The good feeling generated by Daniel's concert continued throughout the week. Daniel strutted around the house like a peacock; it seemed he was filled with a newfound confidence. A couple of days after the concert I asked him whether he had called Clara from the note. He said he was biding his time, whatever that was supposed to mean.

Now that Crane had proved himself to be an apt French braider, he was now my go-to person for hair. I bugged him every morning for the rest of the week to fix my hair. It was nice, having him to do it. It meant we got to spend a few extra minutes together each morning. And he was really gentle too. It didn't hurt a bit when he did it.

Olivia continued to be at school every morning, adding on 30 -45 minutes to the time she stayed every day she came. I'd told her about Brian maybe being able to teach her how to ride, meaning we could be spending a lot more time together, and she said she would ask her mom about it. I think it was keeping her motivated to come to school. Michael, on the other hand, was still not back at school. I knew that Guthrie was terribly worried about him. Now that Mrs Whitby had been filled in on what really happened, she let Guthrie complete a make-up test. He aced it, but it seemed like he didn't care. Every day, the first thing he would say to Adam or Brian when he saw them after we got home from school, was that Michael still wasn't at school, and every day Adam or Brian, or both together, would reassure Guthrie that Michael and his mom were in safe hands and being taken care of. They wouldn't tell us more.

Guthrie was also struggling with being grounded; he really hates having his freedom curtailed. He took an age to complete his chores, just so he could be out and about outside, and I brought Splotch up to the back door of the house every day so he could play with her. I could tell he felt blue though and was looking forward to his grounding being over.

On Friday evening, Brian announced that he was going to the mall in Sonora the following day and asked if any of us younger kids wanted to come with him.

"I want to come!" I said immediately. I still hadn't decided what to get Ford for his secret santa gift, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity.

"Me too," said Evan.

"I'll come," Daniel said. "I want to swing by the music store."

"Are you going, Adam?" Ford asked Adam who had gotten up to go the refrigerator.

"Nope. Think Crane and I are gonna stay here- there's too much work to get done," Adam said.

He handed Ford a can of beer.

"Pass that to Crane, will ya?"

"I think I'll stay here with you and Crane," Ford said as he passed Crane the can of beer.

"Adam, can I go?" Guthrie asked, tentatively.

Adam sat back down in his chair with two cans of beer, one of which he handed to Brian who immediately opened it and took a large sip.

"You're grounded, buddy, remember?" he said, looking down at Guthrie.

"I know. But I need to get my secret santa person a gift. And Christmas is next week, so I won't get another chance."

"Oh. Right," Adam said. He looked over at Brian and they did their 'communicating with eyes' thing they do. Maybe they couldn't agree though because then Adam said, "We'll see; I'll talk to Brian after supper."

"Okay," Guthrie said, morosely. Nine out of ten times, 'We'll see' coming from Adam meant 'no'.

But, when Guthrie came into our bedroom after his shower later that evening, he was in a buoyant mood.

"Adam's letting me go to the mall tomorrow!" was the first thing he said to me as he bounded in.

I had been lying in bed, reading my library book to myself, but now I sat up, surprised.

"He is? How come?"

"He said that it's because I need to buy my secret santa Christmas gift that I can go!"

"Wow! That's so nice of him!" I said.

If I was honest, I was very surprised that Adam was relenting. He was usually a complete stickler about punishments, insisting they were seen through to the bitter end.

"I know," said Guthrie. He grabbed some of his Lego and dumped it on the floor. "I think Brian must've persuaded him."

"Definitely."

/

Brian took me to my class on Saturday morning in the truck.

As we sped along the road, I asked him if he could help me later at the mall to pick out a present for Ford as my secret santa person.

Brian chuckled.

"I know it's meant to be a secret and all, but I just can't think of what to get him!" I said. "What do you think he would like?"

"I don't know," Brian admitted. "Ford's a hard one because he's into so many things."

