I stuck around for a while after supper. I didn't want it to look like I specifically wanted to talk to Anna, so when she vanished into her room I waited a while before following her. She didn't have her door closed, so I didn't even have to knock before walking in. She could see the doorway from where she was anyway, so it wasn't like I was sneaking up on her.

She was lying on her bed with one of her school books in front of her. The book was undoubtedly part of a pretense that she was doing homework or something. Every now and then our parents tried...