When we finally got home, Mom wasn't even there.
"Huh. I wonder where she is," I said to myself.
"Who cares?" Barley said. "We've had a long day. Let's kick back and relax."
"Well, okay…" I said. "And look at that, here's my phone!"
"Why did you leave it behind?" Barley asked.
"I didn't think I needed it," I said. "And I thought right."
"Okay…. whatever," Barley said. He sat down but immediately got back up again.
"OUCH!"
"What now?!" I asked.
"I sat on something…" Barley said.
I looked over to see what it was, but he quickly hid it behind his back.
"Come on! Show me what it is!" I said.
Barley looked like he was about to say something, but then the doorbell rang.
"I'll go get it," he said.
"But what if it's a stranger?" I asked. "I think we should just ignore it."
"There you go worrying again," said Barley. "Really, what's the worst that could happen?"
Mom was at the door!
"I forgot my house key," she said, before making a disgusted face. "What is that smell?"
"I don't know… what smell?" Barley asked.
"Oh! It's you!" Mom said.
"Oh? Huh…" Barley said, wiping some sweat off of his face.
"Have you been out running?" Mom asked hopefully.
"What? No…" Barley said.
"Tell her about what happpened," I said.
"Oh… that? I just had a flat tire, that's all," said Barley. "And it was so hot outside."
"It really wasn't," Mom said. "Now, go take a shower. Please."
Barley angrily walked away, but came back a few minutes later.
"What now?" Mom asked.
"Couldn't find any clean clothes," said Barley.
"Check the dryer," Mom said, seeming to get more annoyed by the second.
I wondered what was bothering her now.
Barley left the room and Mom went to open the fridge.
"Oh, that boy. Always eating all the food in the house... and where is the milk?"
"Barley drank it," I said.
"All of it?" Mom asked.
"Yep," I said.
"But I just bought an entire gallon!" Mom said. "How did he even…"
"All at once," I said. "It was disgusting."
"And you just stood there and watched?" Mom asked.
"There was nobody around to tell," I said.
"Well," Mom said, sighing. "No wonder he's getting sick if he's doing things like that."
At that very moment, Barley peeked around the corner. He couldn't possibly have been gone long enough to have taken a shower.
"What are we talking about?
"NOTHING!" Mom said. "GO AWAY!"
"But I need to ask Ian something," Barley said.
"What?" I asked.
"Did you dry these on the wrong setting? They're kinda smaller than I remember," Barley asked. Since when had he cared about that kind of thing?
"No," I said.
Barley left again without another word.
I thought that I heard him crying shortly after that, but probably not. After all, Barley doesn't cry.
"Mom… what's wrong?" I asked cautiously.
"What? Nothing's wrong!" Mom said,
"Oh," I said. "You just seemed so upset lately…"
"Well, that's because I got a speeding ticket," Mom said.
"Maybe you shouldn't have been speeding, then," I said.
"Yeah…" Mom said. "Now, has anybody seen my phone?"
"Nope!" I said. "Maybe Barley has it!"
"Why would Barley have it?" Mom asked.
"Well, I uh… I saw him…." I started, but was interrupted as the familiar clip-clop of Colt's hooves disgraced my ears. "Uh… never mind!"
I had a plan.