffer the consequences. Meanwhile, you clean up,” she declared, and left to follow Cory.
    I sat fuming until I heard them come out of their bedroom.
    “I’ll be callin‘ you first break I get, Robin,” Mother darling said. “Least you could do is wish me luck.”
    “Good luck,” I spit back at her.
    After they were gone, I cleared off the table and washed the silverware and dishes. I began to think Kathy Ann wasn’t going to come up to the apartment, but she finally did appear.
    “When are you coming back?” she asked.
    “I’ll be back before midnight,” I said. “I won’t forget this favor.”
    “Can’t