"Okay," Sara said. "This looks interesting. There is a big white line down the middle of the screen."

"That's not big," Marco said from the futon. "Big is megabytes. Big is not dividers."

"I thought you weren't gonna announce."

"Oh yeah. Sorry."

"Okay, so now Jake is pushing buttons and so is Cassie. Cassie's side of the screen says Game Over and Jake's says You Win."

Cassie looked at the screen. "Ah, so it does."

"Rematch?" offered Jake.

"No…no, I think I'll pass."

"Great!" said Tom, whipping out the NFL game. "What team?"

Cassie stared in utter bewilderment. "Um…Jordan? D'you want to play Parcheesi?"

"Sure!" Jordan exclaimed.

Sara hovered over them. "Now Cassie is rolling the dice. And moving her pieces."

"No," Ax contradicted.

"No? Whaddaya mean no?"

"She is only moving one piece. Pieccca-pizza! Not pieces, plural."

"Oookay. Now Jordan is moving."

Sara continued with this for some time until Marco intervened. "Hey, Sara, you want another game to announce?"

"Oh sure, what?"

He whispered something in her ear, something that caused her to narrow her eyes critically and whisper something back. He puzzled a moment before replying. She rolled her eyes but agreed. "Okay. I am Sara-"

It feels so good to be able to use last names now. What?

>I am feeling guilty for being able to use my full name in the narratives when you and the others could not.>

Ax, it's fine.

"-on an announcing mission. I will be following the progress of Super-Marco as he attempts another-what did you say?"

"Dangerous deed."

Preferably one that does not involve morphing, I thought. Luckily, it didn't.

Unluckily...

Marco stalked over across the room. "Now he's taking one step. Now another. Now another. Now another. Now he's stopped." Thank goodness. "Now he is creeping behind the couch..." Tom, who I think had figured out what was going on, eagerly shoved it out of his way.

I was annoyed. "Hey, watch it, that's my hair!"

"Your hair?" Tom gasped in mock astonishment. "Tied to the couch? That cannot be! Sara, what are we gonna do?"

"I don't know," she replied innocently.

Something was pulling my hair. "Hey!"

Marco emerged proudly. "Successful again." He held something golden between his thumb and first finger.

Expecting the worst, I dashed off into the bathroom. Only one mirror, so I couldn't get a decent view of the back of my head. But it was less monstrous than I would have expected. Reluctantly, I returned to the living room.

Jake's dad had come up from a back room. He was holding something close to him that he didn't want us to see as he entered the kitchen. All of a sudden I heard a musical chord. "Dinner bell!" he called.

"What was that?" Jake's mom asked.

"Uggle-grr."

Tom's look was one of true horror. "You-found-that-bear?" He fought for control of his voice.

"Oh yes, it's got a lovely bell-sound. Should I set it its own place at the table like we had to do years ago?"

Tom's face was still frozen in its macabre mask.

"I'll take that as a no."