Don't Ask Alice by Judi Curtin

to go home. She—’
    Alice stopped me again.
    â€˜She’s kind of pretty, isn’t she?’
    Linda’s my aunt. I’d never really thought about whether she was pretty before.
    â€˜I don’t really know,’ I said. ‘She doesn’t look much like my mum, and that’s a good thing, I suppose. She has nice, shiny, black, curly hair. And she wears cool clothes. Well, cool for an aunt anyway.’
    Why was Alice grinning so much?
    And why was she suddenly so interested in my Aunt Linda?
    By now Alice was looking like she’d just won the lottery.
    â€˜Linda never got married, did she?’ she asked.
    Suddenly everything became clear.
    â€˜No way!’ I said. ‘No way are you going to involve my aunt in one of your crazy plans.’
    Alice ignored me.
    â€˜She’s not married though, is she?’
    I shook my head.
    â€˜Not last time I asked.’
    â€˜And does she have a boyfriend?’
    I was fairly certain that Linda didn’t have a boyfriend. I’d heard Mum and Dad talking about that very subject just a few weeks earlier. This was crazy though. Alice was getting carried away as usual.
    Alice shook my shoulder.
    â€˜Come on, Meg. Tell me. Does Linda have a boyfriend?’
    â€˜Not that I know of,’ I said quietly.
    Alice gave a big happy shout.
    â€˜That’s settled then. We’ll arrange a little romance between Dad and Linda, make sure Mum gets to hear of it, and before we know it, Mum will be begging Dad to let her move backin. Simple.’
    I walked away from her and looked out the window. Alice’s old swings were swaying in the breeze. We used to spend hours on those swings, chatting about stupid things. I thought about how easy things were when her parents were together, and all Alice and I had to do all day long was hang out, and do fun stuff.
    At Easter, when Alice and her mum moved back to Limerick, I thought everything was going to be OK again.
    Suddenly I felt really selfish – I had got what I wanted. My best friend was back, and I never really stopped to think that she was still upset that her parents didn’t live together any more. I thought that since they lived near to each other, everything was fine. How totally stupid was that?
    Alice came over and stood next to me. She spoke quietly.
    â€˜Linda will only be here for a few days. It’s a perfect opportunity, and we can’t let it pass usby. Please help me, Meg. Just this one more time.’
    I put my head down. As far as I could see I had two choices – I could agree to help Alice right now, or I could let her spend the next week persuading me, and then agree. Whatever happened, I knew I’d end up in the middle of another crazy Alice plan, sooner or later.
    Suddenly I felt tired of it all. I was in sixth class. This was supposed to be a fun year, the best year of primary school, maybe the best of my whole life – and I’d already spent half of it running around helping Alice with stupid plans that never worked properly anyway.
    Alice left my side and went to sit on her bed. After a minute, I turned around to look at her. Her face was so sad, it made me want to cry. What kind of a friend was I if I only liked her when she was happy?
    I went and stood beside her.
    â€˜No crazy stuff this time, OK?’
    She jumped up and hugged me.
    â€˜I promise,’ she said. ‘No crazy stuff at all. It’ll be a crazy-free zone. Thanks, Meg. You’re the best friend I could ever have.’
    I tried to smile, but I couldn’t.
    * * *
    The rest of that week was very strange. Mum kept arriving down from the attic carrying bundles of revolting brightly-coloured clothes. She’d toss them onto the kitchen table with big happy sighs.
    â€˜Aaaaah,’ she’d say. ‘Everything was so simple and bright and happy in those days.’
    Mostly I ignored her, or sometimes when it got too much I pretended to vomit. Mum never