seat in the living room. Jerry
could see the book jacket of the book she was reading. It was _Going
Steady_ and had a picture of a boy and a girl gazing fondly at each
other while skating. Cathy was not old enough to go steady--Jerry had
heard his mother say so--and it made Jerry sick that his twin sister
liked to read all that guff about having dates with boys and things
like that. Now a horse story, or a dog story--they were good reading.
So were books about rockets, planets, dinosaurs, Abraham Lincoln, and
ever so many other interesting subjects. Cathy liked to read good
books like that, too, Jerry had to acknowledge, but she also had
developed an interest in books that had falling in love in them, an
interest Jerry not only did not share but despised.

"Lift your big blue eyes from that lousy book," said Jerry in a
mocking voice. "Mummy wants you to come out in the kitchen and peel
apples."

Cathy put down her book reluctantly. Her eyes were dreamy. She sighed.
"I suppose it's a girl's duty to help her mother," she said.

She got to her feet and glided out of the room, walking as nearly as
she could like a movie star whose latest picture she had seen at the
neighborhood theater the previous Saturday afternoon.

Jerry picked up _Going Steady_ and examined the cover more closely. He
threw it down. "Cathy must have rocks in her head to like a book like
that," he thought.

The clock on the living room mantel struck the half hour. Five-thirty.
Jerry had an hour to kill before time for dinner. What was there to
do? A wave of irritation against Cathy swept over him. She ought to be
sharing all this work and worry about the charge account. A year ago
he could have confided in her safely. She could have been counted on
both to keep the secret and to help him. They always stuck together,
he and Cathy, until she had changed. Now half the time she acted as if
she were against him. Look at the way she had snooped around the attic
like a bum detective. If she had found the money she would have very
likely said it was her duty to tell on him. Jerry almost never could
know in advance how she was going to act. Almost he did not like her
any more.

Jerry went down to the recreation room and turned on the television.

"Send two box tops and twenty-five cents and you will receive--"

"Nuts!" cried Jerry, turning it off. He didn't want to listen to kid
stuff. It seemed long ago that he had sent box tops and money away
for sec