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accused of being a martyr. Nothing would please me more than if they’d take care of themselves and I could have my own life.
    “I’m going to see Rocky whether you come or not.” Sissy rose to her feet and swayed. I reached my arms out, prepared to catch her if she fell, but Sissy righted herself and headed for the elevators.
    “Wait,” I said. “I’ll come with you. But we’ve got to be back here at seven to catch a ride home with Glenda or you’ll have to find your own way home.”
    “Whatever,” Sissy mumbled.
    Whatever indeed. I was only five years older than my sister but right now, I felt like a hundred. Most of the time I had no idea where she was coming from. I imagine I confused her as much as she confused me.
    We rode the elevator in silence. A man in a lab coat pushing an EKG machine got on. He smiled and nodded. I smiled back. Sissy stared unblinkingly at the elevator door.
    We got off on the third floor. The day-shift crew had arrived. Groggy nurses carrying foam cups of bad coffee made their way to the report room. Since I occasionally worked herepart-time on the weekends, I knew most of them. I smiled and called out greetings but kept walking, reluctant to stop and have a conversation. With my hand at Sissy’s back, I pushed her down the corridor.
    The door to Rocky’s room stood ajar.
    Abruptly, Sissy halted.
    “What is it?” I snapped, still smarting from her martyr comment.
    “Wait.” She took a deep breath. “I’m not ready.”
    “Come on, you were so hot to see him.” I plucked her shirttail between my fingers and hauled her through the door.
    Big mistake.
    Rocky was not alone.
    Nor had we given him advance warning by knocking. If we had, perhaps the blonde in the bed might have stopped kissing him. As it was, Rocky and the blonde were welded together, arms around each other in a deep embrace, mouths joined hungrily as if they hadn’t eaten in weeks.
    Sissy stared in disbelief.
    I got mad for her. My sister drives me buggy, but I wasn’t about to let anyone else treat her badly.
    “What is going on here?” I demanded.
    Rocky and the blonde broke apart quicker than two dogs getting hosed.
    “S…S…Sissy,” Rocky stammered, not even bothering to address me. “What are you doing here?”
    “She came to finish off the job,” I said, unable to resist. “Where’d you put that pistol, Sissy?”
    Rocky’s arms flew up to cover his head. “Wait a minute, Sissy, it’s not what it seems.”
    “Is she the one?” the blonde asked, shaking a cigarette from the package of Marlboro Lights she pulled from her pocket. She wasn’t a real blonde, up close you could see her darkroots. Her face was pitted with old acne scars and she wore too much makeup in an attempt to hide them.
    “No smoking,” I said. “In case you haven’t noticed, this is a hospital. And by the way, who are you?”
    The bleached blonde shrugged and stuffed the cigarette back in the pack before jerking an oversize thumb in Rocky’s direction. “I’m his wife. What’s it to you?”
    Ah, Mrs. Dirtbag.
    I glanced over at Sissy. She was pale as a corpse. Except for the black eye.
    Rocky had lowered his hand and was staring at Sissy, too. “Hey,” he said. “What happened to your eye?”
    Sissy didn’t answer. Her bottom lip trembled. I had the strongest big-sisterly urge to tuck her under my arm and spirit her out the door.
    “Come on, honey,” I soothed. “Let’s get out of here.” I reached for her but she shied away and instead walked closer to Rocky’s bed.
    “I can’t believe I ever thought I loved you,” she said, her voice full of hurt.
    “You, too?” the blonde snorted.
    Sissy sent Mrs. Rocky the evil eye and the woman clammed up. “See this?” Sissy touched the black-and-blue ring beneath her eye. “The beating was meant for you.”
    “Huh?”
    “You heard me.”
    “I don’t get it.”
    “Your friend. The one you borrowed money from to make your demo.”
    “You do know the guy