"No, Daddy. I won't give you the numbers again. It's not right for you to gamble," ten year-old Petunia said.
" But, Petunia. Daddy promises that he'll stop if you give him the numbers just one more time," Herbert Evans begged.
" You always promise, but you never keep your word. You always go and lose the money on bigger bets."
" Now, listen," he grunted as he grabbed her roughly by her shoulders and began shaking her violently. " I have done more than my share to support this family. Now, the least you that can do is show a little appreciation by giving me something in return!"
Frightened by her father's assault, Petunia said," Four, eight, one, three, six, five, eleven, and seven."
" Ooooooh, thank you so much, angel. You don't know just how much this means to daddy," he said hurriedly, not even bothering to stop and notice how he'd traumatized her.
Normally, she would've told mum, but she didn't feel like hearing them have another argument.
" Are you okay, Petunia?" Myrtle Evans asked as she entered the bedroom to arrange the laundry.
" Yes, mum."
" Are you sure? You know that there's nothing that you can't tell me," she assured.
" It's fine, mum."
" All right then. Go, and watch Lily for me," Mrs. Evans said not entirely sure about the truth of Petunia's statement.
Petunia gladly made distance between herself and her mother. She didn't want to explore or for that matter expound upon this morning's episode with her father.
"'Tuni'," five-year old Lily called out excitedly when she saw her.
" Hi, Lils,' " she said fighting the tears in her voice.
" Let's play that game that we played yesterday with the picture," Lily suggested.
How dare she? One person using her like a freak was enough, she didn't need two doing this to her.
" No! I'm not going to do it!" she snapped.
Lily frowned and began to cry.
" Oh, stop that. We'll do it, okay?" she said picking Lily up and sitting her beside her.
" No! I don't want to play with you anymore," Lily said wiping her eyes with her fists.
"I'm sorry."
" No! I'm still mad at you!"
" All right, then. That's that," she said slowly rising to leave the room.
" Wait a minute. Can we play with the Captain Howdy book that dad bought me for my birthday?"
" Not that one again," Petunia complained.
" But I like Captain Howdy," Lily explained.
" No. You're getting too big for books like those."
" But I like looking at the pictures."
" Lily, we won't play if you don't use another book."
" Oh, all right. I'll get 'Anne of Avonlea.'"
" No, that's a little too grown up. I was thinking about 'Nancy Drew' or 'Snow White' or something like that."
" If it's Snow White, can I be one of the seven dwarves?"
" All right. As long as you don't make me the wicked queen."
They headed for the back yard, laid out a picnic blanket, and sat the book propped open alongside them as they lay opposite each other touching heads.
" Pet," Lily called.
" Yes?"
" Please hold my hand until we get there. I don't like it when we float. It scares me."
" All right. I will, Lily."
"Good."
" Now remember to relax, and don't take your eyes off the picture."
" Okay."
The girls stared at the picture for nearly an hour before they felt themselves float away from their bodies. They landed at the steps of the wicked queen's castle.
"I'm going to be Snow White," Petunia said.
" No! I want to be Snow White," Lily whined.
" But you said that you wanted to be a dwarf."
"Let's both be Snow White."
" Lily," Petunia said and then sighed. She stopped herself from speaking: because, she realized that this was probably Lily's first attempt at reasonable compromise.
" Okay, Lily. We can both be Snow White."
" Thank you, Pet. You wear a blue dress, and I'll wear pink," Lily said.
" I hate wearing blue. It makes me look sick."
" Then wear green. You always look pretty in green."
" A green Snow White. There's something we don't see everyday."
" When the queen comes dressed up like the old lady, I'll eat the apple; because, I love you, Pet, and I don't want her to kill you," she said, almost crying at the thought.
" You little rascal, you just want the prince to kiss you," Petunia said to lighten her up. She knew that Lily was the consummate romantic. She didn't go a day without saying how she was going to have the perfect life with her knight in shining armor.
" When me and the prince go away, will you come with us?" Lily asked.
" I can't come with you. It'll be your special time alone with him."
" But mum and Aunt Cynthia still live near each other and talk to each other, and they have husbands."
" The story wouldn't be right."
" But we can do anything we want. We don't have to follow the rules. I know… I'll get you a prince too."
"No, Lily, we have to make our own stories. We can't always be together."
" Then I don't want to play anymore. Let's go back."
" Lily…"
"Now!"
" No! I'm not going to yield to you this time. You have to learn that everything will not always go your way. Now, I'd love to have you with me all the time too, but I know that one day, we will each have to live our own lives," Petunia explained. She wasn't quite sure if she meant to talk to Lily, or if she was affirming the truth for herself.
" Then let's stay here forever. We won't ever have to be apart here."
" Lily, we don't belong here. We're just visiting for fun."
Years later, forty year old Petunia knocked a magazine off the coffee table as she dusted her livingroom, and saw the picture of a family enjoying a barbecue in a yard similar to the one that she and Lily used to play in as children. The memory of their time together pierced her heart like a venomous fang. She felt the tears burn her eyes as they sprung forth like leaks.
She thought about Lily and the way that she died holding her son to her, and realized that all Lily had ever wanted was the security that came from being near people who cared about her.
Then she asked herself why she kept pushing her sister away for the sake of logic. Their relationship didn't have to turn out as badly as it did. Unfortunately, being the staunch person that she was, she just had to ruin their connection with her insistence upon being normal. She never hated her sister really. It was just that remembering the maniacal way that their father had exploited her talents somehow always made her feel so dirty. Finding sanctuary in normalcy was all that she could do to find peace and stability. Now, she felt that it just wasn't enough. She was missing something in her life.
After facing her pain, she began to wonder whether the astral world that she and Lily used to visit as children, had been more real than this one.
She stared at the picture again and pondered returning to the astral plane. She weighed her life here against the way that it could be there. She decided that the astral world was much better and decided to go upstairs and get Vernon's prescription back pills. She drew a cup of water from the face bowl and swallowed ten of them. They took effect almost immediately. She smiled as that familiar feeling slowly washed over her. She laughed enjoying the idea that she would escape this horrible life and never ever have to come back.