The captain was still laughing when he walked into the house. He walked over to Ben who was working on the books and said, "That child is funny. Do you know that she asks her puppies to help her pronounce unfamiliar words when she's reading?"

"Yes I do. She started doing that on the train when Adam and I were bringing her home from Dodge last summer. She and Silver Chief hid under her seat and when we came back from looking for her, she was sitting in her seat reading to the puppy. She said she was teaching him how to read, pointed to a word, asked him what it was and he said 'woof'. Her teacher knows about it and thinks it's funny. Arithmetic on the other hand is troublesome for her. Despite many attempts to show her, Cat cannot see why it's necessary. She gets frustrated because it doesn't come easy and I've almost been hit by a flying arithmetic book several times."

"I'm going to have a lot of time on my hands while I'm here so maybe I'll be able to help her. Right now I am concerned about her sitting out there in that pasture with no jacket or coat on when it is getting cold."

"I wasn't aware that she didn't have her jacket on. I'd better go and get her. Silly girl thinks that she'll never get sick or hurt." Just as he reached the door, Adam, Hoss, and Joe walked in. "I was just informed that your sister is out in the pasture with Fury and doesn't have her jacket on. Will you please go and bring her into the house? All three of you have my permission to give her one smack and feel free to scold her all you want for being so foolish. I think from now until spring, she can do her homework in the house. I do not want her getting sick from being out in the pasture without a jacket on. In that respect, she's worse than you were at that age Joe. At least you had sense enough to wear a jacket when it was getting cold outside."

Once Cat's brothers went out to get her, Abel turned to Ben and asked, "Why did I hear my granddaughter telling her horse that Adam hates her? That causes me great concern."

"You need to discuss that with Adam. It is his story to tell."

"Why wasn't she supposed to have any chores for a month?"

"Because she's a better fisherman than the rest of us. The four of them went fishing on Saturday and Adam bet her a week's worth of chores that he could catch more fish than her. If he won, she would have to groom his horse for a week and if she won, he would have to do her chores for a week. Hoss and Joe bet two weeks worth of chores that they could catch more fish than Adam and Cat combined. When the five of us went fishing yesterday, I was foolish enough to make the same bet with her that Adam did. I don't approve of gambling but I don't consider betting for chores to be gambling because chores have no monetary value. I have also been foolish enough to bet a child who hardly weighs more than a feather, that I could beat her in a horse race. She got to eat cookies before supper. I told her that the next time we race she has to put fifty pounds of rocks in her pockets and ride facing backwards. Oh, I forgot to ask if you would prefer to have the downstairs bedroom or one upstairs. We have prepared both so the choice is yours."

"I will have to see what I can do about beating my granddaughter in a horse race. Thank you for being so considerate. I would like to have the upstairs bedroom. Although I'm not up to climbing a ship's rigging any more, I am still up to walking up and down stairs and my doctor said doing so was good for me. What else do I need to know about Cat and why did you need to give your sons permission to give her smacks?"

"She isn't afraid of anything and doesn't think she'll get hurt if she does something dangerous. My father's cook caught her trying to climb up the china cabinet when she was just over a year old. When she was six, she and two of her friends climbed the water tank in Dodge. If she doesn't think anybody is watching, she will jump her horse over fences, fallen trees, and anything else that suits her. Catherine also will not stop running in the house. She ran into me one day and I spilled hot coffee all over myself.

Right now, because I'm trying to give her time to become adjusted to being part of a family, I do not want her brothers to spank her. That will be changing in January. She will have been here five months by then and they will need to have the authority to deal with any misbehavior if I am gone and they are left in charge or even if they come across her jumping her horse over fences or other high objects.

You don't need to worry about Cat skipping school. Her uncles have told her that if she skips school, she won't be allowed to spend the summer with them and that would break her heart. I would have a very unhappy little girl on my hands because she would not be allowed to spend her summer fishing, hunting, and playing with friends. Oh yes. One very important thing. Catherine will not lie. The last time she told a lie was when she was five. She and the boys she climbed the water tank with were bored with school and decided to go fishing instead. They did that three times and lied about it all three times. Matt didn't tell me what he did to her and I didn't ask. President Grant is her Godfather and she thinks that she's going to take his job when she turns ten next year. None of the family has had the heart to tell her that a person has to be thirty five to become president. So don't be surprised if you hear her say that there are too many grownups in the world and she can't wait until she turns ten and takes her uncle's job."

