Shooting Stars 03 Rose (15 page)

He was able to give me the money. He had funds Aunt Charlotte didn't even know about. He had taken some of his trust fund and
played the stock market over the Internet, and he had easy access to the money. The very next day Miss Anderson was able to tell Edmond I would attend his mother's school.

A week later. Mommy called to tell me she had landed a decent job in Atlanta. She was going to work far a local television station. When she had learned what Charlotte had done, she would have nothing more to do with her. She came to my high school graduation and she, Evan, Barry, and I went out to celebrate. Afterward, before she left to return to Atlanta, we had some time together. We sat and had coffee on the patio of a little cafe.

"I really don't have anyone but myself to blame for what Charlotte did," she told me. "I let myself believe in fairy tales."

"You were very vulnerable, Mommy, and she took advantage of that."
"There's a sign on the wall in the offices where I'm working now. It reads. IF YOU ACT LIKE SHEEP, THEY'LL ACT LIKE WOLVES, Your Daddy used to say that. The trouble is:' she added with a thin, little laugh, "we women need to be sheep sometimes. We need to be devoured by a good wolf once in a while."
"Never. Mommy. We never need that." She shrugged.
"I've never been strong. But you're different. Rose. I'm not worried for you You're going to make something of yourself. I'm so proud of
you."
"I'm worried about you. Mommy."
"Don't," she ordered."I'll be fine. There's got to be a real prince out there for me somewhere. Someone has the glass slipper that will fit my foot and magically turn me into a princess."'
Who's better off!' I wondered. People who have no fantasies, no dreams, or those who can't seem to shake them off. who walk about with a hopeful smile and eagerly turn themselves to the sound of any soft voice, any jeweled promise?
We said good-bye and hugged and held each other and promised to stay in very close touch, even when I lived and studied dance in New York. When she walked away, I couldn't help feeling she was the daughter now. I was the mature one. It filled my heart with such fear for her.
Actually. it was harder saying good-bye to Evan. He and Barry were the only people I cared about besides Mommy. I knew I would be able to see Barry in New York since he was attending NU, but once I left. I had no idea when I would see Evan again. Travel was not going to be easy for him.
On a beautiful afternoon with clouds so white they looked made out of milk. Evan and I said goodbye by his tree.
"'Will you be all right here. Evan, living with her still?"
"It doesn't matter. It hasn't up until now. She has her life and
I
have mine. We have little to do with each other really."
"I don't like the thought that you'll be locked up in your computer world again, never getting out."
"Oh. I'm going to get out more. Don't worry about that. And I'm hoping you'll be on a computer, too, and we can e-mail each other and stuff. We'll talk on the phone and, when you're ready. I'll even come to New York. Don't worry about me now, Rose. Your coming here was the best thing that ever happened to me. Aunt Charlotte doesn't understand. She thinks she got some sort of revenge, but she did me a great favor."
"Me too," I said quickly.
"She's not strong. She's trapped in her own arrogance and conceit. One day she'll wake up and look at herself in the mirror and see only a sour old lady. She'll spend her days in her private hell, believe me."
"You're so wise for someone your age. Evan.
I
wish I was as wise as you."
"I've had a lot of time to think, study, meditate. I guess. It's made me twice my age, probably. I'm not happy about it. I wish I'd had a normal childhood. too.
"I wish I was out here again, a little boy , holding my mother's hand," he continued. 'listening to her read me fairy tales, playing games like deciding what this cloud looks like or that. Pretending instead of
analyzing, imagining instead of thinking. You gave me some of that back. Rose."
"Whatever
I
gave you was only half of what you gave me."
"That figures.
I'm
your half-brother," he said. joking.
"You're my whole brother. You'll always be,"
I
said with firmness.
I
kissed him. "You want to come out front to say good-bye for now? Mommy will be here any moment to get me,"
I
said.
He shook his head.
"No. Just walk off. Rose. I'll stay here a while. I've got things to say to the birds, the trees, the clouds.
I
just want to feel the sun on my face."
I
smiled, pressed his hand one more time, and walked away.
I
looked back once.
He was sitting upright, looking out at the trees in the distance and holding his head as if his mother was with him, pressing hers to his, and beginning a wonderful new fairy tale.
I
could almost hear her voice. "Once upon a time..."