I’m eight years old and my sister Kimberly is twelve. We were the only daughters of what, at that time, were Mr. and Mrs. Halley. We’re sitting on the ratty red couch in the living room. I’m drinking a soda from a blue plastic cup, and she’s sitting cross-legged and staring at me.

“Do you want to know a secret?”

She was always asking me questions like this. She never told me her secret. “Yes,” I said, trying to keep the desperation from my voice.

“I can’t tell you,” she said. “You’re too young, you wouldn’t understand.”

She made me so angry. I knew no matter how hard I begged her, she wouldn’t tell me her secret. “Please tell me,” I said. “I won’t tell anyone. I promise.”

“Do you promise?” she said. “Double cherry promise with whipped cream and nuts?”

“No nuts,” I said. Kimberly knew I was allergic to nuts. “But I double cherry promise with whipped cream and marshmallows.”

“Mom and Dad are getting a divorce,” she said.

“What?” I said. “You’re making it up.”

“Am not,” she said. “I overheard them in the other room. They’re deciding what to do with you when they divorce. Mom didn’t want you to live with her, and Dad swore that you would never live with him. It’s was pretty bad.”

I started to cry. “Why would they say things like that?”

Big sister has a secret she won’t share with her little sister. She gives hints. It sounds like their parents are getting a divorce. She lets her play 20-questions. Once she runs out of questions, she won’t say anything else. Big sister watches little sister squirm, unsure of what is happening with their parents. Father comes in and tells his daughters that he’s leaving. Little sister assumes that he’s leaving b/c of the divorce. It turns out at the end that he’s leaving on a trip. It’s a misunderstanding that big sister created. She eggs her father on during the discussion, feeding little sister’s belief that she was to be abandoned to the orphanage. Twist? The mother leaves? The father is actually leaving them. Little sister swears to get back at big sister, but no resolution (or twist). Reader is kept in the dark, seeing the story from little sister’s pov, but not participating in anyone’s thoughts.