AUTHOR'S NOTE: I have to say, I'm highly amused by all the differences in opinion of Sam's schedule! He does have a point, Charlie would be on a schedule in school, but then she did just get out of the hospital and is still recovering. Sorry if this chapter seems a little slow, the Winchesters and the Braedens are still getting to know each other. Thank you for all the reviews and keep them coming! XXXOOO

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"Daddy, look!" I pointed at the huge fishtank. We had gone to the local library, because Grandpa John was helping Uncle Bobby with something and looking up information. Uncle Sam and Grandpa John were in the main part of the library and Daddy had taken me to the kid's section.

We walked over to the tank, which had a crowd of kids around it. I was using my walker for now, so that I didn't get tired out too quickly.

A woman that was standing behind a couple of kids glanced at me, and then tapped a boy's shoulder. "Move over," she said to him quietly.

He glanced at her. "Mom, I'm trying to see how many tetras they have," he said with annoyance.

"You've looked long enough, let this...little girl have a chance," she said. He turned and looked at me.

"Oh," he said, when he saw my walker. He moved out of the way so that I could move in front of him.

"Thank you," I said. The tank had lots of brightly colored fish in it and a couple of snails that were on the walls of the aquarium.

"At night they turn on the blue light so that the neons glow, it's really cool," the boy told me.

"That's neat," I said. I looked for a couple more minutes and then I turned to go. I was still learning how to move the walker around and turning it was hard. Daddy came over and helped me.

"Where do you want to look, Charlie?" he asked.

"I dunno," I said. The children's section was big, with a reading area in the corner, that had a bunch of bean bags and overstuffed chairs and big pillows. There was another area for younger kids that had activity tables and a stand with puzzles.

"Can I get some books out?" I asked.

"I've got to see if we can get a library card," Daddy said. "Usually to take books out you need to be a resident of the area. I'll go ask the librarian."

"Okay," I said. I walked over to the section with chapter books and started to look at them.

A couple minutes later, he came back. "There you are. I just need to go over to the front desk, they'll give me one. Do you want to come with me?"

"No, I'll stay here," I said.

"All right, stay in this section, and don't wander off," he told me.

When I was at the end of the aisle I looked up, and a stuffed dragon that was hanging from the ceiling in the far corner caught my eye. I went over to it- there was a big shelf with lots of books about myths and legends and fairy tales. I started to look at the books on the shelf.

"Charlie, I told you to stay in the other section," Daddy said sternly.

"Look!" I pointed at the dragon. "I just had to come and see what was here!"

Daddy put his finger under my chin and made me look at him. "Charlie, you disobeyed me. You can't do that," his face was angry.

"Sorry, Daddy," I said, feeling a pang in my stomach. Had I broken a rule?

"I'm going to let it go because you're in the kid's section and you stayed here, but next time, you'd better do what I tell you, understand?"

"Yes, Daddy," I said, was relieved that I wasn't in trouble. Uncle Sam probably would have put me in time out or something!

"Can I get some books out?" I asked him.

"Sure, go ahead," he agreed.

I started to pull some off the shelf.

"Whoa, slow down," he chuckled. "Leave some books here for other people!"

"But I've never seen these before, and I want to read them," I said.

"Okay, wait. Let's start with three books the first time, so we can make sure that you can keep track of them and we return them on time and all that."

I sighed with disappointment. "O-kaay," I put most of them back and kept the three I most wanted to read.

"I'll take those for you," Daddy said to me.

Uncle Sam came walking up to us. "How's it going, we're about ready to go."

"Do you want to keep looking around, Charlie, or go?"

"I wanted to go see the playground," I said. There was a door in the kids' section to an outdoor area with a large colorful playground area.

"Well, Dad needs to get back to the room and call Bobby," Uncle Sam said, "Time is of the essence here."

"All right. Charlie, we'll have to come back," Daddy said regretfully.

"Aww, I want to stay!" I complained.

"Not today, baby," Daddy said. "C'mon, let's go get your books checked out."

