Storms 01 - Family Storms

everything for myself.”
    “Okay.” She started to turn and stopped. “Mind if I ask what happened to you? You got a disease or something?”
    “I was hit by a car,” I said.
    “Oh, too bad,” she said, and hurried off before I could add anything.
    I was surprised she didn’t know about me. If anyone else but the Marches knew what was going on, I thought, he or she certainly didn’t gossip. Now that Rosie had mentioned the bathroom, I realized I did have to go. Because of the cast, it was hard to shift from my wheelchair to the toilet. I nearly fell twice but somehow managed to get it done and get back into the chair. At least I wouldn’t have to depend on anyone for that, I thought happily, and went to watch television.
    I tried to distract myself with a movie, but I kept my eyes and ears tuned to the door, anticipating Mrs. March and either her husband or Kiera. Hours later, Mrs. March did return, but she was alone. She burst in with an armful of packages.
    “How are you doing, Sasha?” she asked, but before I could answer, she added, “I just had to buy these things for you.”
    She put everything on the table.
    “Come, look. I was told that this is the newest iPod. Ofcourse, I didn’t know what songs you’d like on it, but I had them download everything that’s popular now.”
    “But you already bought me one of these when I was in the hospital.”
    “Yes, but the salesman told me this one is the latest version, and you can do so many more things with it. I’ll leave it up to you to read about it. You teenagers are so much more adept at figuring out all this technology. Donald says we were brought up with pages to read, and you guys are being brought up with megabytes or some such thing. Anyway, that’s that.”
    She handed it to me. One of those would have probably paid for food for Mama and me for a month or so, I thought.
    Mrs. March held up the first wrapped box. “I stopped at what used to be my favorite clothing store for Alena’s things, and they just got in these darling outfits for the fall and winter.”
    She began to unwrap the box, and before I could really see what was in it, she had unwrapped the next and the next, pulling everything out quickly. There were skirt-and-blouse outfits with matching caps, jeans with sequins, and two leather jackets, one light pink and the other light green. They felt butter-soft.
    “What do you think?” she asked when she was finished unwrapping and showing it all.
    “It’s all beautiful,” I said. I wanted to sound grateful, but she was flooding me with so much I didn’t have a chance to appreciate any of it.
    “I thought so, too. Now, more news. I had the guidancecounselor at the school Kiera attends contact the tutor he had recommended for us. Her name is Mrs. Kepler. She retired two years ago but is bored to death. Her husband does nothing but play golf. She’ll be perfect, I’m sure. I’ve arranged for her to stop in tomorrow to meet you. Is that all right? We want you to be up to speed when the new school year begins.”
    “Where do I go to school?”
    “You’ll go to the private school Kiera attends, of course. It’s just outside Pacific Palisades. Grover will take you and pick you up every day when that starts. I’m going to speak with Dr. Milan in a little while,” she continued, barely taking a breath. “Do you have any complaints, pain, headaches, anything I need to report to him?”
    “No.”
    “That’s wonderful. It’s so important not to linger in the hospital around all those other sick and injured people. It keeps it on your mind. There’s plenty to distract you from that here.”
    She stood smiling down at me so long it made me feel a little uncomfortable. I deliberately turned away to look at the new iPod.
    “Well,” she said, “let’s get your new clothes put away.”
    She gathered it all in her arms. I wheeled behind her to the walk-in closet. I had not yet looked into it, but now, when I did, I laughed to myself. I had imagined the hotel room that Mama and I had lived in not being much larger than a walk-in closet in this house. I was greatly underestimating. The closet was at least twice as large as that hotel room. It had a mirror and a vanity table in it and rows ofclothing that probably rivaled the stock in most stores. How could any girl have been able to wear so much?
    She paused as she hung up my new skirts and blouses and suddenly grew teary-eyed. She lifted one skirt, and I saw that it was