Cat walked into the house and stormed up to her father's desk. "You let them spank me and yell at me all the way back to the house! Why?! I wasn't doing nothing wrong! It's not fair doing that to me just because I'm the littlest!"

"Young lady, you had better watch that attitude of yours and your tone of voice because right now, you are dangerously close to having a necessary discussion with me in the barn. I gave them permission to do those things because you were out in the pasture without a jacket on. I told you several times that it's getting colder and you need to wear a jacket whenever you are outside. In fact, I told you yesterday that we would have snow before Thanksgiving and you need to wear your jacket."

"It's not that cold outside and I don't need no dumb jacket!" Before Cat could continue arguing with Ben, she found herself being carried outside over one of Hoss' shoulders with Adam and Joe following right behind. He carried her out to the barn so nobody could hear him and his brothers yelling at her.

Hoss and his brothers sat down on hay bales. Hoss put Cat across his knees, gave her one smack and handed her to Joe. Joe repeated Hoss' actions before handing her to Adam who did the same thing. "What is it going to take to get you to stop arguing with Pa?" demanded Joe. "How many times do the three of us need to bring you outside and scold you? Pa warned you that he was getting ready to bring you out here and I guarantee that the spanking you would have received would have been a lot worse than the last one you got for arguing and talking back. Why did you keep arguing with him? Do you want him to give you another spanking?"

"No. His spankings hurt worse than Uncle Matt's. I don't know. I guess I'm just tired of everyone telling me what to do and acting like I'm a baby. And I'm tired of grownups picking on me and telling me how bad I am. I can fight Anabel, Tommy, and Billy but I can't fight grownups. I guess I should just go back to Dodge."

"That's another thing," said Hoss. "This is yore home now Punkin. Ya gotta stop talking about goin' back to Dodge when things go wrong."

"Why? Nobody here really wants me anyway. The kids at school were right. Grownups only adopt kids 'cause they feel sorry for them. I'm only nine and I had to take care of the team when we got home from town because nobody else wanted to do it and I never did that before. You were all busy talking to Adam's grandpa that you didn't even notice I wasn't in the house. Even though I'm not supposed to have any chores for a month, I still had to do part of them and would have had to do all of them if Hop Sing hadn't yelled at you. Mark said that having a family would be good. He was wrong. I was better off living in Uncle Matt's office. At least he loves and wants me." She ran out of the barn, into the house and up to her room where she slammed the door, found her carpet bag and started packing.

While Adam, Hoss, and Joe were in the barn with Cat, Abel asked, "Benjamin, what is wrong with that child? Why didn't she stop arguing when you told her to?"

"I suspect it is several things, some of which were caused by my actions. I'll tell you about that in a minute. She's not used to having five people telling her what to do. Before moving here, her uncle was the only one who told her what to do. Now she has me, the boys and Hop Sing all telling her what to do and sometimes the boys take advantage of the fact that she's a lot younger than they are. For a while, they had her feeding and grooming three horses, including her colt and mucking out two stalls in addition to her regular chores before breakfast and after school. Because she is so much like Joe, I have been guilty of assuming she's doing or going to do the same things he did when he was nine. I start trying to enforce rules I never told her about and of course, she gets upset over that. We are coming up on the six month anniversary of her mother's death and although she won't say so, I know that is bothering her. Despite attempts by the whole family, including her uncles to persuade her otherwise, she is still blaming herself for Kate's death."

"Let me give it a try. Maybe I will succeed where everyone else has failed. I will talk with my grandson later but what have you done to make her think you don't want her here?"

"It all started on November second. I caught Catherine running in the house. Since everything else had failed, we had decided that her punishment would be to stand in the corner for an hour and to ride double with someone. The next day was Monday and even though the boys and Hop Sing tried to get me to change my mind, I made her ride double to school with me. I should have listened to my sons and Hop Sing." He went on to tell the captain about the fight at school and the boys' threats, causing Cat to ride to town in the middle of the night. Ben also told him about the lies the boys had said to her while they were on the Ponderosa and how they got some friends to spread the same lies to the town gossips and what the women had done to her at church.

"I see. And what was Adam's role in all of that?"

"He needs to be the one to tell you."

