Dear Sister Read online

  “Well, it’s a good thing I got here, Lizzie, because this one little bag contains everything you need.” Jessica retrieved the canvas carryall and dumped its contents on the bed. “We have got super-duper dry shampoo.”

  Elizabeth wrinkled her nose. “Dry shampoo?”

  “I know it’s not as good as the real thing, but it’ll help put the life back in your hair. Trust me.” Jessica knew she was talking too fast and that her voice was almost too cheerful, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself. She didn’t want Elizabeth to start crying again.

  “I also brought makeup, cologne, lotion—everything. Let’s get started on you. We don’t have any time to lose because Todd is due here any minute. I knew you’d want to look great for your favorite guy.”

  “Todd is coming here?” Elizabeth shrank back against the pillows. Having turned away, Jessica missed the look of panic that flitted across her sister’s face.

  “Isn’t that great? The doctors said ‘family only,’ but I convinced them that a visit from Todd would be therapeutic!” Jessica didn’t tell Elizabeth that Todd had managed to sneak in a few times when she was still in a coma. She had a feeling her sister wouldn’t have wanted Todd to see her in that condition.

  For fifteen minutes Jessica worked on Elizabeth’s hair and makeup. Finally she stepped back to check her work before handing Elizabeth a small mirror. “You can thank me now, Liz. Pay me later,” Jessica kidded, pleased with the transformation.

  Elizabeth stared into the mirror for several moments, then frowned. “I’m still too pale. And my eyes look positively dead,” she complained.

  “You look great,” Jessica protested.

  “Let me have that blusher and gloss,” Elizabeth ordered. “And the eye makeup, too.”

  Jessica shrugged, dug into her purse, and handed Elizabeth a few bottles and tubes. Within minutes, Elizabeth had added blusher, deeper lip gloss, and more mascara, liner, and shadow.

  “Better, don’t you think?” she asked Jessica, who sat there with her mouth slightly open. Elizabeth hardly ever wore that much makeup. “Now, what can I put on besides this—this tacky horror,” she demanded, pulling the hospital gown away from her body.

  “Your shirt, your favorite nightshirt! I brought it.” Jessica frantically groped in the overnight bag. Triumphantly, she pulled something out of the bag. The well-worn white knit sleep shirt with the UCLA logo on it had always been Elizabeth’s favorite. No matter how many times Jessica had told her that the shirt was definitely unsexy, Elizabeth had replied, “Relax, Jess. It’s me, and I like it.”

  Elizabeth stared at the shirt. “You expect me to wear that with interns and doctors in and out of here all day? You’ve got to be kidding. Why didn’t you bring me something sexier?” Elizabeth asked in what could only be described as a whiny voice.

  “You want something sexier?” Jessica asked, stunned.

  “Is there something wrong with that?”

  “Hey, no! I think it’s terrific. I’ll bring something fantastic this afternoon, but you’re stuck with the shirt until then.”

  “I guess this thing is all right for a visit from Todd,” Elizabeth muttered. “Help me on with it.”

  A confused Jessica helped Elizabeth change. She was happy her sister was finally getting interested in the right kind of makeup and clothes, but she couldn’t figure out the reason for the sudden switch.

  “I’ll go see if Todd’s in the waiting room.”

  Jessica spotted Todd Wilkins immediately. The tall, broad-shouldered basketball player was pacing back and forth across the small waiting room.

  “Todd?”

  “Jess, how is she?” he asked anxiously. “Is she all right? Does she hate me? Are you sure she wants to see me?”

  “Slow down, Todd. Number one, she seems OK.”

  “Seems?”

  “Will you please let me finish,” Jessica said with a sigh of exasperation. “Liz is fine, really. You can only stay in there for ten or fifteen minutes, the doctor said, because she gets tired easily. And I’m sure she doesn’t hate you, Todd.”

  “Something’s wrong and you don’t want to tell me.”

  “Nothing’s wrong. She’s going to be fine, just fine,” Jessica said. “Go on in.”

  Todd peeked into Elizabeth’s room. She was lying so still that at first he thought she was asleep. Then she opened her eyes and stared at him.

  “Hello, Todd.”