"Now you see my problem! You'd think him liking lots of things would make it easy, but it doesn't! It makes it harder. At least the person who's got Daniel can head straight to the music store. Or the person who has Ev can get him something for rodeo."

"Or the person who's got you this year can buy you somethin' pink or sparkly, right?" Brian teased.

"Right," I said, pleased that my new fascination in fanciful accessories had not gone unnoticed.

"How about askin Evan?" Brian suggested.

"Evan?" I said, surprised. "Why would I ask Ev?"

"Coz he shares a room with Ford. And they're close. Maybe Ford's mentioned somethin' to him."

"That's a great idea, Bri!" I said, enthusiastically.

"I don't know why you sound so surprised," said Brian, raising an eyebrow in a mock supercilious manner. "I'm the king of good ideas."

I laughed. Brian turned on the radio and we rode for a little listening to music. As we neared the high school where my class was held, I started talking about my class.

"It's the last one of this year. Maybe even my last one ever," I said, glancing at Brian to see how he would react.

"Do you want it to be your last one?" he asked me, mildly.

"I don't know," I admitted.

"You said you enjoyed it," he reminded me. "You've seemed very enthusiastic after it."

"I know," I said, "I do enjoy it. Or I have been so far. But I don't know if I want to go there every single week, you know?"

"Mmmm."

"And you and Adam said that I only had to try it out and that if I didn't want to continue in the new year I didn't have to. Remember?"

"I remember."

"And, I mean, I don't think it's fair to you or Adam to have to drive me there every week."

Brian chuckled and glanced over at me.

"Nice try, kiddo, but don't bring us into this. We're more than happy to take you if you want to go."

Brian was being remarkably unopinionated about the whole thing which was very unlike him. I felt like it was a trap.

"Are you going to make me go, even if I don't want to?" I asked.

"No; I don't think we'll make you go."

"But will you be disappointed in me if I don't go anymore?"

Brian frowned, but it wasn't an angry frown. More like he was thinking.

"I guess that depends on your reasons for not wantin' to go."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, if you didn't want to go because you hated it, then I would understand. But if you didn't want to go because you couldn't be bothered, or because you wanted to sit around and do nothin', then that's somethin' different. I don't think I'd respect that decision so much."

"Oh…" I said.

"You don't have to decide this minute, do you?" he said.

"No," I said.

This was something I needed time to think about.

/

Once again, my class was fun. The subject of the week was math. It was a competition and a puzzle. We worked in groups to solve problems; every time we solved a problem, we got another clue towards the puzzle. My team didn't win, but the team that did got given a bar of chocolate each! Before I knew it, the time had flown by and it was time to be picked up.

When I got to the car park, Brian was waiting there in the truck again with some of my brothers there too. Daniel and Evan were in the front and Guthrie was riding in the truck bed. I waved hello to Brian and the others before climbing into the back to sit with Guthrie. I knocked on the rear window to show him that I was ready to go.

It didn't take long to get to the mall because the high school where my class was held was already in Sonora. Guthrie and I talked about how much we were looking forward to the school holidays and to Uncle Pete being here for Christmas.

When we arrived at the mall, Brian announced that we could have pizza for lunch. We loved pizza as a family. We had meat all the time at home being ranchers and all, so having pizza was a treat.

"Can we afford it?" Guthrie asked, looking worried.

"You don't need to be worryin' about money, Guth," Brian said, ruffling his hair. "Besides," he said, grinning, "We've got a coupon."

Now that I'm older, I find it baffling that Adam and Brian told us younger kids not to worry about money when they talked about it all the time. Non-stop it seemed. Why wouldn't we worry?

We made our way to the pizza place in the food court. The coupon allowed us to get three large pizzas half price as well as a couple of sides which we took to eat at a table. I only ate a couple of slices before I was full, but as usual, my brothers, especially Daniel and Evan were bottomless pits.

"That's your fifth slice!" I said to Evan as he tore off another slide of the pepperoni pizza.