Just then Cat ran in and up the stairs to her room. Ben started to go upstairs but Abel said, "Let me go, talk to my new granddaughter while you talk to your sons and find out why she is so upset. Once she goes to sleep tonight, the five of us need to sit and talk."

Ben walked outside to talk to his sons while Abel went upstairs to talk with Cat. He knocked on her door and received a reply he wasn't expecting. "Go away and leave me alone. I'm mad at all of you and don't want to talk to you right now."

"Cat, it's Grandpa. May I please come in?"

"Sure Grandpa. I'm not mad at you."

He walked into her room, hugged her and said, "I'm glad you're not angry at me since we just met today. Will you please tell me why you're so upset and why you are going to abandon ship?"

"I'm going back to Dodge. I don't belong here. Adam hates me and Pa doesn't really want me here. He only adopted me because he felt sorry for me and everyone, especially Adam, treats me like I'm a baby except when they don't want to do something. Then I have to do it. I had to unhitch the team from the surrey and take the harness off them and I didn't even know how. Then I had to groom and feed them and make sure they had fresh bedding. I had to stand on top of two crates to groom them and the top crate kept wobbling. Nobody even cared that I was doing all that and my chores until Hop Sing yelled at everybody. There are too many grownups telling me what to do and being mean to me. I can fight the kids who are mean to me at school but I can't fight grownups."

"Please tell me why you think that Adam hates you and why you think that Benjamin only adopted you because he felt sorry for you."

"He always calls me a pest and a nuisance and he's always trying to get me in trouble. I was about fifteen minutes late getting home from school one day because Mike and I raced to his house and his ma gave us lemonade and cookies. Adam was glad I was late because he thought I got in trouble in school. A couple weeks ago, Pa said I could go fishing with all the kids after school on Friday. When Mike and I stopped to leave our fishing poles where everyone fishes, Adam was hiding in the bushes with his belt off. He was hoping that I was going to skip school so he could give me a whipping. I hate going to school but I'm not going to skip. If I do, my uncles won't let me spend the summer with them. He was really mean to me on Friday. Ask Joe what Adam did to me."

"I will be speaking to Adam later. Now why do you think that Benjamin only adopted you because he feels sorry for you?"

"'Cause my mama was his sister and it's my fault she was killed."

"I see. And just why is it your fault?"

"'Cause I didn't want to go to Australia with her. She stayed in Dodge to try and get me to go. Ifn I woulda gone with her, she would still be alive."

"Well now. I heard that she stayed in Dodge so she could divorce her husband because he was not treating her the way a lady should be treated. However, even if you had gone back to Australia with her, there is a very good possibility that neither of you would be alive right now. I'll talk to you about what I said after supper but right now we need to talk about your homework. How much do you have left?"

"Four arithmetic problems."

"Get your book and tablet and sit here on your bed with me. I'll help you with them. Then we'll talk a little more." With her new grandfather helping, it hardly took any time at all for Cat to finish her homework. "You did a good job on those problems. The trick to arithmetic besides knowing your facts is to take your time and figure out the best way to solve the problem before starting to work on it. Now let's talk about your plans to abandon ship. You're being a bit hasty with your plans. The ship may be listing some but she is in no danger of floundering."

"I don't understand what you're saying."

He laughed and said, "I guess you don't, but you will after a while. Go and ask Adam if we can borrow that ship's model he has in his room. Be sure and ask politely."

Cat went downstairs, walked up to Adam and asked, "Can Grandpa and me please borrow the ship's model you have in your room?"

Adam looked up from his book, smiled at Cat and said, "It's 'May Grandpa and I' and yes you may. Just please be careful with it."

"Thank you. I will." She got the model, carried it into her bedroom and handed it to the captain.

"Thank you child." He held the model upright and said, "Now when a ship is sailing it looks like this. I said that the ship that is this family is listing and this is what that looks like." He tilted the model to one side. "As you can see, it's leaning to one side but it's not about to sink."

"Can it be fixed?"

"Yes it can. All that is usually required is adjusting the sails and a slight course change."

"What's that?"

"A course change is simply changing directions."

"What causes it?"

