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morning there would be several more inches on the ground. I hoped Grace would be warm enough. At least the clubhouse was better than a Dumpster. As I walked back I couldn’t believe a girl was living in my clubhouse. I wondered how long she’d stay.

CHAPTER Six
    Last night I slept in a clubhouse in a boy’s backyard.
I don’t know how long I’ll be here, but it’s better than any
of my current alternatives. And it has a transistor radio.
    GRACE’S DIARY
    SATURDAY, OCT. 13
    The house was already in motion when I woke the next morning. I could smell bacon frying and I could hear my mother in the kitchen talking. I suddenly remembered Grace and felt a strange excitement.
    During the summer Joel and I trapped animals in the spring box traps we found in the garage. The traps didn’t hurt the animals but we quickly learned that setting them free could pose a problem, as the animals were usually in a pretty foul mood by the time we got to them. Mostly we caught rats and raccoons. One Sunday we went out to find we’d trapped a skunk. Even though it was my turn to release, I talked Joel into letting it out. As he opened the cage door, he got the full spray of the polecat’s wrath. My mother made Joel bathe in tomato juice and vinegar, then she burned his clothes in the fireplace. He didn’t talk to me the rest of the day, which I didn’t mind since he still smelled like the skunk.
    This morning I felt like I had trapped something really big in the clubhouse.
    Â 
    I pulled on a T-shirt and Levi’s and went out to the kitchen. My mom was at the stove wearing her pink flannel robe. Joel sat at the table eating.
    â€œGood morning,” my mom said cheerfully. “I didn’t hear you come in last night.”
    â€œYou were already asleep.”
    â€œHow do you want your egg?”
    â€œScrambled. And may I have three eggs this morning?”
    â€œThree?” She turned to look at me, her eyebrows raised.
    â€œI’m just really hungry. Must be a growth spurt or something.”
    She began cracking eggs into a bowl. “It snowed a lot last night.”
    I looked out the window. The storm had dropped more than a foot of snow on the ground. I thought of the clubhouse and hoped the roof had held.
    â€œI’m driving Dad to Uncle Norm’s this morning. You boys want to go?”
    â€œYeah, Daddy-o,” Joel said.
    â€œDon’t say that,” my mom said. “It’s not respectful.”
    â€œSorry.”
    I didn’t think he sounded very sorry.
    Uncle Norm had a two-story home with a color television on each floor. Dad and Norm would sit in the two La-Z-Boy chairs and watch football while Aunt Geniel fed us. There was always lots of food: hot dogs, potato salad, and the best baked beans in the world, the kind with brown sugar and strips of bacon laid across the top. While the adults watched football, Joel and I would start up a game of Risk or Monopoly. Aunt Geniel usually baked chocolate chip or sugar cookies. As far as I was concerned, Uncle Norm’s was the only good thing about moving to Utah so I surprised even myself when I said, “I’m not sure.”
    Joel looked at me stunned.
    â€œI’ve just got some things I need to do.”
    â€œLike what?” Joel asked.
    â€œI’ve got a school project, sort of.”
    My mother dished the eggs onto a plate. “Well, make up your mind. We’re leaving in fifteen minutes.”
    Joel stared at me incredulously.
    â€œI’ve got to tell you something,” I mouthed.
    â€œWhat?” he said out loud.
    â€œShut up,” I mouthed back. I stood up and walked to our bedroom, gesturing for Joel to follow me.
    â€œWhat’s going on?”
    I glanced back to be sure our mother wasn’t within ear-shot. “There’s someone in our clubhouse,” I whispered.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œThere’s a girl in the clubhouse.”
    He shook his