  “Hi, how are you feeling?” Todd wanted to go to her and put his arms around her, but somehow he didn’t dare.

  “OK, I guess.”

  Todd walked to the side of the bed and reached for Elizabeth’s hand.

  “You look wonderful.” A wave of guilt washed over him when he saw how fragile she looked. I did this to her, he told himself. How can she ever forgive me?

  “I thought basketball players had good eyesight, Todd,” she said, pulling her hand from his to touch her hair. “On a scale of one to ten, I’m not even on the scale yet.”

  “You’re always a ten to me, Liz,” he quickly assured her. “About the accident…”

  “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “I just wanted to tell you how terrible I feel and—”

  “It’s in the past, Todd. Let’s just forget about it, OK?” Instead of looking at him, she focused her attention on her hands, which were restlessly plucking at the blanket.

  “I don’t want to upset you, Liz, but—”

  “Todd, I’m really very tired.” Elizabeth sighed and closed her eyes.

  “Oh, gee—I’m sorry, Liz. I mean, I know I’m being inconsiderate. You need your rest. I’ll get out of here right now.”

  When Todd came back out into the hall, Jessica was standing there with Dr. Edwards.

  “If you two will excuse me,” the doctor said, “I’ll go in and check on my patient.”

  “Well, how was she?” Jessica asked impatiently as soon as she and Todd were alone.

  “OK, I guess. Very quiet. She hardly said a word to me.”

  “She’s exhausted, for heaven’s sake.”

  “She said she was. But it almost seemed like she was bored—like she couldn’t wait for me to leave.”

  “Guys are really something!” Jessica said angrily. “Liz just came out of a coma, and you expect her to be laughing and smiling as if nothing happened.”

  Just then the sound of Elizabeth’s laughter floated out to the hall.

  “Yeah, Jess, and then again, maybe doctors are more interesting than basketball players.” Todd strode over to the elevator and punched the down button.

  Jessica tiptoed to the door of Elizabeth’s room and peeked in. Elizabeth looked anything but tired. Not only was she sitting up, she was smiling at Dr. Edwards. If she hadn’t known that Elizabeth wasn’t the flirting type, Jessica would have sworn her sister was making a play for the doctor.

  * * *

  Three weeks after the accident, Elizabeth was released from the hospital with orders from Dr. Edwards to rest at home for at least two weeks before returning to school.

  Elizabeth laughed as she walked into the house and saw the living room decorated with streamers, balloons, and a giant banner that read, “Welcome Home, Liz.”

  “This has got to be your doing, Jess,” she accused.

  “Guilty as charged,” Jessica said and laughed. “Do you like it?”

  “Jess was up most of the night making the banner,” Alice Wakefield said, giving Jessica a hug.

  “And she got me to blow up the balloons,” Ned Wakefield added. “She said it had something to do with lawyers being full of hot air.”

  “You don’t think I overdid it, do you?” Jessica asked. “I wanted your homecoming to be special.”

  “You, Jessica Wakefield, overdo anything? Such a ridiculous thought never crossed my mind,” Elizabeth teased.

  “I could have gotten the marching band and the cheerleading squad to come over.”

  “Now that would have been overdoing it.”


  Alice Wakefield put her arm around her daughter’s shoulder. “I think it’s time we got you up to bed, honey.”

  “Don’t bug me about rest, Mom,” Elizabeth said.

  “The doctor said—”

  “Oh, all right,” Elizabeth grumbled as she went up the stairs with her mother.

  Jessica turned a worried face toward her father.

  “Don’t worry, Jess,” he reassured her. “Liz just needs time to recover, that’s all.”

  * * *

  “Boring, boring, boring!” Jessica heard her sister complain as she was coming in to see Elizabeth after school.

  “Don’t tell me all this rest and relaxation is getting to you, Liz. I’ll be glad to trade places with you—especially during science class,” Jessica said and laughed.

  “Nothing is more boring than five straight days of soaps and game shows,” Elizabeth muttered.

  “How about those books over there?” Jessica said, pointing at the stack of paperbacks on Elizabeth’s writing table. “You’ve always said you wanted more time to read.”

  “That’s supposed to be fun?” Elizabeth snapped.