"Usually some rough weather like a squall or a storm. That's what has happened here. The family has hit some rough weather and the ship is listing. All that's needed to fix it is a slight course change and adjusting the sails. Part of the problem is that you are so much younger than your brothers and they are not used to dealing with a much younger sibling. Nothing can be done about the age difference, but with time they will become used to dealing with you. You are not used to having so many people telling you what to do and they need to remember it. On the other hand, you need to learn to listen, do what you are told, especially when it's for your own good, and speak respectfully to Benjamin and your brothers. Arguing and talking back to them will result in unpleasant consequences. It may not have seemed cold to you, however, at this time of year, the weather here can change in an instant and you could have become very cold in just a few minutes. From now on, until the spring, even if it seems too warm, I want you to have your jacket with you so if the weather changes, you will be prepared. I want you to promise me, no more talking back to Benjamin or your brothers."

"I'll try but they make me so mad sometimes, especially when they don't listen to me or treat me like I'm a baby. They all think that 'cause I'm only nine, I don't know anything. I know me better than they do. Besides that, I don't need anybody to tell me what to do or take care of me. I can take care of myself. I had to do it a lot 'cause Uncle Matt was sometimes too busy to take care of me."

"I understand that you are nine years old and don't like being treated like a baby. We're going to work on that and other things while I'm here. You have a family and don't need to take care of yourself any more. You have a father and brothers now. It is their job to take care of you so all you have to worry about is getting good grades in school, winning horse races against and catching more fish than the rest of the family. Benjamin did not adopt you because he felt sorry for you. He adopted you because he loves you and wants you to be a part of his family. He loves you and so do your brothers. However, being angry at someone is no excuse for being rude and talking back."

"It's their fault. I had a really good day until we got home. I got to drive the buckboard into town without a grownup and all the big kids were jealous. Then I got to drive the surrey home but everybody ruined it because they didn't want to take care of the team & do my chores like they were supposed to, so I had to do everything by myself. Then Pa let Adam, Hoss, and Joe spank and yell at me just 'cause I wasn't wearing my jacket and then they spanked me again 'cause I was arguin' with Pa. It just ain't fair. They all say they love me but they sure don't act like it."

"No child, life is not fair and families don't always act as though they love each other even though they do love each other very much. People argue and make mistakes. That's all a part of being human. Your family didn't mean for you to have to take care of the team and do your chores. They were just happy to see me again and forgot about everything else because they wanted to spend time talking with me."

"Uncle Matt never forgot about me, even when he was real busy when the cattle drives came to town. He said that cowboys who have been on a long cattle drive forget their manners lots of time and sometimes cause trouble so he took me out to the Tanner's when they were in town, but he rode out to see me every day."

"As I said, they made a mistake and you need to forgive them for it."

"No. I'm tired of always being hurt, especially by Adam and having to forgive them just 'cause they say they're sorry. I ain't forgiving them this time. They have to show me that they're sorry 'cause it's easy to say but not easy to show."

Ben went upstairs to tell Cat and Abel it was time to wash up for supper. He stood outside Cat's door and listened to what she was saying. He was deeply hurt when he heard her say that Matt never forgot about her and she no longer believed him and Adam when they apologized to her. He knocked on the door and said, "Supper's almost ready. You two need to get washed up and Cat you need to set the table."

Cat sighed. She was tired of having to set the table just because she was a girl. Abel spoke up. "Catherine, why do you have to set the table?"

"'Cause I'm a girl and Pa says settin' the table is stuff girls are supposed to do."

"I see. Who set the table before you came to live here?"

"I don't know. Probably Hop Sing."

"Benjamin, you, your sons and I are going to have a long talk later. Right now, Catherine is not going to set the table. She is not supposed to have any chores until after the holidays so somebody else will have to set the table."

During supper, Abel asked, "Cat, why did you unhitch the team and get them bedded down for the night?"

"'Cause I didn't want to get yelled at and punished for not doing it."

"Who would have done that and why didn't you come in the house and ask someone to do it?"

"Adam. He's always hoping to catch me doing something I'm not supposed to. I didn't ask for help because he woulda said since I drove the surrey, it was my job to take care of the team. I'm surprised he didn't yell at me 'cause I couldn't hang the harness up."

"I would never do that to you Cat and I am very sorry that you think I would. That team was not your responsibility and you should have come in here and asked someone to take care of them for you. Those horses are bigger than Sport and Chub. How were you able to groom them?"

"I stood on top of two crates and the top one kept wiggling."

