Marianne by Elizabeth Hammer (best books to read in life TXT) 📕

that it wouldn’t matter if I did tell him,” said Danielle. “This can’t really be about Mickey; it’s too bizarre. He’s upset about something else. Something way bigger.”

“Like what?”

“How the hell should I know?” Danielle scowled at the ground and rubbed her finger between her eyes. “I don’t even want to know. I just want him to forget about it and... forget about it.”

Something was off about the way Danielle was acting. “Are you, like... lying, right now?” said Marianne. “Do you know the real reason he’s mad?”

Danielle laughed and closed her eyes. “No. And I don’t want to know. I don’t like fights.”

Marianne clucked her tongue.

Danielle glared at her.

Whatever. She’s the one that’d forced Marianne into the conversation. “Oh, I see,” said Marianne. “You just don’t like being on the wrong side of a fight.”

“Shut up,” said Danielle. And she was dead serious, so Marianne did. “That isn’t what this is about. Besides, no one likes being on the wrong side of a fight.”

“Okay. I’m sorry,” said Marianne.

“Never mind.” Danielle blew her bangs out of her face and then smiled down at Marianne. “Nana didn’t need me tonight, you know. She was sleeping fine. I came over here and woke her up so I’d have someone to play with.”

Marianne laughed and chucked her spoon over her head into the sink. “You are so messed up.”

“I know.” Danielle traced out the design on the linoleum with her toe. “I usually blame it on my mom, but that’s getting old. Especially when I’ve got my perfect brother showing me up all the time. He’s not all jacked up like me.”

That was true. “But he had you around to protect him, right? You could just say that you raised him and take all the credit.”

“I’ll do that,” mumbled Danielle. “He was so fricking cute when he was little,” she said, looking up and smiling. “You’d just die. He loved Godzilla. He used to watch it in Japanese if we couldn’t find another version. Over and over again. And he lived on Pudding Pops.”

“What’s a Pudding Pop?”

“What the? How old are you again?” Danielle made a disgusted noise and shook her head. “Anyway, when he was in kindergarten, we got him a suit and tie from the Goodwill for our grandpa’s funeral. Oh man, he loved it. He thought he looked so slick. We couldn’t get him out of it, not even if it was a hundred degrees. It was way too small, and he was so fricking dirty all the time...” She shook her head. “Little high waters.”

Marianne stuck out her bottom lip. Too much cuteness. “Did he get in trouble a lot?”

Danielle shrugged. “Yeah, I guess. But it was usually just because he didn’t know any better.” She studied her hands for a moment, probably blaming her mom for not taking better care of him. “He never talked back. Well, except for this one time... He was real little. He knew not to go in the street, but he did it anyway to go see his friends in the apartment building across from ours. And, of course, it was me who had to go over and haul him back inside. I put him on my bed and told him he had to stay there.” She held up her hand and pointed to her wrist. “He bit me.”

“Heh.”

“Oh, he was so convinced that he knew better than me,” said Danielle. “I got mad and said that he’d have to stay there for an hour. He jumped to his feet and balled up his fat little fists. His face got all red, and he screeched, ‘You monster!’”

Marianne leaned her head back on the cabinet. “You are a monster, what’d you expect?”

“I just laughed and ran out so he wouldn’t see.” Danielle stared off into space and nodded for no reason. “He used to call me ‘Danny’ when he was a baby. He’d say, ‘You’rn mine Danny.’ Just like that.”

“Oof, don’t say stuff like that,” said Marianne. “You’re gonna make me cry.”

Danielle looked over at her. “You need to be good to him. I’ve been meaning to tell you that. He’s not like me, you know.”

Marianne scratched her head behind the ear and cleared her throat softly. “I’ve noticed.”

Danielle gave her a nasty stare. “I’m serious, kid. I’m not saying that he won’t be a fool now and then, but you need to forgive him. For everything. He...” She paused, her eyes darting around the ceiling for the right words.

“He deserves it,” said Marianne.

“Exactly.” Danielle nodded. “He even puts up with our mom, for heaven’s sake. He’s not like me. I’m a runner.”

All of a sudden, Marianne caught on to the strangeness of the new topic. “Why did you want to tell me that? To be good to him?”

Danielle shrugged. “Good to know.”

“Yeah, but it’s obvious. Why’d you feel the need to say it?” said Marianne. “Are you saying I’m going to hurt him? Are you saying that I’m a runner?”

“No,” said Danielle. “Geez, calm down.”

“I’m calm,” said Marianne, wondering why she’d come off so intense. She was calm.

“I know you’re a good girl,” said Danielle. “I just know how easy it is to hurt somebody without meaning to. And not to be rude, but you remind me of myself sometimes.”

Marianne smiled and looked down, tightening her hold on her knees. She sighed. “Look, I know I’m not the most sane creature on the planet, but... I get what you’re saying about running away from things.” She tried not to think of herself puking in the bushes at Disneyland and failed. She shook her head. “It’s just that... that was a stupid way to be. I see that now, and I’m not going to go there again.”

“Aww,” said Danielle in her patronizing mom tone. “That’s cute.”

Marianne looked up quickly. She had to push back the paranoia that Danielle might know about her secret life. “I’m not going to jack up things with your brother. I’m not.”

“Good.”

“I’m serious, Dan.”

Danielle nodded. “I’m serious, too. Don’t mess