Be Sweet Read Free Page A

hyena. Literally. It scared the pajeebers out of me as a kid. Here I am edging fifty, and to this very day it causes chills to climb up my back.
    â€œStill the same old Charlene. And to answer your question, yes. This is from last year’s supply. We’re not addicted to sugar like you are, so it lasts awhile around here.” Janni takes a bite from her cookie. The fact that my sweet sister looks like a roly-poly doll? Well, it just makes me question the truth of her statement, that’s all.
    Janni walks over to the refrigerator and grabs a pitcher of milk. Real milk. As in five-hundred-grams-of-fat milk. Okay, I’m starting to under-stand this roly-poly thing.
    â€œYou get your luggage unpacked?” she asks, pouring milk into a glass, then turning to me.
    â€œYeah, I’m unpacked. No milk for me, thanks. I save my calories for what’s important.” I wave my slice of cookie.
    She returns to her seat at the oak table. “Look at you, pretty as ever.”
    I roll my eyes. “Yeah, and about twenty pounds over my ideal weight,” I say, munching my cookie.
    â€œSo you have a little meat on your bones. It makes you look healthy.”
    â€œNow you’re beginning to sound like Mom.”
    â€œWell, it’s true. You’ve always been too skinny. Just like both of our parents.”
    â€œWhich would explain why I have the chest of Shirley Temple—when she was two.”
    Janni chuckles. “Wonder where I got my weight problem?”
    Since I’m president of Cookie Eaters Anonymous, I won’t mention her eating habits.
    â€œYou know, I’ve always marveled that despite the fact that all of Tappery envies your looks, you’ve never fussed that much over yourself. ’Course, with your kind of beauty, you can get by with a swipe of lip-stick and mascara. It takes the rest of us hours to fix ourselves up so we won’t scare little children.”
    We both know Janni doesn’t spend over five minutes on her makeup, but I wisely keep silent. “Oh, stop.” I pause to give her time to say more. She doesn’t. “Besides, you can cook. I can’t boil water.”
    Janni laughs. “You could if you wanted to.”
    â€œI want to, believe me. Do you know how hard it is to make spaghetti without boiled water? I love spaghetti.”
    Janni shakes her head. “Mom and Dad offered to give you cooking classes.”
    â€œI didn’t want the pressure of having to measure up to you,” I say, surprising myself with the confession.
    â€œIt’s only fair. I couldn’t compete with your beauty.”
    We lock eyes. “Are we having a ‘clearing the air’ type moment?” I ask.
    â€œI think so. You know, you could watch one of those cooking shows on TV.” Janni puts her drink down.
    â€œI tried once. The cook was preparing a seven-minute meal. By the time she finished, I was ready for a nap.”
    â€œYou’re pathetic.”
    â€œI know.”
    â€œHey, I ran into Gail Campbell at the store.”
    Janni looks up at me. “What did she say this time?”
    â€œNothing much, really.” I pluck a chocolate chip from my cookie and eat it. “You know, that woman should carry around a crowbar the way she’s always trying to pry information out of people.”
    Janni laughs.
    â€œDid you know she has a granddaughter? Poor kid looks just like her.”
    â€œI feel sorry for her.”
    â€œI do, too. Even makeup can’t fix those beady eyes.”
    Janni turns a wry look my way. “I meant Gail.”
    â€œWhy on earth do you feel sorry for her?”
    â€œThink about it. If she had a life, she wouldn’t care so much about what’s going on in everybody else’s.”
    â€œI guess. There’s still no excuse for it, though. She just wants to stir up trouble.”
    â€œYou have to let it go, you know.”
    â€œWhy should I care if she and