"That was a very dangerous thing to do little sister. If you had fallen, you could have spooked whichever horse you were grooming and he could have hurt you badly. Please don't ever do that again. All of us would be devastated if you got hurt or worse doing something dangerous because you thought you would get in trouble for not doing it."

After supper, Abel asked, "Joe, would you please go up to my bedroom and bring down the chart lying on my bed? Benjamin, may I please trouble you for a ruler, piece of paper and a pencil?" Abel spread the chart out on the table and called Cat over to him. "When we were talking upstairs, I said I would tell you why you and your mother might not be alive if you had agreed to go back to Australia with her and her husband. I'll tell you about this chart in a minute. Before I do, I want you to think about some things. Since you would be gone for several years, your mother would have insisted that you be allowed to spend some time with your father's brother in Arizona and with your uncle and cousins here on the Ponderosa. You probably would have gone from Dodge to Arizona and then to here and taken trains and stage coaches. Both trains and stage coaches have accidents and people are hurt or killed. They also get held up. Usually with a train robbery, as long as the passengers do what the robbers want, nobody gets hurt. The same is not always true with stage coach robberies. As I'm sure that your father, brothers, and uncles can tell you, just like with bank robberies, sometimes people who hold up stage coaches kill all of the passengers and the driver just because they want to."

The rest of the family gathered around the table to see what the captain was going to teach Cat. "Now I want you to take a look at this paper. It's called a chart. A chart is a map only it's for the ocean, not land. The lines going from top to bottom are called lines of longitude and the lines going from side to side are called lines of latitude. The line going from side to side in the middle is called the Equator. They help tell you where you are at on the Earth. Those numbers at the bottom are called the scale. On this scale, one inch is the same as two hundred nautical miles."

"What's a nautical mile?"

"A nautical mile is based on the circumference of the planet Earth. If you were to cut the Earth in half at the equator, you could pick up one of the halves and look at the equator as a circle. You could divide that circle into three hundred sixty degrees. You could then divide a degree into sixty minutes. A minute of arc on the planet Earth is one nautical mile. This unit of measurement is used by all countries for sea travel. A knot is how sailors measure speed. If you are traveling at a speed of one nautical mile per hour, you are traveling at a speed of one knot. A nautical mile is one and one thousand, five hundred eight ten-thousandths miles, or six thousand seventy six feet. One knot is one and fifteen hundredths miles per hour. The fastest most ships can travel is five or six knots. Clipper ships can travel as fast as twenty knots. The wind and the sea determine how fast a ship can travel. If the seas are rough and you are sailing against the wind, you will not travel very fast. However, if the seas are calm and you are sailing with the wind, you will travel much faster. If the wind is light or not blowing at all, you will not travel fast."

"What do circumference and against the wind mean?"

"Circumference is the outer boundary of a circle and against the wind means that you're sailing into the wind. With the wind means that the wind is blowing from behind you."

"How can the wind slow a ship down?"

"The ship has to work harder to sail into the wind. Have you ever had trouble walking into the wind?"

"Sometimes."

"Ships have trouble sailing into the wind because it's pushing the sails backwards. Try this. Go and try to walk while pushing Hoss."

Cat did as she was told and said, "It's hard. Hoss is lots bigger than me."

"That's right. Now think of the ship as being you and the wind as being Hoss. Do you see why it is hard to sail into the wind?"

"Yes."

"Good. Now try and walk with Hoss pushing you."

"That's lots easier. I can go really fast with Hoss pushing me."

"That's right. Now do you understand how the wind affects how fast a ship can go?"

"Yes I do."

"Let's look at the chart. Here is San Francisco. That's where you would have sailed from. That big island is Australia. The big dot is the city of Sydney. That is where you would have sailed into. Now, let's measure how far it is from San Francisco to Sydney."

"The ruler is too short."

"That's alright. Use the pencil and make a mark at the end of the ruler. Then move it so the end closest to you is at the line."

"It's a little more than three ruler lengths."

"How much farther?"

"An inch and a little bit."

"Excellent. That little bit is actually one twelfth of an inch. So, on this chart, how many inches is it between San Francisco and Sydney?"

Cat counted on her fingers. "Twelve, twenty four, thirty six. Thirty seven and one twelfth."

"Very good. Now if you remember, I said that on this chart, one inch equals two hundred nautical miles, so how far is thirty seven and one twelfth inches in nautical miles?"

