Including Alice by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Author:Phyllis Reynolds Naylor [Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fiction, GR
ISBN: 9781439132289
Goodreads: 15800274
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

How much longer are you going to stay

mad at me?

My first impulse was to type, Forever. Then I stopped. I would think for a long while before answering.

10

Pretending

Penny probably got a ride the next morning because I didn’t see her on the bus. Once at school, we both kept our distance, probably trying to figure out what to say to each other. I was glad when the day was over at last and I was home again.

Sylvia must not have heard me come in, because she was taking a nap on the couch. She was dressed in jeans and a yellow T-shirt, with both hands resting on her stomach, and she was snoring. Snoring! Not real loud, but loud enough for it to be considered a snore.

I couldn’t help myself. I just stood in the doorway staring at her. Beautiful women were just like the rest of us. Their bodies worked exactly the same! I tiptoed on up to my room to study for a sociology test.

A half hour later Sylvia came upstairs.

“I’ll bet I was sound asleep and you walked right by me,” she said. Her hair was tousled and she still looked sleepy.

“You looked like you could use some sleep.” I smiled.

“Well, I’d better not get used to afternoon naps, because I’ve only got one more week to get myself organized,” she said. She came over and handed me a notepad. “I got a call this morning from Lois’s friend at Hecht’s. She said you should return the mannequin to the Customer Service Department.”

“Okay. I’ll call Lester,” I said.

He wasn’t in, but I left a message, asking if he could come by that evening to return something for me to Montgomery Mall.

I know how Lester feels about shopping malls, though. I know how he feels about department stores and especially how he feels about the women’s stuff in department stores. So I decided not to even tell him it was a mannequin. I found the long blue tissue-paper bag that Sylvia’s wedding dress came in—she’d put it in the trash—and I managed to slip it over the mannequin’s head. We had put the mannequin on Lester’s old bed, and I carefully wriggled the bag over the shoulders, the hips, the legs, and I stapled the open end. Perfecto!

Lester showed up at the house around eight. Dad and Sylvia were out with friends.

“Helloooo!” he called, coming inside.

“It’s up here, Les,” I said.

He came upstairs and studied the long blue bundle. “What is it?”

“Just a prop Lois borrowed for the wedding. Nothing breakable. I’ll help you carry it to the car,” I said.

I picked up the end with the head and Lester picked up the bottom. “This isn’t heavy,” he said. “I can carry it.” And before I could protest, he draped the bundle over his shoulder, took it outside, and stuffed it in his trunk. I held my breath.

“So how’s it going with Sylvia?” he asked after I got into the car beside him and we headed toward the corner.

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