The Locked Garden by Gloria Whelan

Author:Gloria Whelan
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2009-12-08T16:00:00+00:00

EIGHT

The next morning Carlie refused her breakfast. Aunt Maude looked hurt. She took away Carlie’s plate of scrambled eggs and stirred up a batch of pancakes. Pancakes were Carlie’s favorite, but Carlie shook her head and closed her mouth tighter than ever.

Papa said, “Just ignore her, Maude. She’s bound to eat when she gets hungry.”

It was easy to snatch some of the leftover pancakes and put them in my pocket. Carlie complained, “They have fuzz from your pocket and no syrup.” But she ate them.

At dinnertime Aunt Maude said, “I’ve made deviled eggs for you, Carlie, the way you like them with chopped pickle.”

Carlie wouldn’t pick up a fork. She just sat there. Even when Aunt Maude put a plate of Carlie’s favorite coconut macaroons on the table, Carlie just looked at them for a long minute and then looked away. Later, eating the deviled egg and the macaroons I had sneaked up to her, Carlie asked, “How soon will Eleanor come back?”

“Papa has to get worried first,” I said.

At suppertime Papa was angry. “This has gone far enough, Carlie. You have made your point, and this foolish behavior must stop right now. It’s endangering your health, and I won’t have it.”

Carlie slunk down in her chair and wouldn’t look at Papa.

“Do you hear me, young lady?”

I was afraid Carlie would give in, but she only stuck out her chin and said, “I won’t eat until Eleanor comes back.”

Aunt Maude jumped up and left the table. Papa said, “You see how unhappy you have made your aunt Maude, Carlie?”

“I don’t care,” Carlie said. “She made me unhappy.”

“Carlie,” Papa said, “Eleanor has gone home.”

Carlie said, “She’ll come back if you ask her.”

Papa stood up and threw his napkin on the table. “Go up to your room, young lady.”

Carlie slipped off her chair and climbed the stairs, stomping one foot after the other. Papa went into the kitchen after Aunt Maude. I grabbed some ham and bread and ran upstairs to Carlie. My sister snatched the food and gulped it down so fast she nearly choked. Then she grinned. “This morning, while Aunt Maude was in her bedroom, I sneaked some dried apple slices from the pantry and ate them.”

After that it was a game. I never thought about our doing anything wrong. I only wanted Eleanor back. It wasn’t fair that first we had lost our mother and now Eleanor was gone. Besides, I was sure Eleanor would be happier with us than she would be with her father.

At mealtimes Carlie sat at the table refusing food, shaking her head, her mouth pressed shut, her fists clenched. Aunt Maude’s voice would start out normal. Soon it would get shrill, and her face red. Papa would calm Aunt Maude, and then he would talk to Carlie, explaining in a reasonable voice that she must eat for her health. After a while Papa would grow impatient and lose his temper. He would send Carlie to her room. By the end of the third day Papa looked worried, and I began to feel guilty about sneaking food to Carlie.

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