"Oh, did you get a library card?" Uncle Sam asked.

"Yeah, I did," Daddy told him.

"I don't want to go," I said stubbornly, not moving.

"Charlie, we need to," Uncle Sam said.

"I don't waaaaant to!" I whined, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Yes," Uncle Sam said, "Let's go."

"No!"

Uncle Sam looked down at me for a long moment. "Come on, young lady," he said in a stern voice.

I frowned up at him and stomped my foot. "No!"

He sighed. "I'm not going to stand here arguing," he leaned over and picked me up. "Dean, I'll meet you at the car."

"Put me down!" I said loudly, trying to twist out of Uncle Sam's arms. "Lemme go!"

Uncle Sam walked quickly out of the kids' section, and I saw Grandpa John browsing at the front of the library.

"What's wrong?" he asked, following us.

"Lemme GO!" I shouted, trying to kick my feet as Uncle Sam shifted me. I looked over and saw a couple of kids smirking at me.

Uncle Sam opened the back of the car and put me on the seat.

"That's enough, young lady," he said.

"Why'd you have to do that! Some kids were- were laughing at me!" I said hotly.

"You were the one making all the noise," he said.

"You didn't have to carry me out of there!"

"You weren't listening to me, and I wasn't going to keep arguing," he said, "Get buckled."

"Hmph!" I folded my arms and glared at him.

"I guess you want to go to bed early tonight? Because that's what's going to happen if you keep this up," Uncle Sam looked at me and raised his eyebrows.

"Nooo, Daddy and I are gonna watch a monster movie marathon," I said.

"Then behave yourself," Uncle Sam said. "Do what I tell you."

I turned in my seat and then buckled the seatbelt. Daddy walked over to the car.

"We all set?" he asked.

"I just had to straighten Charlie out is all," Uncle Sam said. "She's getting some of her sass back."

"Uh-oh," Daddy said with a grin. "Watch out, world."

We drove back to the hotel and I curled up on the sofa with one of the new books, and then all of a sudden Daddy was shaking my shoulder.

"Hey, sweetheart, it's time to go eat dinner," he said, "We're going to go out, okay?"

I sat up, rubbing my eyes. "Okay," I yawned.

We drove to a steakhouse that was like the one that we had gone to with Uncle Bobby, that had little metal buckets of peanuts on the tables. It was crowded when we got there.

We had to wait a few minutes for a table. We sat in a booth, me next to Daddy. He folded the walker up and slid it under the table.

"What do you want to drink?" he asked me.

"Is there lemonade?" I asked.

Uncle Sam flipped his menu over. "Yeah, there is," he told me.

The waitress came over and looked at Daddy and then at Uncle Sam. Daddy ordered my drink for me. I started eating peanuts and dropping the shells on the floor.

"Don't fill up on peanuts," Uncle Sam said. "Save some room for dinner."

"I know, Uncle Sam," I said with a little huff. He just gave me a look before he bent his head over the menu.

When the waitress brought our drinks she handed Daddy the lemonade and didn't look at me. Daddy, Uncle Sam, and Grandpa John had all ordered beer that came in tall glasses.

"Uh, Daddy, I have to go to the bathroom," I told him in a low voice. He got out of the booth and I slid out and stood there for a moment.

"I'll get the walker," he said, pulling it out and unfolding it. He walked behind me to the bathroom and stood outside waiting for me.

"Let me know if you need help," he called as I went in. The big handicapped stall was empty so I went into that one. When we walked back I noticed some people looking at me. I was moving slow because my legs were tired. I heard Daddy say, "Oh, I'm sorry," behind me, and turned back to look at him.

"Keep going," he said to me. There was a server behind us with a big tray of food, trying to get past. I felt bad that I was in the way.

When we got back to the table I sat down and Daddy put the walker back under the table.

The waitress came over in a couple of minutes and started to take our orders. I started to talk and she said to Daddy, "And what will she be having?"

Daddy glanced at me and looked up at her. "Uh, she's telling you," he said.

