Diary of a Stage Mother's Daughter: A Memoir by Melissa Francis Page A

what’s it like to be on TV? I used to always watch Little House ,” Dina gushed. Unlike most girls stuck with their friend’s little sisters, she doted on me and I immediately felt lucky to be there. Maybe I could just slide into Tiffany’s older life and mooch off her fun. I’d done it before.
    “Oh, I don’t know. It’s fun,” I responded.
    Meanwhile Tiffany seemed to be inspecting the bathroom. She peered under the door of each stall then wandered back to where Dina and I were standing near the sinks.
    “What did you bring?” Tiffany asked, looking in Dina’s backpack. Dina slid the pack off her shoulder and pulled out a wild berry Bartles & Jaymes wine cooler. I hadn’t seen one before, and I didn’t realize at first that it contained alcohol.
    “Is she going to tell on us?” Dina asked, pointing to me.
    “Nah, she’s fine. Right?” Tiffany looked at me hard.
    Of course I wasn’t going to say anything to Mom or Dad. They were the other team. But I couldn’t really figure out why the girls wanted to drink at Magic Mountain. Just being here was exciting—going on the rides and pigging out on the food that Mom wouldn’t let us have if she were there.
    We crowded into a handicapped stall so no one could walk in and see what we were doing. I worried some park worker would discover us there and hustle us off to the police, who would immediately call our parents. Then Mom would show up and beat us, probably to death.
    Leaning against the green metal stall door, Tiffany took a big swig from the bottle and handed it to Dina, who took a few gulps and handed it back. Tiffany pounded the rest and Dina broke out the second bottle. She opened it and handed it to me.
    “You want some?” Dina asked.
    “She’s ten.” Tiffany looked dubious.
    “I’ve let my little sister have some.”
    I immediately took the bottle from Dina’s hand before Tiffany could stop me and took a sip. The drink was sugary sweet, with a weird medicine-like aftertaste. As soon as I brought the bottle down from my lips, Tiffany snatched it away. I stood there and waited to feel different.
    I liked taking part in Tiffany and Dina’s mischief. I felt older and very cool, especially for a ten-year-old. At the same time, I wanted to know when it would end and we’d go back to the park.
    Tiffany tossed back the rest of the drink with an abandon that made me nervous. She looked willfully out of control. I didn’t like that. As the older sister, she was supposed to be worried and in charge at all times. That was her job. I had no idea where this left me. I certainly couldn’t be in charge if something terrible happened tonight.
    They polished off the second wine cooler without offering me another sip, and stuffed the evidence in the sanitary napkin bin inside the stall. Then we all walked out of the bathroom into the night.
    “Wow, I’m buzzed,” Dina laughed.
    “Me too. Totally,” Tiffany said.
    I wanted to feel the sensation and join their club, but I had no idea how it was supposed to feel. How can you tell if you’re drunk if you’ve never been drunk before? I gave up trying and got in line for the Swashbuckler. Tiffany and Dina followed me on the ride and laughed too loud each time the giant ship shot up in the air and stalled, only to switch directions and freefall back to earth.
    When Mom picked us up at the end of the evening, she failed to detect any evidence of our misbehavior. This shocked me. In addition to the wine coolers, Dina and Tiffany had spent the night smoking clove cigarettes, which had a sweet, sickening smell to them. We’d doused our hair with Aqua Net hair spray to mask all the different illicit odors, but I never thought the trick would work.
     
     
    After our riding lesson, Tiffany and I walked our horses around the field to cool them down. I patted Alondra’s muscular neck, and she snorted and tossed her head. Like a child who had spent an entire hot day in the pool, Alondra was gloriously worn