The Poe Estate Read Free Page B

called me into her room with a blast on her whistle. She was excited to be home, and she seemed better. Her cheeks were pink, like they used to be. “Come up here, Sukie!” she told me in her low, hoarse whisper, patting the spot next to her. “Check it out. It’s a robot bed!”
    The bed took up a lot of the room. Dad had had to push thedresser aside, and I remember noticing a strip of dust against the wall behind where it had been. But Kitty was home! Maybe now she would get well again. I crawled up next to her, and she pressed the button to raise the head. It made a low humming, grinding sound as it lifted us up and bent us forward from the waist. “That’s so cool!” I said. “Can I try?”
    â€œWait, I want to show you the feet first.” She pressed the button to elevate our feet, bending us up into a U. Then she lowered our heads so we were lying on a downward slope. She rocked us back and forth, our heads and feet waving slowly up and down like the tentacles of sea anemones.
    â€œCome on, Kitty, let me try! It’s my turn!” We wrestled for the controller, laughing.
    That wasn’t the last time I heard her laugh, but it was the last time it really seemed natural—the last time I forgot that it might be the last time I heard it.
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    I was alone with Kitty the day she died. The doctor had rung the doorbell, and Mom had gone downstairs to let her in. Dad was out on a construction job. He didn’t want to take it with Kitty so sick, but we couldn’t afford for him not to.
    Kitty had her eyes closed. Her skin looked gray and her freckles stood out. “Where’s Mom?” she whispered.
    â€œDownstairs talking to the doctor. Want me to get her?”
    She moved her head no. The movement was too weak to call it a shake. “Don’t leave me alone. . . . I think it’s happening. . . .”
    â€œ
What’s
happening?”
    â€œYou know.”
    â€œIt is not!” I said. “Who’s going to take care of me if you’re not here?”
    She opened her eyes and crawled her hand across the blanket to reach mine. “I am. No matter what. Always. I promise.” Her hand was icy cold, and her voice was so weak it was barely a whisper.
    â€œBut you can’t, if you’re dead!” I spit out the word like a curse. I knew I was making her feel bad, but I didn’t care. I had to stop her.
    She pointed to the little table next to the bed. I thought she was asking for water, so I picked up the glass. I’d gotten good at dribbling it carefully between her lips without going too fast for her to swallow and spilling it on her neck and pillow.
    She moved her head no again. “The whistle,” she whispered.
    I picked it up and put it in her hand. She pushed it back into mine. “Use it. If you need me. I’ll come,” she breathed. “Okay?”
    â€œNo, Kitty,” I said. “Don’t go.”
    â€œI’m sorry, Sukie,” she whispered. “But I’ll come. I promise.” Then she shut her eyes.
    â€œKitty?” I said. She lay still. I squeezed her hand, but I couldn’t tell if she squeezed back. If she did, she did it too weakly for me to feel it.
    â€œMom!” I yelled. “Dr. Robbins!” They came running upstairs, but Kitty didn’t open her eyes again.
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    I didn’t blow the whistle at all that school year. At first, I was too mad at Kitty for dying. I didn’t want to do anything she’d told me to do.
    Later, I still didn’t blow the whistle because I was afraid nothing would happen. Kitty would stay dead and leave me alone in this flat, bad world, and I would be mad at her all over again for breaking her promise.
    But the day Ava called me weird and Keisha laughed, I went home and threw myself on Kitty’s old bed and cried till my teeth tingled. Then I got up and went