Wednesday, August 15th, 2012 2:17 PM

The house was too quiet.

17-year-old Teddy Duncan was sitting on the couch reading Shutter Island when she realized just how eerily silent it was. Both Bob and Amy were at work, PJ was back at college – barely – for his sophomore year, and Gabe was away at summer camp until Friday. Charlie was down for a nap, and Teddy could hear her soft little snores through the baby monitor.

"Maybe I'll take Charlie to the park when she wakes up," Teddy said to herself. "Until then, I think I'll take a nap, too."

Setting her book aside, Teddy stretched out on the couch and quickly fell asleep.

(Meanwhile)

182 miles away, 13-year-old Gabe was having the best summer of his life at the newly opened Denver Parks & Recreation summer camp. Every day was something fun and new: fly fishing, canoeing, an obstacle course. The boys had even gone four-wheeling the day before. But that day, the boys were prepping for one of the five required sports sessions – one none of the boys looked forward to.

Tennis.

The male campers were all wearing tennis whites and gathered around one of the courts, waiting for the girls to arrive.

'Maybe I'll see Jo,' Gabe thought. He'd only seen her in passing at the mess hall and though he wanted to go sit with her, Jo was surrounded by friends, and boy/girl fraternizing was not allowed outside of sports.

But sure enough, as the girls filtered in, there was Jo, looking pretty in a white halter and tennis skirt. She wore a bright purple visor and held a matching racket, both seeming brighter against her white clothes. Jo caught Gabe looking at her and gave a little smile. He went to return the gesture, but Jo had already turned away.

The campers were paired up boy/girl for doubles matches, and two of the coaches explained and demonstrated how to play the game.

"Seems easy enough," Gabe remarked to his partner, a girl with sandy colored hair and blue eyes.

"You mean you've never played?" the girl (Paige, Gabe recalled) asked.

"Nope. Have you?"

"Yeah. I know the coaches explain each sport, but it's kind of an unwritten rule that you already know how to play," Paige explained.

"Well, I can play the other four," Gabe replied. "Just not tennis."

Paige shrugged. "Just try your best to keep up." Bouncing the ball up and down a few times, she knelt to check if she was in the correct position, then called the score. Gabe watched in awe as she tossed the ball into the air and sent it sailing over the net with a loud thwack.

(Twenty minutes later)

Gabe dropped down next to Paige, gladly accept the water bottle she handed him.

"Careful," Paige warned. "Don't actually put your mouth on it. Who knows how many campers already have."

Gabe nodded as he water-falled the cold liquid.

"That's actually really fun." Gabe gestured to the court the two had just vacated.

Paige smiled. "It is. It doesn't cost much, and it's a great workout. Not to mention you get really tan."

Gabe tried his hardest not to look at Paige's long legs. He'd shot up over the summer to nearly 5'8" and Paige was just below that, most of it made up of leg.

Suddenly a tennis ball slammed into the court hard, just short of Gabe's most sensitive area.

"Geez!" Paige exclaimed. "Someone has bad aim."

Gabe noticed Jo three courts down looking positively furious. She pointed down, then made a cutting motion across her throat.

"Or just really good aim," he muttered.

"What was that?" Paige asked.

"Nothing. Come on, let's play singles."

As Gabe readied to serve, he kept glancing over at Jo. Every time the ball came her way, she smacked it like the two had a personal problem. Was she jealous because Gabe and Paige were partners? He didn't even like Paige!

Did he?

(Back at the Duncan home)

Teddy slowly awoke with the thought that someone was playing with her necklace. Sure enough, Charlie had crawled under her big sister's arm and was playing with the charms on Teddy's necklace.

"Hey Charlie!" Teddy greeted with a smile. "How'd you get down the stairs by yourself?"

"On my butt," Charlie replied, not taking her eyes off the charms. Teddy held her breath, praying, Please don't say it. Please don't say it.

"I not baby."

Crap.

Shortly after her third birthday, Charlie had found two favorite phrases: "I not baby" and "No talk to me like baby". She refused to drink from sippy cups, sit in her stroller or car seat (which made going places difficult), and sometimes would even refuse to take naps.

"No, you're not a baby," Teddy sighed. "Want to go to the park?"

"I no sit in car seat," Charlie replied.

"But, Charlie, big girls like you sit in car seats."

"No. I not baby. You no make me."

Where does she learn this stuff? Teddy thought. Then, an idea struck her. "Charlie, if I showed you a big kid in a car seat, would you sit in yours?"

"I no no," Charlie shrugged.

"Okay, well come with me to the car..."

"See Charlie? Teddy is a big girl just like you and she's sitting in her car seat."

Ten minutes and a phone call later, Teddy and Ivy were trying to convince Charlie to sit in her car seat. Ivy and Charlie were outside the car, while Teddy was sitting in the driver's seat, smashed into Gabe's old booster seat.

"Yes I am!" Teddy exclaimed cheerfully. "I'm a big girl in my big girl car seat. Charlie, can you be a big girl and sit in your car seat?"

Charlie looked from Teddy to Ivy, to her car seat, then back to Teddy, the expression on her face almost saying, Are you kidding me? Then she smiled and yelped, "Yeah!"

"Thank God," Teddy muttered. She quickly strapped Charlie into her seat before the little girl could change her mind.

"Thanks for helping me out, Ivy," she said. "I appreciate it."

"You're welcome. Just make sure you don't get pulled over for anything. That booster seat might be hard to explain."

Teddy agreed. "Right. I'll see you tomorrow."

"See ya."