Phoebe

It was a cold and dark night. I was in the park. I sat down on a bench and started thinking. I was really worried that I’d probably get pneumonia and die. I even imagined my funeral! Finally I decided to go home and visit my little sister Phoebe. I missed her and wanted to talk to her. I didn’t want my parents to figure out that I went there so I had to be very careful. When I reached my house I didn’t have any problems with elevator boy. I turned out that the old elevator boy- Pete wasn’t in. There was a guy that I’ve never seen before. He was pretty stupid so it was easy to convince him that I wanted to visit our neighbors and get to our floor. Then I opened our front door with my key and went inside. It was dark and I could hardly see anything. I wanted to take off my coat and wanted to hang it up but our closet was full of hangers that made a horrible noise so I left my coat on. I started walking toward Phoebe’s room. I was walking very slowly and quietly. I was pretty sure that the maid wouldn’t hear me as she was almost deaf. The only person I was worried about was my mum. She’s a very nervous person and she often doesn’t sleep at night. When I was on my way to Phoebe’s room I figured out that I forgot about something. When my brother D.B. was in Hollywood or somewhere else Phoebe slept in his room. I turned around and went into my elder brother’s room. I turned on the lamp on the desk. Phoebe was still asleep so I decided to read her notebooks that were on the desk. Then I lit my last cigarette and woke her up. When she saw me she put her arms around me and I kissed her. She was really glad to see me. We talked about the letter that she had sent me, her play and film that she had seen with her friend. She told me that parents were out and that they were supposed to come back late. I was very happy to hear that. We had a chat about D.B’s new film and the reason why I came home so early- I was to come back on Wednesday. I told her that they let us go earlier but she didn’t believe me and knew that they kicked me out again. She was very angry about that and didn’t want to talk with me. I decided to go to the living room and get some cigarettes. When I came back to D.B’s room everything was all right again. We talked about my school and about consequences of my Pencey leaving. My little sister was really worried about me and my father’s reaction for that news. Then I went out in the living room again and called up Mr Antolini. He was my previous English teacher at Elkton Hills. He was the best teacher I’ve had. He agreed to put me up. When I came back Phoebe turned on the radio. I asked her to dance with me. She was a very good dancer and I was really proud of her. We danced about four numbers when all of a sudden we heard the front door. That were my parents! I was nervous and quickly jammed out my cigarette on my shoe and then got in the closet and shut the door. When my mother came into the room she asked Phoebe whether she had been smoking. She told my mother that she couldn’t fall asleep and just tried. Then they talked about the movie that Phoebe had seen and finally my mother left. When I came out of the closet little Phoebe wanted me to stay but I told that was the best time to get out of the house. She also gave me her Christmas dough. I didn’t want to take it at first but finally I agreed and promised that I wouldn’t spend everything. All of a sudden I started crying. I couldn’t help myself. When Phoebe saw it she put her arms around me. Finally I stopped and got out of D.B’s room. It was much easier to leave the house. I decided to walk all the way downstairs, instead of taking the elevator again. Then I went to Mr Antolinie’s apartment. 

'Phoebe' author: Alicja Cwalina