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    â€œCentreville is like the twins,” I said to Tammy.
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œWell, we know there’s something great inside those boarded-up places, but we just don’t know how to get to it.”
    Tammy put a hand on my head to show she liked what I said. “Your ears are cold. I should have made you wear a hat.” She pulled the boys’ hats down lower over their ears. “We should head back soon.”
    â€œWhat about the picnic?”
    We sat on a bench outside the Haunted Barrel Factory, had our sandwiches and made up names for other scary rides.
    â€œHow about the Haunted Beauty Parlor,” Tammy suggested. “When you come out of it you’ve got a bad perm.”
    â€œOr the Haunted Subway Tunnel. That would be a good one. You’d get on this subway car and go through a tunnel full of ghosts and body parts.”
    â€œHow about a Haunted Welfare Office?”
    â€œWith social workers all over the place! No, that would be too scary. How about a Haunted Eighth Grade Homeroom? Miss Melon could be there, as herself!”
    â€œYou’ve got Miss Melon on the brain.”
    â€œMelon brain — ha-ha!”
    We arrived at the Centre Island ferry docks just as the ferry was pulling away.
    â€œLet’s walk back to Ward’s and catch the ferry there,” Mom said. “The walk will keep us warm.”
    We trudged back toward Ward’s Island. “The boys will sleep tonight with all this exercise andfresh air,” I said. “Sometimes it seems like everything we do with the twins during the day is to help them sleep at night.”
    We walked through Far Enough Farm again. “We’d better not stop this time,” Mom said. “I don’t like the look of that sky.” We had to stop a little bit, though. We were the only people at the farm. The animals were probably lonely.
    â€œKhyber,” Mom began, “there’s something important I have to talk to you about.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œIt’s about the boys. They are beginning to need more care than we can give them. They need to go to school. They need to go to a special school.”
    This was important, all right, but I didn’t understand what the big deal was, unless she wanted me to take them there every morning and pick them up every afternoon. “Is the school near our place? Can they walk there?”
    â€œNo, the school is not near our place. There are no schools for autistic children near our place.”
    â€œThey’ll have to take a streetcar, then. They won’t like that during rush hour, but maybe the school will teach them not to mind it.”
    â€œIt’s not just the school, it’s...I don’t know how to say this to you. The boys need to be someplace where there are trained people to look after them.”
    â€œLook after them?”
    â€œI just can’t do it anymore. Maybe if I were not on my own...”
    â€œYou’re not on your own. You have me.”
    â€œBut you’re not an adult, and even if you were, I wouldn’t expect you to spend your life caring for your brothers. I wouldn’t let you.”
    â€œI don’t understand what you’re saying.”
    â€œWhat I’m saying is this.” Mom took a deep breath. “I’ve found a group home that will take Daniel and David. It’s out in the country. They have a school on the grounds, and some animals, and they’ll take both boys. I won’t have to split them up.”
    â€œA group home? You mean they’re not going to live with us anymore?”
    â€œThink of it as a boarding school, darling.”
    I clutched Daniel’s hand more tightly. “No. I don’t want them to go.”
    â€œNeither do I, but we’ve got to think about what’s best for them. They need people taking care of them who have energy, who have skills. I have neither of those things.”
    â€œSo