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took one last look at the weirdest little house and yard I’d ever seen in my life, and hoped Mr. Bell would be O.K. And not too lonely.

 
    Chapter 6
     
    Such a jerk!
    “Was that guy nutso, or what?” Jason said enthusiastically as Wesley put the bug in gear and slowly turned around, being extra careful not to touch any of Mr. Bell’s “satellite dishes.”
    “And that outfit!” Jennifer said in her snotty, superior, “actress” voice, the one she usually only used around other people. “Couldn’t you just die? I’ve never seen anything so tacky, have you?”
    “The aluminum foil is the real tip-off,” Alan said seriously, adjusting his glasses. “Lots of crazy people have an unnatural attachment to aluminum foil. Scientists aren’t sure why, but it’s a well-documented fact.”
    “I never want to go back there again,” Wesley said quietly and simply. “That guy’s scary. I’ve never been anywhere so weird in my whole life. I’ve never even imagined anything that weird!”
    “Well, I think he’s kinda sweet,” I said. “And sad.”
    “Sweet!” Jason said, taking his arm from around my shoulders and looking me in the face as if I was completely nuts, too. “Are you serious? That guy’s a psycho. He should be locked in a nut house and they should throw away the key!”
    “Why?” I asked. “He’s not hurting anyone. I think he’s just lonely.”
    “What do you expect, living alone in the woods and dressing in aluminum foil?” Jennifer answered matter-of-factly. She suddenly cocked her head slightly to one side as if a new thought had just entered her brain. “I wonder if he sleeps in aluminum-foil pajamas?” Suddenly she straightened her head and got a very definite look on her face, but her eyes were not focused on any of us; I think they were focused on an imaginary audience that she sees in her head sometimes, an audience that’s there just for her. Want to know something really scary? Sometimes I think I can hear them clapping inside her head . . . . “When I have my own line of clothing I’m definitely not doing anything with aluminum!” She said that last part with definite finality, as if we had all been waiting breathlessly for her decision.
    You know, in some ways I envied Jennifer. Not for her good looks. I thought my looks were O.K. Not fashion-model looks like Jennifer, but I seemed to do O.K. with the boys; none of them made fun of the way I look, so I guess I’m O.K. What I sometimes envied about Jennifer was just her whole outlook on life. She floated back and forth between wanting to be a world-famous high-fashion model when she grew up, or a world-famous mega movie star, or a world-famous fashion designer or marrying world-famous European Royalty and living in a world-famous castle somewhere.
    Me? I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do. That’s not something I like admitting to people, not even myself. Especially myself, come to think of it. I know some people think Jennifer is shallow and stupid (which she’s not!), but even so, at least she has ideas and plans and dreams for her future. My future’s just a big, gray, featureless blob.
    Suddenly I realized Jason had said something to me and was waiting for my response. I focused my eyes on his face. “Do you really mean to tell me that you don’t think it’s a little bit crazy to live in the woods all by yourself in a house covered in aluminum foil with fifty million aluminum foil satellite dishes all over the place, and every square inch of your house filled with TV’s? You don’t think that’s weird?”
    I frowned. Of course I thought all that was a little strange, but so what? As long as Mr. Bell wasn’t hurting anyone, what difference did it make? Why shouldn’t people have the right to be different if they want to? Don’t we encourage creativity in people? Maybe Mr. Bell was a bit more creative than most people, but so what? I thought he was sweet. “What about your collection of old TV Guides