"I'm a growing boy," he said, unperturbed, before stuffing the slice into his mouth.

Then Brian started talking about splitting up for the afternoon so we could accomplish what we needed to get done.

"Can I come with you, Ev?" I asked, looking at him hopefully.

But I could tell immediately from Evan's face and demeanour that he didn't like the sound of that very much.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Heidi. I've got stuff to do," he said.

"What stuff?" Brian said.

"Just stuff!"

"But I need your help with something," I said, whining.

I saw Brian frown. He absolutely hates whining of any kind and has no patience for it.

"I need your help with something," I said again, making an effort to keep the whine out of my voice.

"What? Why can't Brian help you? Or Daniel even?"

I saw Daniel kick Evan under the table.

"It has to be you. And it's a secret," I said. I looked across the table to Brian, hoping he'd help me out. He'd been the one to suggest asking Evan for help after all.

"Take her for 30 minutes, partner, and then we can meet up again, and she can come with me and Guth," Brian said.

Evan rolled his eyes and sat back like the moody teenager he was fast becoming.

"Urgh. Fine."

I could have been offended by Evan's reluctance to take me shopping, or Daniel kicking Evan under the table for suggesting that I could go with him. Daniel and Evan weren't unkind to me as such, but they were really annoying sometimes, and I knew they felt the same about me. I was used to it.

So I was still in a good mood when we all split up to go our separate ways. Brian told Evan and me that we'd meet back at the food court in 30 minutes, before he and Guthrie ambled away and Daniel left, practically sprinting. Probably to the music store.

"So what d'ya need me for?" Evan asked impatiently, as I hurried to keep up with him as he headed toward the downward escalator.

"I got Ford as my secret santa gift and I don't know what to get him," I said.

We got on the escalator and Evan turned to look up at me on the step above.

"Brian said I should ask you because you would know coz you share a room and all."

"Oh, that's easy," Evan said, immediately.

"What is it?"

"A hamster."

"What?! A hamster?"

"Yea, he's been talking about wanting one ever since carnival since you came home with Splotch. Thinks it would be cool to teach it tricks and stuff."

We stepped off the escalator. Evan walked forward a little so we wouldn't be in the way of anyone else stepping off. We stopped near the entrance of a sportswear store.

"I haven't heard him talking about it," I said, doubtfully.

Evan shrugged. "Well, he has."

"Adam doesn't like house pets though," I said.

"Oh, Adam," Evan said, dismissively. "It's not for Adam! He'll huff and puff a bit and then he'll get over it. Besides, he, Brian and Crane had loads of house pets when they were growing up."

"Really?"

"Sure! They had gerbils, even though you're not supposed to keep them as pets in California and hamsters, and I think Brian even had a chinchilla at one point."

I had known about the gerbil which had been called 'Zoom' because Brian had told me about it. He'd said our mother had hated it. But I hadn't known about the others.

"How'd you know that?" I asked. I felt a bit jealous. Evan and Daniel always seemed to know so much more than me about our three oldest brothers.

"I think Bri told me one time after I found a bunch of cages and stuff in the basement."

"So we wouldn't need to buy a cage…" I said, more to myself. I was thinking hard. "How much do hamsters cost?"

How much you got?"

"$20."

I had saved up $10 of my own and then Brian had subsidised the rest.

"That'll be enough," Evan said.

"But how will I keep it a secret from Ford until Christmas?" I asked him.

Evan rolled his eyes. He seemed exasperated with me.

"Work it out yourself, Heidi! It's not exactly rocket science. I'm sure you can think of something."

"Okay…," I said slowly, still thinking. Getting Ford a hamster would be a pretty cool present. One that I could play with too! If Ford were to let me that is, which I thought he would. "Let's do it!"

"Finally!" Evan said, acting like I was the most annoying person on earth.

So the two of us headed to the pet store to get Ford his hamster.