The waitress was looking at him and it seemed like she was avoiding looking at me.

I told her what I wanted to eat and she wrote it down and took the menus.

"Why did she do that?" I asked, looking at Daddy and then at Uncle Sam. "She's acting like she doesn't want to look at me."

"Sometimes people are uncomfortable with disabilities," Grandpa John said. "She saw you using the walker and doesn't know why you're using it and it makes her uncomfortable. I had a couple of buddies who were in wheelchairs after they came back from 'Nam and they had situations like that happen all the time."

"Well that's just dumb," I huffed.

"I know, sweetheart, but it's the way some people just are," Grandpa John said.

Every time the waitress came to the table she wouldn't look at me or talk to me. By the time she brought the check, I had had enough. I stood up and said to her, "I'm a normal kid ya know, you don't have to be scared of me. Being scared of people who use a walker is dumb."

"Charlie, be nice," Daddy said.

The waitress blushed. "Oh, I- I'm sorry," she put the check down on the table and turned around to hurry away.

We waited, but she never came back to the table. Daddy flagged down another waitress and gave her the check.

"Let's go out to the car," Uncle Sam said, because I was getting restless and fidgety. He and I went out to the car and got in to wait. In a few minutes Daddy and Grandpa John came out.

"I talked to the manager, told him his wait staff needs some senstivity training," Grandpa John said.

"Apparently that waitress doesn't have much experience around kids or disabled people," Daddy said, "and she's just weirded out by it."

"I still think it's dumb," I said, crossing my arms.

"Yeah, it is, Uncle Sam agreed, "but it's rude to say that to people, Charlie. Find some other way to express that thought."

"O-kaay," I sighed.

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"Charlie, it's time to wake up," Uncle Sam said.

I rolled over and opened one eye. "Whaa?" I mumbled.

"Get up and come have some breakfast, and then we can start your schoolwork."

"Aww, do I have to?" I groaned.

"Yes," Uncle Sam said decisively, pulling the covers back.

"Heeeyyy!" I whined, sitting up and reaching for them.

"Nope," he grabbed my wrist. "Come on, Charlie. It's your first day of school!"

I held my arms up. "Carry me!"

Uncle Sam gave me a look. "You just woke up, and you want to be carried? No way."

"Uncle Saaaaamm-"

"Sam, what're you doing?" Daddy groaned in the bed next to us. He and I had stayed up late watching movies both Saturday and Sunday nights.

"It's time for Charlie to wake up so that she can start her work. I want to get in at least an hour before we have to leave for PT," Uncle Sam said.

Daddy sat up. "Oh, right, she's got PT today," He rubbed his face. "You want to take her, or should I?" he grinned at Uncle Sam. "I guess you'll want to, so you can see your girl."

"She's not my girl, Dean," Uncle Sam shook his head. "Come on, Charlie, I'll make you some oatmeal." he left the room.

I sighed and got out of bed. Daddy beckoned me, and I walked over to him. He pulled me into a hug, onto the bed. "It's so nice to wake up and see you here, instead of in a hospital bed," he said. "I'm still tired, are you?"

"Yeah," I yawned. Daddy laid back down with me in his arms, and I snuggled into him.

A couple minutes later we heard Uncle Sam's voice again. "Charlie, it's ready!" he called. Then footsteps, and then Uncle Sam scoffed. I turned my head- he was standing in the doorway.

"Dean, you're not helping," Uncle Sam said. "She needs to get up."

"I just wanted to snuggle with my girl for a few minutes, is that a crime?" Daddy asked. He patted my shoulder. "Go on, get up and eat breakfast. I'll be there in a minute."

I walked out to the kitchen and ate the oatmeal that Uncle Sam had made me, then we went over to the desk and he started showing me how to do stuff on the tablet. He sat with me while I was figuring it out, and then Grandpa John came into the room and asked him some questions. He was still helping Uncle Bobby with a case.

Since we were doing Language Arts first, and it was reading, it was fun and easy for me. Before I knew it, it was time to get dressed and leave for PT. Uncle Sam drove me, and I brought the tablet and kept doing my schoolwork.

