Things My Sister Had

Best read the previous chapters.

Karen, at the start of chapter 1, had just turned 18; her brother Dave was 20.

My sister had plans.

Around Thanksgiving my sister got a letter from her college of choice. She'd been turned down for early admission. She was pretty upset about it, and our parents and I tried to comfort her as well as we could. After a few hours of tears and days of glum looks, she came around and started looking forward to letters (better yet, packages) from the other schools she'd applied to.

I'd almost forgotten that I'd applied, too. Well, not really, but I didn't start to get excited until she did. A week went by, and then another. Then one day I came home from work and as soon as I walked in the door she threw herself on me, legs around my waist and arms around my neck. She gave me a bruising kiss, right on the lips, and I almost fell backwards from the impact. She was jumping out of her skin with excitement, and screaming "We're in, we're in, we're in!"

I set her down and tried to figure out what she was talking about, and then it dawned on me: we'd both gotten into college! I hollered "Yes!" and did my own little dance, then when we'd both calmed down a little I asked, "In where?"

"Barnes Tech! We both got in! It was my second choice, but it was your first! We'll be going to the same school!"

"But Karen, what if either of us gets into some other school, too?"

"Barnes was your first choice, and my second. The rest were just fallbacks. It's settled."

She started jumping up and down with excitement, and threw herself on me again (with a little less force). She looked me in the eyes, and gave me another smack on the lips, making that "mmmwah" sound people do when they're playing around, then she put her head on my shoulder and started to bawl. I knew she was crying from joy, so I waddled over to the couch and gently set her down. She pulled me down with her and continued to cry on my shoulder, holding me as tight as she could. When she'd finally calmed down, I suggested that we go out for ice cream to celebrate. She nodded and went to fix her makeup.

While she was doing her repairs, I looked at the table where there were two fat manila envelopes from Barnes, one for her and one for me. She hadn't opened mine, but it looked the same as hers and it was obviously too fat to be a rejection letter. As I shuffled through my package of papers, a yellow sheet caught my eye. It said "Attention" at the top, so I read it with some foreboding. All it said was that due to a shortage of on-campus housing, there would be a lottery to see who got dorm space. It also gave a price schedule for the dorms, and it said there was another insert listing apartment complexes in the area that usually had lots of students living in them.

Karen interrupted my reading by bounding down the stairs and grabbing my hand, heading for the door and ice cream.

*****

As we were sitting in our favorite ice cream place busily ruining our appetites for dinner, it hit me like a brick that we still had not told our parents about my college plans.

"Karen, we have to tell Mom and Dad tonight."

"I know, can you imagine their faces? I can't wait!"

"Well, it's not just going to be a shock to them, it's going to be a shock to their wallets. They probably set aside money for you, but what about me? They didn't think I'd ever make it through community college, let alone get into a university." "Don't worry about it, Dave. They probably started saving for your education when you were a baby, just like they did for me. They might have stopped a couple of years ago when it looked like you were going to be a burger flipper, but I'll bet they didn't. There'd still be a pretty good pot even if they did."

"Should we tell them as soon as they get home, or over dinner?"

"Well, they don't both get home at the same time so I say we should wait. We'd better get home and hide those letters."

This was going to be an interesting family meal.

*****

By the time Mom got home we'd hidden the packages from Barnes and retreated to our rooms. She started dinner, and when Dad got home they each had a martini. That was their usual "unwinding" ritual before dinner, and I figured that under the circumstances it could only help. If they had known what was in store for them, they'd have mixed a pitcher.

We had all finished the main course and were working on dessert when Karen started the ball rolling.

"Guess what! I heard from Barnes Tech, I got in!"

There was a chorus of enthusiastic approval from Mom and Dad, and then Karen looked meaningfully at me.

In a more subdued tone I said "Guess what, so did I."

Dad almost shoved a forkful of cake up his nose, and Mom just froze for so long I thought maybe she'd stroked out.

Dad recovered first. "Damn, Dave, you didn't even tell us you applied! Congratulations!"

Mom awoke from her trance. "Why didn't you tell us about this, honey?"

"Well, I hadn't really planned it. I was doing okay, but not great, at the community college and didn't know what was coming next. Then Karen got hold of me and it just built from there. She taught me how to study, she convinced me I wasn't a dummy, she helped me pick my major, she pushed me through choosing a school, and

this

happened. I guess I didn't want to get your hopes up."

(I was also thinking that I hadn't wanted another round of "You make all these plans but you never follow through," but I kept that to myself.)

At this point Dad decided that a round of drinks was in order, something he did once in a blue moon, so he opened a bottle of Asti Spumante and we all made a toast.

*****

The next evening Mom and Dad kept glancing at each other during dinner, and as we were finishing Dad said "Kids, we need to talk."

That didn't sound good.

"Mom and I are doing okay, but we aren't rich. We've been putting away money for your educations since you were born, but school costs have gone up awfully fast and Barnes isn't the cheapest place around. We can manage this, but just barely.

"We've been looking at some ways to save a bit of money here and there. One thing that we'll have to do is limit you to one car. That will save us a couple of thousand dollars.

"Next, when Mom and I were in school living on campus was an important part of going to college, but it doesn't seem to mean much anymore. When we were in school only married students lived off campus. Now it seems to be pretty common. We looked at the stuff in your packets, and it would save another couple thousand if you shared an apartment off campus.

"There might be other things we can do, but how do you two feel about things so far?"

I went first. "Well, having to share a car will be a pain, but sharing an apartment won't be much different from living here."

Karen nodded her agreement. "I don't think I'd want to have any strangers for roommates, though, so would it be okay if we found a two-bedroom for just the two of us?"

Dad said "According to the rents in that listing they sent us, that would be okay. I don't blame you for not wanting to share an apartment with strangers."

We all nodded, and it was settled.

*****

Karen and I headed up to our rooms, and when we got to the top of the stairs she stopped me. She pulled me into a hug, squeezed me tight, and whispered "I knew it would all work out." She kept squeezing me. Her breasts were pressing against my chest (through our clothes, of course), and I could feel how big and soft they were. If one touch on my arm the other day had started a burn, this was like hugging a stove. My throat started to close up, and I don't think I could have spoken if I'd wanted to. It was going to be a restless night.

Through the fog that was forming in my brain, I heard her say something else. "Dave, don't hate me for this, but I kind-of did some things with the mail and stuff. I wanted to make sure we went to the same school."

She gave me a kiss, on the cheek this time, then let go of me and went into her room. I stood there for moment, then stumbled into my own. I wasn't quite sure what had happened, but I knew that my sister had been in charge the whole time.

My sister had plans.