"No." Annie shook her head.
"There, see," Julia said to Carrie, "Is that why you were so quiet?"
Carrie gave a sheepish smile. "Yeah, you're right."
Annie, however, noted the tall railings surrounding them. "Sis, how did I fall off?"
"I don't know." Carrie shrugged. "I wasn't here."
"Who was?" Annie asked.
"Marie," Carrie uttered the answer.
"Who's that?" Ursula asked.
"Their oldest sister," Julia replied.
"Carrie's not the oldest?" Ursula asked again.
"No." Julia smiled proudly. "I'm the only 'Big Sister' here."
When the girls continued their walk after that, Second Sis was back to her usual talkative self. While the older girls were discussing the movie to watch, Annie found herself in an interesting discussion with Jill.
"What I don't understand," Annie was saying, "is how the people can allow a corrupt government to exist in the first place."
"Let's take the example of Nazi Germany," Jill began her lecture. "It's true that in the beginning, not all the Germans were supportive of Hitler. However, Germany that time was under the oppression of the Treaty of Versailles which brought economic collapse. Immediate so-called reforms under Hitler had improved the economy. At the same time, he was heavy-handed, an understatement by the way, on any opposition to his government.
"So having to choose between supporting those that brought them some semblance of prosperity, and resisting, which brought persecution, and likely execution... supporting the government did not seem like a bad idea."
Jill smiled. "You should be learning something of this in World History. Of course the school texts may not be complete or is seriously biased so you should check out other texts and look on the Internet. That's really what we do in the History Society."
At that moment, Carrie looked over her shoulder at the younger girls. "Hey, you girls! We're here to celebrate my birthday, and our basketball win - to enjoy ourselves, have a good time - and the two of you are discussing schoolwork!?"
"It's your fault for choosing 'V for Vendetta' with its references to the Nazi," Julia pointed out, "I wanted to watch 'She's the Man' but someone had to pull out her 'birthday girl card'."
"They say it's a good show," claimed Carrie.
"Every movie ad is going to say it's show is good," Julia told her, "The winner's the one who spends the most money to shout the loudest."
There was more pointless banter after that so Annie just ignored the older girls and enjoyed the walk, all the way into the cinema across the road from the riverside. Once inside, Julia volunteered to get the tickets so the rest could wait at the entrance while Jill rested her legs.
However, Julia returned almost immediately. "The show's rated R," she reported.
"What?" Carrie exclaimed.
"You'd have to be seventeen to watch," Julia elaborated.
"Guess I'm the only one who gets to go in," Ursula said with a satisfied smile.
"But it's my birthday!" Carrie protested, "I should get what I want to watch!"
"I don't think your 'birthday girl card' is going to work here," Ursula remarked.
"Sis, if you wait till Monday, you can watch too," Annie suggested.
Carrie groaned. "Looks like we'll have to watch 'She's the Man'."
Julia gave a bright smile. "I get my wish!" She danced off to buy tickets.
Carrie stuck her tongue at her friend's departing back. Once Julia had disappeared among the lines of people queuing for tickets, Carrie turned and cheerfully suggested that they get some lunch while waiting for the show to start.
***
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