Imani said that she was glad I'd been doing more walking, and looked at the schedule that Uncle Sam had made for me.

"Just remember that Charlie is still building up her stamina, and she will still get tired out more quickly," she said, "You might want to schedule more breaks."

"I know we're going to have to tweak things," Uncle Sam told her. "But I wanted to have a schedule in place to start with."

"Yes, a schedule is a good thing," she agreed, smiling up at him.

I fell asleep in the car on the way home, because I was so tired out from PT. When I woke up it was the middle of the afternoon.

"Daddy," I called out. "Daddy?"

He came to the bedroom door. "Yeah, baby?" he asked.

I held up my arms. "I'm starving, carry me."

He walked over to the bed and picked me up. "You slept through lunch," he told me, taking me over to the table and setting me down. "What do you want to eat?"

"Um...a grilled cheese sandwich. No, do we have mac-n-cheese?" I asked.

"No, we don't," he said apoligetically. "I can get some if you want."

"Mommy used to get those little cups you put in the microwave, they're my favorite, the ones in the blue box."

"I know the ones you mean," Daddy said. "I'll pick some up from the store next time I go. I can make grilled cheese."

"Okay," I agreed.

Uncle Sam walked into the room from his room while I was waiting.

"There you are," he said. "Feeling rested now?"

"Yeah, I guess," I said. "Can I watch t.v.?"

"No, I'd like for you to do some more schoolwork," Uncle Sam said.

"Aww, do I have to?" I complained.

He sat down. "Charlie, if you were in regular school, you'd have to do it all day. You wouldn't get breaks to watch t.v."

"But I'm not in regular school, so I can do what I want," I said stubbornly.

"Uh, no you can't," Uncle Sam said. "We're doing home-schooling, so that means you have to do what I tell you to do."

"Sam, you're forgetting that she just got out of the hospital-" Daddy started to say. Uncle Sam interrupted him. "I'm well aware of that, and I can see that we're going to have to change things. I'll deal with that, it's fine. But I don't want Charlie to get the idea that she can slack off because she's tired or because she just doesn't want to do the work. I expect her to get a certain amount of work done every day."

"But Sam, you can't do that yet, she's still getting used to being out of the hospital."

Uncle Sam sighed. "Dean, I know that, God, would you stop already?" He glared at Daddy. "Every time you object, you're undermining what I'm trying to do with Charlie! I'm trying to establish that she needs to expect to work every day and be on a schedule, and you're constantly telling me I'm wrong, and I don't appreciate it!"

Grandpa John had come into the room and was listening to Uncle Sam.

"Sam's right, Dean," he said. "He's got to be the authority as far as home-schooling is concerned. Let him do what he's trying to do."

"Fine," Daddy said shortly. "But if I see that it's too much for Charlie or that she's getting too tired, I will step in and say something."

"That's fine," Uncle Sam said. "But let me get her into a routine first."

"I don't want to work all day," I whined.

"You're not going to have to," Uncle Sam said. "But you did less than an hour this morning, and I want you to do some more this afternoon. Come on, the social studies unit is really interesting, and it's more reading. Finish up your lunch."

"Oh- kaay," I said sourly, "Can I have another sandwich?" I asked hopefully, looking at Daddy.

"All right," he said, getting up from the table. "Dad, Sam, you want one?"

He made more sandwiches, and we all sat and ate together. Uncle Sam was right, the social studies was interesting, and the questions I had to answer were fun. I liked it.

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"You're doing great," Uncle Sam told me on Tuesday. "I'm really impressed with how fast you read. I think we're going to get ahead in Language Arts in no time."

He turned and pulled a box out of his messenger bag.

"Put the tablet to the side," he said, "You're going to practice writing every day too, it will help with your fine motor skills in your hands. I asked Imani about it."

He put a pad of paper in front of me and opened the box. Inside were a set of those fat crayons that toddlers use and the thick pencils that they give you when you're first learning how to write in Kindergarten.