Cat said, "I don't know what to do with the decimal point. I only know how to add and subtract with them. Miss Winter said we're going to start multiplying decimals next week."

"Just write the number with the decimal point and multiply the two numbers as though it isn't even there."

Cat did the multiplication and said, "It comes out to six thousand four hundred fifty one."

"That's correct. In this case, you don't need to do anything with the decimal point. Now let's see how long you would have been at sea. We'll start with the fastest speed a ship can go. How fast did I say a clipper ship could go?"

"Twenty knots."

"Do you know what an equation is?"

"No. I never heard of it."

"An equation tells you how to solve a problem when the numbers can change. The things they represent stay the same but the numbers can change. In this case, you would divide the distance by the speed. So divide six thousand four hundred fifty one by twenty."

"It's three hundred twenty two and fifty five hundredths."

"That's correct. Now, that is the number of hours you would be at sea. How many hours are in a day?"

"Twenty four."

"Ok so divide the number of hours by twenty four."

"Thirteen and forty four hundredths."

"That means the minimum amount of time you would be at sea would be a little more than thirteen days if you were on a clipper ship. Now divide six thousand four hundred fifty one by six and then change that answer into days."

"That's forty four and eighty one hundredths."

"Very good. So at six knots, you would be at sea for almost forty five days. Remember, a ship cannot always sail at full speed so how many days would you be at sea if the ship could only sail as fast as two knots?"

"WOW! That would be one hundred thirty four and forty one hundredths days. That's more than four months!"

"Excellent. Now in those four months, a lot of things can happen. During the summer, there are very bad storms called typhoons. The winds in the worst of those storms can reach more than one hundred fifty miles an hour. If a storm with winds that strong were to hit the Ponderosa, it would destroy the ranch, including the house, barn, and most of the trees. A ship at sea wouldn't stand a chance of surviving. If a ship's captain sees a storm, he's going to change course and try to avoid it, but that isn't always possible. Having to change course will make the trip longer. Another thing that could happen while you're sailing to Australia is you could get sick. Ship's doctors don't have room to store all of the medicines that doctors on land do. If you got sick and the doctor didn't have the medicine you needed, you could die. Now do you understand why I said that even if you had decided to go to Australia, you might not be alive today? It is NOT your fault that your mother is dead. I don't know why she was killed but you did not cause her death. I never met her but I am positive that she would not want you to go through life blaming yourself because she was killed. Your mother was Benjamin's sister and he isn't blaming you for her death so why are you blaming yourself?"

"'Cause she woulda left Dodge sooner if I hadn't said I wouldn't go to Australia."

"I've been told that everyone in the family, including your uncle in Dodge, has told you that your mother was only pretending to try and get you to go to Australia so she would be able to see a lawyer and divorce her husband because he was mean to her and did not treat her like a lady should be treated. Do you think that everyone is lying to you?"

"No. I thought they were just saying that so I would stop saying it was my fault Mama was killed."

Abel rolled his eyes and shook his head. Then he picked Cat up and sat her on the table. "Saying something that isn't true is lying no matter what the reason is. You just said that you didn't think everyone was lying to you but then you said that they were lying. You can't have it both ways child. Either the family lied to you or they didn't. Which is it? Did they lie or didn't they?"

"They didn't."

"That's true. Your family did not lie to you. Now you just have to start believing it is NOT your fault that your mother was killed. When you say your prayers before going to sleep tonight, ask God to help you believe it was not your fault and He will help you."

Hoss picked Cat up and said, "It's getting' late but you have time for one game of checkers. Who are you going to play with, me or Little Joe?"

"I don't know. I want to play with both of you."

"You don't have time for two games Kitten," said Ben. "If you didn't have school in the morning, I would let you stay up and play two games but I do not want you falling asleep in school. So, which one of your brothers are you going to play with?"

"I don't know."

Adam said, "You and I haven't played checkers in a while. Why don't the two of us play tonight and you can play with Hoss and Joe tomorrow night?"

"Ok, but I'm going to win. Just you wait and see."

"And just how do you propose to do that? I am a much better checker player than you or our brothers are."

"Easy. When you're not looking, I'm going to hide some of your checkers and put them back just before I win."

"You've been spending too much time with Joe. Let's get this game going or we're not going to have time to read before you have to go to sleep."