I've never known a girl who could be so mean. So far, Madison has made Dewey cry twice and she even punched Reese in the ribs when he tried to help with the dishes. He ended up breaking about four plates. I don't think punching him did what she had hoped, however. Instead of leaving Madison alone, Reese has been bugging her more than ever.

Madison's only been here for about three days now but, already, Dewey's scared to leave the bedroom whenever she comes around. That's where we are now - the bedroom. Madison was in a foul mood when she came around today. We thought it best to just leave her alone, to get on with her cleaning.

From somewhere in the living room came the sudden sound on the phone ringing. Madison answered it, but I couldn't understand what she was saying through the walls.

A few short minutes later, however, and she appeared at our bedroom doorway, looking really annoyed. Dewey squealed and scrambled underneath the nearest bed, while Reese sat up and starred at her.

'Look, here's the deal,' She told us, 'You're mom just rang, she's gonna be later coming home from work tonight. So is your Dad, which means I'm gonna have to stay here with you people and cook your dinner.'

From underneath one of the beds came a frightened sort of squeak. It seemed Dewey didn't like these arrangements any more than Madison did.

'Now, I know its stooping to a low level, asking you guys for help, but I don't suppose any of you know how to cook, do you?'

Reese stood up immediately.

'I do!' He said eagerly and grinning.

'Oh no way! Does anyone other than Reese know how to cook? Malcolm, what about you?' She asked desperately, looking horrified at the very thought of her and Reese in the same kitchen together.

How she expected me to help her was a mystery. All I knew was that unless she started showing us all some respect, I wasn't gonna lift so much as a finger for her.

'No, I don't. And even if I didn't, I wouldn't help you anyway. Maybe if you stopped being so mean to us all, you'd find that people would wanna co- ooperate with you more, and then we'd -'

'Alright, alright! I asked if you could cook, I didn't ask for your life story! I'll use Reese then, if I have to. Come on Reese.'

She turned and stormed angrily out of the room. Reese followed, still grinning stupidly. He winked at me, I rolled my eyes and Dewey whispered from under the bed 'Has she gone yet?'