I stared at him. "What?" I exclaimed. "I'm not using those!"

Uncle Sam looked surprised. "Wh-"

"I'm not- I'm not a baby, I'm not a dumb little kindergartner who can't write! I don't need to use those!" I pushed the chair back and got up, starting to cry. The tears made my vision blurry and I tripped and fell down, and then I wailed because I hurt my knee.

Uncle Sam helped me up, and then Daddy was next to us. "What's wrong? What happened? Why is she crying?"

"I—don't—want—to—use-those!" I wailed.

"I showed her the crayons and pencils I got, they're those big ones that little kids use-" Uncle Sam said. "and then she did this-"

Daddy picked me up and hugged me. "Why is it upsetting you, huh?"

"Because it's for babies and little kids, and I'm not! And all of this makes me feel, it makes me feel like a baby anyways!" I sobbed.

"We know you're not a baby, sweetheart, and you know you're not either, right? You just need some help re-learning how to use your body, and the crayons and pencils are tools to help you. Think of it that way, okay, not that they're things that a little kid uses." Daddy smoothed my hair back from my face and looked at me. "They're helping you learn, and that's why Uncle Sam got them."

"O-okay," I sniffled.

"Honey, I'm sorry, if I'd known they were going to upset you, I wouldn't have gotten them, or I would have talked to you about them first," Uncle Sam said, looking me in the eyes.

"S'okay, Uncle Sam," I said.

"Are you all right? Did you hurt yourself?" Daddy asked.

"I bumped my knee, but I'm okay," I sniffled.

"Did she trip over something?" Grandpa John asked, looking around.

"Just her feet," Uncle Sam said.

"We'd better make sure the floor stays clear, just in case," Grandpa John said, "Don't want her to trip over anything and fall."

Daddy kissed my knee, and then put me down. "You okay to get back to work?"

"Yeah," I said.

Grandpa John patted my cheek and smiled at me, and then he followed Daddy back to his room. They were in the other bedroom helping Uncle Bobby with research for a case and using Uncle Sam's lap top.

I walked back over to the desk with Uncle Sam and we sat down.

"Do you want to try and do this?" he asked me.

"Okay," I agreed. It felt funny using the fat crayons but I got used to it. My writing was big and sloppy.

"Every day we'll practice writing," he told me. "And you'll get better and better as your hand gets stronger. You had pretty neat handwriting, didn't you?"

"Yeah."

"I think you'll get back to that in no time," he smiled at me.

When I was done with that, he pulled out a long mat that had been rolled up in the corner, and helped me do some exercises. Daddy went into the kitchen and started to work on lunch.

"We've got lunch meat, do you want a sandwich?" he called to me.

"I want mac-n-cheese," I said.

"Well, I didn't get any yet."

"But that's what I want!" I complained.

"I'll go out tonight and get some," Daddy told me. "Do you want a turkey sandwich or a ham sandwich?"

"Turkey," I said. "And don't forget to cut the crusts off!"

"Charlie," Uncle Sam frowned at me. "Ask nicely."

"Well he always forgets!" I grumped.

"Don't start getting cranky," Uncle Sam said. "Maybe we should have you rest before lunch."

"Nooo," I whined. "Can I be done now?"

"Yeah, I guess we're done. Do some leg stretches to help you cool down," he told me.

After I had stretched, he helped me up, and then Grandpa John came in and we all sat and ate lunch together again. It was nice to eat meals with all of them, instead of sitting by myself eating a bowl of microwaved soup or a bowl of cereal like I had used to.

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"So, Charlie, how did your first week of home-schooling go?" Lisa asked me.

"Okay I guess," I replied.

"We have to make some changes to the schedule, but we're getting there," Uncle Sam told her. "Charlie is picking things up very quickly, which I figured she would."

"That's good," Lisa smiled at me. "I know it's hard to be back into the swing of things, we've had issues with getting certain people out of bed in the mornings," she reached over and ruffled Ben's hair. "Someone needs to stop playing video games so late at night."

