Chapter 3

I turn around, ready to leave the house but Dally closes it before I can make one step.

'I asked a question. How do you know my sister?'

I sigh and look into her brown eyes.

'We accidentally met today and let's say it didn't really go great. We never thought, or at least I never thought I'll ever see her again.'

Dally smiles and then giggles really loud.

'Sun has always been the adventurous type. Her condition never seemed to stop her from doing crazy things or talking to strangers.' She explains to me and then calls Winston, the butler, to take my bag into one of the bedrooms upstairs.

Then she invites me in the huge living room and we both take seat on a white fancy couch. There are a few politics magazines that rest on the glass tea table in front of us but I wonder why such rich people would ever use newspaper when they could read it online. My thoughts of the owner of the house being old-fashioned are confirmed when I see Mr. Wimble entering the room wearing a probably handmade wool green sweater and a pair of circular wire glasses. I automatically stand up, watching Dally giving a hug to the old and, I hope, kind man.

'Dad, I told you that this... cardigan of yours does not match with snickers.' Says the chocolaty skin girl.

'Oh, hush, Dalila. You are the one who has no tastes here.' Says Mr. Wimble fixing his eyes on me. 'So this must be the lucky social case of yours that will spend the night here.'

Well, I guess mean humour is better than the absence of it.

'Dad, this is Josh.' Dally introduces me and all I can do is shake my head in approval.

The man takes of his glasses, and before he can say anything, a short red-haired woman appears in the room with a cup of coffee in her right hand. All I can look at is her beautiful rich and dense hair; I see who Sunshine looks like.

'Isn't he lovely?' She exclaims with a pretty British accent. 'I'm Grace, this is Reggie and Dalila, and... where do these two restless heads hide again?' Whispers to her older daughter, and I assume Sunshine has another sibling. 'Feel at home, dear. Do you need some clothes to sleep in? Have some clothes to clean?'

'Mom, his clothing condition is a bit better than the others, he has his own things and probably just needs a good warm meal and a room, right?' It takes me a few seconds to realise she talked to me.

'Oh.. yes. Yes, thank you very much for having me, and yes, food and a room would be perfect.'

These people are so nice with strangers. And when I'm thinking that the others she brought home were probably dirtier and hungrier than me, I realise that Dally really has good intentions and wishes to do good. I mean, she has the place and the conditions; she probably never saw her whole house. And her family, well, I guess they got used it. This also improves their reputation in the neighborhood.

'Would a warm place in the library suit as well? I'm thinking a lonely corner, in the blind people books section.' I hear a bright voice behind me.

I don't even have to turn around. It's humiliating.

'Oh, Sunny. Stop this stupid nonsense, he did nothing to you.' I hear a male voice coming from upstairs, soon this voice becoming a young dyed haired man, about my age. I suppose this is the other restless head besides Sunshine.

'Oh, I don't wanna hear one word about your acting, because certainly this is the cause of whatever happened. You are obssesed, Sunshine.' Says Mrs Wimble, with a sweet motherly still bossy voice that I miss hearing.

'I knew theatre auditions were a bad idea, Grace.' Adds Mr. Wimble.

'Dear Reggie, she is all your girl. She is as stubborn as you are.'

Sunshine just smiles. Mr. Wimble calls Winston and he and his wife start deciding the menu for tonight's dinner, leaving the living room. I assume the brother knows what happened at the bookstore, and what surprises me is that Dally doesn't ask anything about it, for I thought she is the gossipy curious type.

'Josh, just make yourself at home, make a tour of the house, visit the library.' Says Dally and leaves the room while giving a call. 'Devon, can I borrow your laptop?'

They have cameras everywhere. That's why they're all probably so detached. Devon, the brother, follows his older sister upstairs and I'm left alone with Sunshine, that already has made herself comfortable on the braided indoors swing, playing with her hair.

'Dally is adopted. My parents didn't think they could have children and they adopted her when she was six. But then Devon was born, and then me. Dally was very poor, you couldn't tell that now, could you?' She starts all of a sudden.

'Yeah, she's really tough and fearless, and there's this very strong confident attitude that she has. But thank God she found me, I had no place to sleep tonight.'

'Reading won't pay the bills.' The redhead laughs at me, making me roll my eyes.

