CHAPTER 2: October—Kristy

I was coming home from the BSC meeting the last Friday in October, and found Mom fixing dinner. "Hi, Mom," I said.

"Hi, Kristy," she said. "How was the meeting?"

"Great," I said. "We inducted a few people as honorary members."

"Who?"

"The Arnold twins, Becca Ramsey, Nick Pike, Jake Kuhn, and James Hobart."

"That's wonderful. Oh, and don't forget that Sam and Charlie are coming home for the weekend."

"I know. Do you know what time they'll be here?"

"It should be any minute now," she answered.

"Hi, is anyone home?" a voice called from the front hall. Mom and I went there, and found Sam and Charlie.

"Hi, Sam; hi, Charlie," Mom said, giving each of them a hug.

"What's new with you?" Sam asked.

"Well, the Civic Center just held auditions for Gypsy," I said. "Karen, Andrew, David Michael, Mom, and I all auditioned, and hopefully, we're all in it."

"Wow, that's great," Sam said. "Anyone else we know?"

"Jason and Bebe, Shannon, Logan, and some of Karen's classmates."

"We'll try to come see it," Charlie promised, and we gave each other a hug.

It was nice to have my brothers home for the weekend.

The next morning, I saw Sam in the kitchen fixing his breakfast. "Hi, Sam," I said as I went to make some coffee. Luckily, Nannie had taught me to do that before she moved out, or else I'd be sunk.

"'Morning, Sis," he answered. "Is there any marmalade?"

"It's in the pantry," I told him. "I'd be careful if I were you, though. Watson just set out a rat trap."

"Right," he answered, then went into the pantry. The next thing I heard was Sam screaming in a Russian accent, "Is giant rats everywhere! Run! Get out of the house!"

"What the hell...?" I muttered in disbelief. If there's one thing I've always hated, it's rats. In fact, that's something else that Mary Anne and I have in common. You see, two summers ago, Abby, Mary Anne and I had been counselors at Camp Mohawk. Jessi and Mal had been CITs, and several of our siblings and baby-sitting charges six and older had been campers. And in case you're wondering, Mary Anne and I had been CITs two years before that.

Anyway, one day, in the showers, right next to the soap dish, I saw a dead rat! Mary Anne passed out on the spot, but I ran out of there, screaming bloody murder. (Thankfully, Abby was safe in her cabin, or she would've had an asthma attack and ended up in the infirmary.) That wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for the fact that I'd left my clothes in there. And by that, I mean I didn't have a stitch on me. Then, to top it all off, I crashed headfirst into a phone pole and spent the rest of the summer with a giant welt on my forehead. On the upside, I wasn't running in place while I was screaming, nor had I gotten shampoo in my eyes. (Okay, all together now: "See, Mom? I to-old you. Ennis poured water on the baby, the shampoo run into her eyes, and she may be blinded for li-i-ife!...If she is, can we get a dog?")

I also remembered the first time Claud, Mary Anne, Dawn, and I had visited Stacey in New York. I didn't mind it one bit, even though I couldn't pronounce "filet mignon" to save my life, but poor Dawn was practically a basket case the whole time we were there. In fact, one day, she saw a mouse and thought it was a rat, and also believed that there were alligators in the sewers. I'm told that Mary Anne was constantly giving her grief about it until Dawn moved back to California for good.

Okay, back to me. As soon as I heard Sam screaming, I ran to the pantry door and opened it to find him standing there, just shaking with laughter. "I was making joke!" he howled, still using the accent.

"That's not funny," I said, smacking him with the dish towel. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Karen standing in the doorway, watching us, and not knowing whether to get pissed or laugh.

Some things never change.