"But Mom, that's when my friends are online," Ben said.

"I know, but you can't be up late when you've got school in the morning," Lisa said to him, "We've already talked about this, Ben."

"I know," Ben sighed. "Hey Charlie, wanna go to my room and hang out?"

"Sure," I said. I followed him up the stairs slowly, holding on to the railing.

We were at Lisa and Ben's for a Labor Day picnic. Daddy and Grandpa John were outside lighting the grill to cook hamburgers and hot dogs.

I had never been in a boy's bedroom before. There were posters all over the walls, a couple of baseball players and a couple of superheroes. There was a series of plastic sleeves with baseball cards in them pinned on the wall next to Ben's bed and toys and books all over the place. There were some clothes strewn across the floor and he kicked them quickly under the bed.

"Mom told me to clean my room before you guys got here, I guess I forgot," he said sheepishly. He had a small t.v. at the foot of his bed.

"I really want to have my own computer in here, but Mom won't let me," he told me. "I have to play on her laptop so that she can keep an eye on what I do."

"Yeah, Uncle Sam is protective of his laptop, I can't play on it cause he uses it for work. But he got me a tablet for school and said he put some games on there for me."

"You can go on the internet and find free games for your tablet," he told me, "There's all kindsa sites with free stuff on them."

"Cool, I didn't know I could do that with the tablet!"

He showed me his action figures and the fortress he had made for Batman. He had taken a bunch of shoe boxes and glued them together on their sides and then made furniture and stuff out of cardboard and taped or glued them in place.

"I want to make another couple of rooms too, maybe you can help me," he said.

"I used to have a big dollhouse that was really neat," I told him.

"What happened to it?" he asked.

"We, uh, had to leave it when I went with Daddy and Uncle Sam because it was too big to fit into the car and all."

"Oh. That's too bad."

"Ben! Charlie! Food is ready!" Lisa called up the stairs.

"Coming Mom!" Ben called back. He thundered down the stairs in front of me and then stood at the bottom, waiting as I carefully walked down. I wasn't used to stairs too much and my balance felt off.

Daddy walked over and stood next to Ben, watching me walk. "You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," I replied.

"Getting tired?"

"No, Daddy," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Hey, I'm just checking," he said, "No need for eye rolling."

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"C'mon," Ben said to me. I followed him over to the shed and he pulled on the door. The metal screeched as it moved. He stepped inside for a moment and then came back out, holding a couple of small boxes.

"I saved these from the Fourth of July," he showed me a box of sparklers. "I figured there would be another special occasion for them. C'mon," he started to walk around behind the shed and I followed him.

"Um, are you allowed, I mean, shouldn't you ask your mom?" I asked hesitantly.

"Naw, she's cool with it," he said confidently. "She was letting me light them myself when we were at the picnic before. It was awesome!"

"Should we go get everyone and share them?" I turned to look around.

"No, 'cause then that'll be less for us. There's only like 10 per box." He opened the thin box and pulled out two sparklers, then handed them to me.

"Hold them like this," he showed me. "You won't get hurt, it's okay."

He took the other box- it was a box of matches- and tried to light one, which didn't work. The next one lit, and he held it to the sparklers. After a few seconds they lit, and we stood there watching them. After they burned down, Ben stuck them into the grass, and then got out two more. We lit them and he was showing me how to draw my name in the air when we heard voices.

"-made sure the grill was completely out, I don't know why there would be a fire back there-" I recognized Daddy's voice.

"I don't- why is the shed open?" Lisa asked.

I stared at Ben, and my stomach twisted. Were we going to get into trouble?

Everyone walked around the corner of the shed and stood there staring at us. Daddy was holding a fire extinguisher. He exhaled when he saw us. "Jesus-" he started to say.

"What's going on?" Grandpa John said in a rough voice.

"Benjamin Isaac Braeden!" Lisa yelled. "What th- where did you get the sparklers?"

"I saved them from Fourth of July, Mom," he told her, ducking his head.

She glared at him with an 'angry mom' face. "You saved them? And did you think to ask me if you could light them?"