'My sister kicked me out. But I'll calm her down tomorrow and she'll have me back.' I try to sound sure even though I know Amy won't agree with this, no matter what I'll tell her.

She giggles.

'You must be bad, Joshua. If Devon would only be like you, an outsided intelectual.'

She gets on my nerves.

'Look, I only go to the bookstore to relax, have some quiet time. I could read at home if I'd want to, 'cause Amy got all of her books with her when she came here. But she won't shut up with her complainings and keeps shouting at me for every single thing that doesn't go right.'

'And can't you fight back?' She asks me very quietly.

'I could.'

She doesn't say anything and I'm grateful. I'm in a very good place now, comparing my situation from last year. I decide to start a topic myself this time.

'So, do you want to be an actress?'

She leaves the swing and reaches for the armchair right next to it. Now I can see her entirely.

'Not really. I'm trying to be creative and joining a theatre club seemed to be the best option this month. It's fun, I learn really fast and I love drama. But just to annoy my family, I sometimes cross the boarders, acting with them and making a fuss out of everything. Now, mom starts arguing with me whenever I'm being sarcastic.' She explains to me and I smile.

'You and your brother seem close.'

She closes her eyes and rests her head on a brown pillow.

'Yeah, he takes care of me. I'm not sure if he does this out of pitty or if dad pays him to do it.' Sunshine sadly laughs.

'That's not true, I'm sure. When you grow up, as a guy, you look for something to take care of. You wanna be the man, you wanna feel more powerful than someone; it gives you satisfaction. I felt this toward my sister and mom even though she is older than me.'

'And you don't feel it anymore?'

I sigh.

'I'm not sure. It's hard to protect someone who doesn't want you around. Your brother loves you and I'm convinced that he wants what is best for you.'

'But what about your mom? Mine loves when Devon helps her in the kitchen and tells her to take it easier with the weekly Sunday turkey.' The redhead smiles. She is so lucky.

'My mom died some time ago. Let's say we haven't really been a family since then.'

It feels nice to talk to someone again. But it hurts me even more. She remains quiet and bites her lips, but quickly recovers from the silence she kept and gets up.

'Come on, I'll make you a house tour. I can't tell you which room is which but I guess you can enter them and take a look.' I feel she's trying to cheer me up and I really appreciate it, even though I can't understand how she can seem so kindhearted now, when five minutes ago she was laughing at me.

I follow her on the stairs and we get on the next floor. They don't even need a park, even though they have their own huge one outside, for the hallways are so long that you could even go for a jogg.

'Pretty big, huh? We didn't ask for it, though. My grandpa started building it when he was young and then offered it to mom, who was the oldest child in her family. Mom's a designer and she always loved decorating everything, making it look neat. So the house seemed the perfect gift for her when she got married. It's a shame I can't admire mom's work.'

The rosy wallpaper indeed looks very ellegant and the crystal small-sized chandeliers that light up the hall are giving it a nice and warm touch.

'It's beautiful.' I feel forced to say, as I'm sure she heard a thousand times from everyone who ever walked there. 'Does every bedroom have a private bathroom?'

'Oh, no. Just ours. My parents' room is downstairs because mom really wanted to own the balcony overlooking the garden. She organised herself a swing made of ropes and a coffee table so that she can spend her mornings watching the sunrise lighting up the garden with dad, reading the news, talking.'

I love how her parents are living that 'till death do us part' kind of love. I like to hope that mine would've lived it too if mom would still be alive, despite everything that happened in the past.

'Our rooms are at the last level. I have a little balcony myself, a smaller one but I can feel the wind.'

We go upstairs to the next floor where Mrs Wimble is in charge of a greenhouse full of exotic flowers. Sunshine explains that this is the second passion of her mother. Mom was crazy about flowers. The beautiful smell that invades my brain makes me almost lose it; but I wipe the few tears on my cheek and breath deeply. I haven't been to her grave for a while.

'Are you okay, Josh? We can quit the tour if you want.'

I laugh in relief.

'Love your family, would you?' I say to her and in exchange I get the most beautiful smile I have ever seen. Her green eyes brighten up like two suns.

'May I quote you in other conversations, sir?' She jokes and starts tapping the floor to downstairs, as we hear Winston calling us to dinner from outside the greenhouse.