Whale Song - Page 22
For one heart-stopping moment, I froze, then her screaming became a name.
“Phoebe!” she screamed as she started to pull a humanoid figure out of the muck.
“Diana?” the figure asked weakly. “What's going on? What happened?”
“Your sister!” I shouted. “You screamed like that because of your sister?”
Trust me to react to a heartwarming scene with outrage.
Diana tilted her head in honest confusion. “Why else would I scream like that?” she wanted to know.
“Oh, no reason!” I snapped as I threw my hands into the air. “None at all!” I turned and stalked away in a huff. “If you'll excuse me, while you two have your little reunion, I'm going over here to finish my heart attack in peace, then I'm heading home for a shower!”
You know what I just realized, Gore? the monster asked rhetorically since it knew I'd ignore the question. You really don't need me to make your life miserable; you do a fantastic job of that all on your own!
I hated when it was right.
Before I could get too far down that depressing line of thought though, Diana's soft voice interrupted me. “That's it?” she asked.
“More or less,” I answered with a nod. “I have some calls to make when I get home to arrange for some clean up and cover up work on all this, but that can definitely wait until after my shower.”
Diana sighed. “That's not what I meant.”
“Then say what you mean then,” I told her, then I looked around in alarm. “Wait . . . where's your sister?”
“Using 'the little girl's tree,' so we have a few minutes,” she explained, then Diana frowned. “She . . . doesn't remember anything after starting her singing class.”
I grimaced. “That's . . . good and bad.”
“Tell me about it!” Diana sighed. “I could use some help explaining to her what happened, especially to her class, but I need to ask you something first.”
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