Getting Near to Baby by Audrey Couloumbis

front patio the way she never did, really, and set herself up to stay. She brought her cigarettes and matches and an ashtray and a whole armful of magazines.
    Isaac brought Little Sister a present of a big june bug he’d trapped the night before. Thin red-and-white-striped string, the kind that came on boxes from the bakery, had been tied to its thorny leg like a rope around a dog’s neck. The june bug could still fly, and did, it just couldn’t fly away. Little Sister, and then Isaac, ran behind that june bug as it whizzed back and forth across the yard.
    Liz and I looked through the magazines Aunt Patty brought out and decided who was cute and who just thought he was. Liz said all the models in the pictures are tall, like her family. She said she thought she might try getting work like that when she was older because she’d like being in rooms filled with tall people. Liz said her aunt was already talking about finding somebody to take Liz’s pictures.
    After a while, Aunt Patty gave us all watery lemonade instead of the Coca-Cola I knew Liz was hoping for. Aunt Patty wouldn’t let Little Sister and me have Coca-Cola. She brought out a plate of cookies, two apiece. She was none too comfortable with sweet stuff.
    â€œI don’t want your momma to say I ruined your appetite for lunch,” she said. Liz and her brothers didn’t need for her to hint. They each took one cookie and I could not make them take another. But they did enjoy the lemonade. They drank till the pitcher was dry. Oddly, Aunt Patty didn’t mind at all. She grinned when Isaac didn’t put his glass back on the tray, but handed her his empty glass and said, “Thank you, ma’am.”
    He and Little Sister picked a bouquet of these tiny bright pink flowers that grow no higher than new-mown grass and presented it to her while she was pretending to read her magazines. It was Isaac’s idea. I thought Aunt Patty appeared to be on the verge of changing her mind about the Fingers. Anyway, I didn’t mind that Aunt Patty was sitting nearby. It was better than having her hover behind the front door.
    â€œI don’t want you spending all your time with that girl,” Aunt Patty said after they’d gone home for midday dinner. Said it out of nowhere, it seemed to me. I thought things were going so well. What had Liz done wrong? As if in answer to my unasked question, Aunt Patty added, “She’s too mature for you.”
    â€œI like her.”
    â€œYou’re not old enough to decide what you like.”
    â€œI am, too. I know what I like and I know who I like, too. If Mom was here ...” But there was no reason for Mom to be here. If we were at home—that was it—if we were at home, Mom would like Liz just fine. Even if she didn’t, she wouldn’t tell me I wasn’t old enough to know who I liked.
    â€œWe ought to call your momma today, don’t you think?” Aunt Patty asked, her voice getting higher the way it did when she was upset. Little Sister immediately went to her and put a hand on Aunt Patty’s arm. “Yes, let’s call,” Aunt Patty said. I could see she was relieved to have the subject of Liz dropped.
    Aunt Patty dialed. Little Sister and I both reached for the phone.
    â€œI’ll tell her who’s calling,” Aunt Patty said. “Then you can talk to her. Sis? It’s Patty.... They’re fine. They’re standing right here.... No, they don’t miss you. They have their little friends to play with.”
    Little Sister’s arm shot out to take the phone. So did mine. But Aunt Patty waved us down.
    â€œHob’s fine, too. How are you doing? Are you working again?” Aunt Patty asked. “Are you keeping right hours?
    ... Uh-huh.... Well, that sounds good.... Uh-huh.... Oh, sure, they’re right here, like I said.”
    Little Sister reached up and snatched the receiver away from Aunt Patty. She held it as