the snack bar.
âDid Daddy tell you Iâm going to Fionaâs after school?â she said.
Mamaâs hand tightened on the knife she was using to spread peanut butter. âYes, he did. I wish you had talked to me first. I have an appointment with Dr. Peter today and I was counting on you watching Zeke for me in the waiting room.â
The Cream of Wheat turned into a lump in Sophieâs throat. âYou mean I canât go to Fionaâs?â
Mama put a top on the sandwich like she was slamming a door. âMaybe I can get Boppa to watch Zeke over there. I just donât like to take advantage of him.â
âHe wonât mind!â Sophie said.
Mama dropped the sandwich into Sophieâs lunch box and snapped it just a little too hard. âI said Iâll ask him. Zeke, PLEASE get up in your chair. I donât have time for this today.â
It seemed to Sophie that Mama had as much time as she always did in the morning. She told herself Mama must have gotten home late and she was cranky because she didnât get enough sleep. Now Sophie was a little cranky herself. If she didnât get to go to Fionaâs, their group was going to start off their project already behind.
âBoppa will watch Zeke â you know he will,â Fiona said when Sophie told her the news later on the playground.
The Corn Flakes were all gathered at the end of the slide. Even though somebody had fixed the swing, they werenât taking any chances.
âHeâs better behaved than our two brats,â Fiona said.
Sophie had to nod. Fionaâs four-year-old sister, Isabella, and her six-year-old brother, Rory, went through a new nanny about every three months. The last one, Marissa, had left after Rory snuck miniature LEGOs into her quesadilla and she broke a tooth.
âIf you canât come,â Maggie said to Sophie, âweâll just have to start without you.â
âWe will NOT start without our captain.â Fiona saluted Sophie.
âHow come sheâs the captain?â Maggie said.
âI like it when Sophieâs captain,â Kitty said. âSheâs nice.â
âAnd she has the camera and the resources,â Fiona said.
âItâs most advantageous for us to make her captain.â
âWhatâs âadvantageousâ?â all three of them said.
Fiona looked straight at Maggie. âIt means it doesnât make sense for us to do it any other way. Besides, Boppa will take care of Z-Boy and Sophie will be there and weâll go on like we planned.â
âIâm bringing Tang for us to drink,â Kitty said. âMy father told me they drink that in outer space.â
Sophie was impressed.
Mama did pick Sophie up that afternoon with Zeke in the car and dropped them both off at Fionaâs.
âDonât worry, Lynda,â Boppa said to Sophieâs mom as Zeke bolted across Fionaâs yard toward Isabella and Rory. âI wonât let them hurt him.â
He smiled at Mama, but his dark caterpillar eyebrows drooped, and his forehead wrinkled halfway up his shiny head. It didnât make Sophie feel any better that Boppa seemed worried about Mama too.
By the time Fiona came out to meet Sophie, flanked by Kitty and Maggie, Rory and Isabella were already screaming and chasing Zeke in and out of the line of cedar trees that bordered Fionaâs huge lawn, which actually had water splashing deliciously over a stone wall and a little bridge that crossed the pond the waterfall made. So many filming possibilities â
But today Sophie was much more interested in the tree house.
It was built off three big pine trees so that it was a triangle, and the only way to get to it was on a ladder that went absolutely straight up through a narrow opening in the tree house floor. Even tiny Sophie had to scrunch her shoulders together to slide through.
As the Corn Flakes climbed, a lady stood at the bottom, tucking
Jason Padgett, Maureen Ann Seaberg