Ben shifted, staring at the ground. "Uh...no."

"And why not? Are you supposed to be playing with matches?"

"I- I wasn't playing!" he looked up at her. "You let me light some at the picnic!"

"Yes, because I was standing right there and there was a bucket of water to put them in! I told you that you could light them with adult supervision!" She shook her head. "And then you just put the used ones in the grass? Ben, you know the grass is dry right now because we haven't had any rain, do you want to light the yard on fire?"

"Noo," he whined, "but Mom-"

"Charlie, did you have anything to do with this?" Daddy asked in a hard voice.

"No sir," Ben said quickly, "I was just showing her, I wanted to share the sparklers with her."

"That's very nice, Ben, but it doesn't take away from the fact that you were doing something very dangerous. What did we talk about the last time you played with matches?" Lisa frowned at him.

Ben stared at her again and his face got red. "Moooom!" he protested.

"Oh, so you were listening to me. Well, then you get upstairs and wait for me. I need a few minutes to calm down before I deal with you."

Ben trudged away with his head down, and as he walked in front of Lisa she swatted his butt.

We all walked back inside.

"I'm sorry we have to cut the evening short, I need to go deal with my miscreant son," Lisa said.

"Hey, that's okay," Daddy said. "We've all been there." He leaned over and hugged her.

"Thanks for having us," Uncle Sam said to her.

"Sure, and again, I'm sorry," she replied, shaking her head.

"Boys, huh?" Grandpa John said to her, shaking his head too, with a rueful grin. "Never a dull moment."

She huffed a little laugh. "You got that right!"

"Oh, I could tell you some stories about these two," Grandpa John nodded at Daddy and Uncle Sam and grinned at her so that his dimples showed.

"Sam, remind me to make sure that Dad never gets any alone time with Lisa," Daddy said, and they all laughed. They picked up a couple of bags and we walked out to the car.

When we got in, Daddy turned around to me as I buckled the seat belt.

"What do you have to say, Charlie?" he asked.

I looked up at him. He looked stern. "Uh, about what?" I asked.

"About what just happened with Ben."

I looked at him and then at Grandpa John, who was in the front passenger seat.

"Uh- what- what do you want me to say?" I asked uneasily. Was I in trouble?

"What happened? Did Ben just get the sparklers out and start lighting them?"

"Uh, yeah, he said he'd been saving them."

"And you just—went along with this?" Daddy was frowning now.

"Well, I asked if he should ask his mom, and he said no. I said maybe we should share them with you guys and he said there were only 10 in the box so we should use them ourselves."

Uncle Sam gave a little chuckle and shook his head.

"Well Charlie, in the future, if Ben is planning on doing something like that, you come and tell an adult, you got it?" Daddy asked sternly.

"Okay- but—I mean—am I in trouble?"

Daddy looked at me for a long moment. "Not this time," he said, "I keep forgetting that you're an only child and you're not used to the whole 'having a brother' thing. You and Ben need to take care of each other and watch out for each other, and that includes telling someone if they're doing something unsafe."

"But- isn't that tattling?" I asked. "We're not supposed to tattle."

"Technically, yes, but in a case like this it's the best thing to do," Uncle Sam said. "A lot of bad things could have happened, and if you had told us what was going on we would have known to stop it."

I felt tears come to my eyes. "I'm sorry!" I said. "I—I didn't know!"

"I know, Charlie, that's why I said you're not in trouble," Daddy looked at me with raised eyebrows. "The next time something like this happens, though, you will be in trouble along with Ben. I don't want you getting hurt again. I don't want either of you getting hurt."

"Okay, Daddy," I said. "Uh, did he get in trouble?"

All of them chuckled. "Yeah, I think it's safe to say that," Daddy said.

"When we get home, it will be time for bed," Uncle Sam told me.

"Aww, whyyyy?" I whined.

"School tomorrow, with a new schedule," he reminded me. "And if it's sunny we can go to the park."

Daddy started the car and pulled out into the road.