  “Hey, don’t get bent out of shape, Liz. Reading isn’t my idea of fun, but you always said you liked it.”

  “Maybe it’s time I did less reading and more living, Jess. What do you think?”

  Jessica cocked her head to one side and tapped it with the heel of her hand, like a swimmer trying to get the water out of her ears.

  “I think I’m not hearing right. Are you sure you’re my work-first-play-later twin sister, the very same sister who tells me to study more?”

  “Oh, come on, Jessica, you make me sound like some kind of creep,” Elizabeth said, punching her pillow. “I’ve been taking it slowly ever since I got out of the hospital. I’m more than ready for some fun. After being bored out of my skull with television for five days, I’ve come up with an idea. A party! That’s what we need. That’s what I need.”

  “Great! But wait a minute, Liz, you can’t go to a party, not yet anyway.”

  “One more week, Jess, that’s all. Then I’ll be out on parole, so then comes the party, OK?”

  “Yeah, yeah, let me think a minute.” Jessica walked around the room, her hands stuck in the back pockets of her jeans. “I heard Lila Fowler is thinking of having a party. I’ll talk to her tomorrow.”

  “Forget Lila. I’m talking about our party, Jess.”

  “Ours?”

  “Why not? We haven’t had a pool party in months. Mom and Dad are sure to go along with it. We could tell them it would be—what’s that medical term you used?”

  “Therapeutic?”

  “That’s right. A party would be therapeutic for me.”

  Jessica couldn’t have been happier. For a change she and Elizabeth seemed to want the same kind of fun. “I love it, Liz. I really love it. We’ll invite every terrific guy we know. It’ll be great.” She began planning instantly. “Now, which girls do we invite, Liz? Lila and Cara Walker, of course,” Jessica said, naming two of their Pi Beta Alpha sorority sisters. “And I suppose you’ll want to include Enid Rollins.”

  “Why invite any of them, Jess? Can’t the Wakefield sisters handle all those guys by themselves?”

  Three

  “Huh?” Jessica couldn’t believe her ears. “Liz, you can’t be serious. There’s no way we could do that.”

  “Why not?”

  “Well, because…” Jessica tried to think of a reason. Actually, she thought, that was the kind of party she’d always wanted. But certainly not the kind Elizabeth ever had. Then common sense caught up with Jessica. “We can’t do it because every girl we know would hate us, Liz. And they’d stop inviting us to their parties. Guys almost never give parties, so we’d be out in the cold. Right?”

  “OK, we’ll invite some girls,” Elizabeth conceded.

  Jessica stared at her sister. There was something different about her. But what was it? Jessica peered closer. It was her twin sister sitting there on the bed, although she had traded in her UCLA nightshirt for a sexy satin nightgown.

  “Why are you staring at me as if I’ve suddenly grown another head?” Elizabeth demanded.

  “I was just wondering if Todd’s seen you in that nightgown. I bet it’d raise his temperature about a hundred and thirty-seven degrees!”

  “No, he hasn’t! And he’s not likely to,” Elizabeth said angrily.

  “Why not, for heaven’s sake? If a guy I liked came to see me in my sickbed, I’d sure make the most of it.” Jessica sighed dramatically, placed the back of her right hand on her forehead, and intoned, “Dahling, so good of you to come when I am at death’s door!”

  Mimicking Jessica, Elizabeth put her own hand to her head. She giggled. “That’s a great line, Jess. I’ll have to use it sometime.”

  “Oh, Liz, it is so terrific having you home again,” Jessica said, giggling herself. “I never have as much fun with anyone else. Besides, in a week you’ll be well enough to do your share of the dishes and the vacuuming and all the other boring chores I’ve been stuck with for the past lifetime and a half.” She said the words with a grin, but Jessica was only half kidding. Even though doing dishes usually involved nothing more strenuous than loading and unloading the dishwasher, she was always looking for excuses to avoid her turn at it.

  Elizabeth raised her right hand and in her most serious voice said, “I solemnly swear to take over my share of the chores as soon as I have made a total recovery—which should be in about three months!”

  “What!”

  Elizabeth smiled mischievously.

