In practically no time at all, it was the 15th of August. I so wasn't looking forward to Namęšéme's date with Mrs. Richardson, especially when I was supposed to start seventh grade next week. Imagine how awkward it would be if the other kids found out about it. I'd have to deal with kids at school telling me that Mrs. Richardson would be my new néške'éehe. I was already cringing just thinking about it.

After Namęšéme made me lunch and tended to the cattle out on the ranch, he gave Newt a call and let him know what was up.

"Hello?" I could hear Namęšéme say over the phone. "Oh, hey, Newt. Listen, I'm supposed to have Mrs. Richardson over for a date at my house. Would you and Jewell like to have Jessica over to your house in the meantime?" Silence. "Really? I can't thank you enough. I tell you what, I'm so grateful that we're neighbors. Alright, I'll tell Jessica as soon as I'm done talking to you." More silence. "Huh? What about the kids? Oh, I'm sure Jessica will get along with them just fine. Why not, they already seem to like her, don't they? Alright, I'll talk to you later, bye."

With that, Namęšéme hung up and turned to focus his attention on me.

"You heard all that, didn't you?" Namęšéme asked me. "You heard that you'll be staying with Newt while Arizona and I..." He cleared his throat. "...get to know each other better?"

I groaned in disgust. "Yeah, yeah, I heard you."

"You think you'll enjoy spending the night with the McBrides?"

I tilted my head at him in confusion. "Spend the night? How long do you plan to have Mrs. Richardson over here?"

"Hopefully, she'll be here a long while. Maybe things will get interesting tonight, maybe not. Why don't you pack an overnight bag, okay? I promise you'll like spending the night there."

I sighed with reluctance. "Okay..."

I went into my room and packed only the essentials into my overnight bag: toothbrush, toothpaste, dental floss, clothes, some snacks (which mainly consisted of candy and beef jerky and some cheese sticks), and that was about it. I then picked up my overnight bag with both of my hands and trudged back over to where Namęšéme was.

"Okay, Namęšéme," I said. "I've got it all packed."

Namęšéme smiled. "Good. I'm sure you won't mind spending the night over there. I mean, the kids already like you, so it shouldn't be a problem. Now, you want me to take you over there or you want to do it yourself?"

I quickly made a choice. "I can do it myself."

After I had walked over to the McBrides' house to spend the night, I was immediately greeted with a hug. I reciprocated and then pulled away to see who it was: Frankie. Oh my gosh, it was her. Her strawberry-blonde hair and yellowish-green eyes brought out a kind of awe and surprise in me that I didn't think I would be experiencing at this age. She looked at me with a smile. Damn, she managed to go and burrow herself into my heart like a prairie dog. I had to keep it to myself in the meantime, though. I wasn't sure Frankie felt the same way about me. Did she even like other girls the way I liked her?

Anyway, after Frankie and I had hugged each other, we said hi and talked about how our days had been.

"Man, I don't envy you right now," I said. "Going to school next week? I mean, surely, we could have one more week of freedom, am I right?"

Frankie chuckled awkwardly. "Yeah. It's kinda a bummer. School's school, though. We gotta go back to class sometime."

I sighed sadly. "Yeah... I know."

I quickly perked up when I saw Glen, Homer, Shelly, and Melba heading our way. In quick succession, they all gave their greetings and told me how happy they were that I was here.

"What's with the overnight bag, Jessica?" Melba asked me.

Frankie turned around and addressed her older sister. "Jessica's spending the night with us. I guess her grandpa and the Language Arts teacher at school are on a date or something. That's what she told me anyway."

"Really?" Glen asked, intrigued. "Is that true, Jessica?"

"Uh-huh." I unzipped my overnight bag and handed the McBride kids some of my beef jerky. "Uh, you want this beef jerky I brought with me?"

"I'm not sure, actually," Homer said. "Anything else you got?"

My eyes darted down into my overnight bag. "I've got candy as well."

The McBride kids clamored with joy as I also gave them some of my candy. Frankie and Melba, in particular, seemed to enjoy my Skittles and Three Musketeers.

"Wow," Frankie said. "Your grandpa must have real good taste in candy, huh?"

"Yeah, tell me about it," I agreed. "He loves getting his hands on candy whenever he can. One time, he brought home some Mars Men for me back when we lived in Malta."

"Cool. So what was it like living in Montana?"

I didn't have to think hard about my old life. "Well, Montana's got the Rocky Mountains and, and Yellowstone and also badlands. It's also known for agriculture and ranches. My namęšéme is a cattle rancher."

The McBride kids nodded at me with intrigue.

"That's so cool," Frankie said. "Does he like being a cattle rancher?"

"I think so," I replied. "He could tell you all about how much work he puts into taking care of the cows and making sure they get enough of everything, and he could do it all with a smile on his face."

"Are the cows happy that your grandpa takes care of them?"

"I mean, I've yet to hear them complain, so I'd like to think they're happy."

Frankie smiled at me. "I'm happy they're happy."

"Me too. I don't think they could imagine life without him. He's probably the nicest man I know."

Frankie just nodded at me. "He's the nicest man I know, too."

Just then, Newt and Jewell walked into the room to see what was happening.

"Dad, Dad!" Homer clamored out to Newt. "Jessica just told us about how her grandpa is a cattle rancher. Did you know about this, Dad?"

Newt just chuckled. "Of course I did, sport. Warren told me all about that and how much work it is looking after those cows."

"Is that his name? Warren?"

"Sure is, sport."

The McBride kids looked at their dad with awe.

"Anyway," Newt continued. "Why don't you tell the kids some more about what your grandpa is like, eh, Jessica?"

And so I did.

After I gave some more of an explanation about what Namęšéme was like to the neighbor kids, it was finally time for dinner. Jewell served up some chicken-fried steak, cornbread, and cheese grits. I couldn't care less about the cornbread; it was okay, but nothing to write home about. It was some damn good chicken-fried steak, though. I don't know how Jewell made it, but the crispy skin helped to add flavor and the white gravy totally complemented it. The cheese grits were the best I ever had, with lots of cheeses being mixed into the dish. I managed to eat everything on my plate, even the cornbread, so I could get dessert.

"Wow!" Frankie exclaimed. "You must have been really hungry, Jessica!"

I chuckled awkwardly. "I guess I was."

"I'm glad to see you liked my food," Jewell said. "Would you like some dessert?"

"Oh boy, would I!" I exclaimed. "What are we having?"

Jewell smiled at me and brought out... "Arbuckle fried pies... with ice cream."

Along with all the other kids, I shrieked with joy. I loved those things, especially when they were filled with chocolate pudding. I snagged some up while also getting a bowl of plain vanilla ice cream to dip the pies into. Suddenly, I didn't care about Namęšéme's date with Mrs. Richardson anymore. I only cared about getting my hands on some sweets and stuffing myself silly until I got tired. The McBride kids definitely helped in that regard. The oldest two, Glen and Homer, were in high school (12th and 10th grade, respectively), but they were still kids at heart. Glen himself still had something of a baby-face for a seventeen-year-old, but I bet he didn't get too much trouble for that.

After eating as much of the sweets as I could, I started drifting off to sleep. Man, all that sugar must have brought me down something fierce because I instantly passed out the moment I got up out of my seat at the dinner table.