  Jessica was about to give Elizabeth a snappy answer when she heard the chimes of the front doorbell. She scrambled off the bed and started for the door. “I’ll bet that is the star of the Sweet Valley High basketball team. He said he was going to come over this afternoon.”

  “Todd is coming over here?”

  “Yeah. Fix your face. I’ll bring him right up.”

  “No!”

  Jessica looked at her sister in amazement. “You don’t want to see Todd?”

  “No. Tell him I’m too tired to see anyone. Tell him I’ll see him when I’m allowed to go back to school.”

  “Well, if you’re sure.…”

  Elizabeth’s eyes were already closed. She did look tired, Jessica thought.

  Jessica hurried down the stairs as the chimes sounded again. “I’m coming, I’m coming,” she called.

  She swung the door open and found Todd standing in the doorway.

  “Hi, Jess. Can I see—”

  “Shush,” she whispered. “Into the kitchen.”

  Todd followed her through the large, airy living room and dining room to the kitchen at the back of the house.

  “Why are you shushing me, Jess? Is something wrong?”

  “No, of course not. It’s just that Liz is sleeping. She can’t have any visitors.”

  “She’s all right, isn’t she?” Jessica saw the look of worry on Todd’s face.

  “She’s fine. But can’t you understand that she’s tired? She’s been through so much in the past few weeks.”

  “Yes, but she seemed so different when I saw her in the hospital, as if something were wrong. I know she’s tired and the doctors say she’s all right—physically. But the accident was a nightmare. It must have been terrible for her.”

  “You’re absolutely right, Todd. It was just awful. And that’s why she needs as much rest as she can get, as few people bothering her as possible.”

  “Then she does remember the accident?”

  “Oh, sure,” Jessica said, not quite certain if that were true.

  Todd’s expression was haggard. “Does it haunt her, Jessica? Does she blame me? Jessica, does she ever ask for me?”

  “Oh, Todd, she’s too busy getting well to ask for anyone yet.”

  Todd’s face fell. Then he looked straight at Jessica. “Tell me, do you think anything is different about Liz?”

  “Todd Wilkin
s, don’t talk like a jerk! Of course nothing’s different. She’s my twin sister, and I’d notice if there were. She’s absolutely fine.”

  “I hope you’re right, Jess.” Todd got up and paced back and forth across the kitchen floor, uncertain what to do next. Finally he walked to the back door. “Tell Liz I’ll stop by tomorrow afternoon, will you? Maybe she’ll feel better then.”

  “Don’t do that, Todd.”

  “Huh?”

  Elizabeth always knew how to break bad news to people without making them feel rotten, Jessica thought. That was because she could understand how they were feeling. But I’m not that way, Jessica said to herself. How does she do it?

  Crossing her fingers under the table, Jessica said, “My folks have decided that Liz shouldn’t have any visitors until she’s ready to go back to school.”

  “But that’s over a week,” Todd protested.

  “Orders are orders,” Jessica insisted. “Once Liz gets back to school, everything will return to normal. You know how much she likes school. She’ll probably have all the work made up and a dozen stories written for The Oracle before I finish that one stupid book report on Moby Dick. I mean, Todd, who really cares about whales?” Jessica asked in annoyance.

  Todd did, but he let the comment slide by. For the first time that afternoon, he smiled. “You’re right, Jess, I am being a jerk. When Liz gets back to school, everything will be terrific again. I mean, Liz is really something. She’s smart, she’s hardworking, she’s a good writer, she’s nice to everybody—and she’s beautiful!”

  Todd suddenly stopped talking and looked at Jessica, who was grinning up at him. He had forgotten for a few moments that he had an audience. Embarrassed, he mumbled, “You’re her twin, so I guess that makes you beautiful, too.”

  “Thanks a heap, Todd,” she said, still grinning. “Why don’t you get out of here now and go bounce a basketball or something? I have to get dinner started.”

  Jessica watched Todd’s tall, lean form disappear around the corner of the house and thought how curious life could be sometimes. Who would have thought the two of them would ever be able to talk together like friends? They had been barely civil to each other ever since she’d tried to steal Todd away from her sister. Now they had a common cause—helping Elizabeth.