Reynolds Naylor Quotes

You don't have to be part of a couple to be happy, you know.

When you’ve found the right one - when you see him, when you’re with him - you’ll feel like you’re coming home.

Why is life so complicated....?' I asked. 'To keep us from being bored,' he said.

Saying hello to something new means saying good-bye to something old and loved.

If you are embarrassed about your sex, it must mean that you feel there is something demeaning or disgusting about being female. You are all wondrously made, girls. Remember that: wondrously made, and you should carry your sex proudly, a badge of honor.

I used to think that when I grew up there wouldn't be so many rules. Back in elementary school there were rules about what entrance you used in the morning, what door you used going home, when you could talk in the library, how many paper towels you could use in the rest room, and how many drinks of water you could get during recess. And there was always somebody watching to make sure. What I'm finding out about growing older is that there are just as many rules about lots of things, but there's nobody watching.

If Jesus ever comes back to earth again, I’m thinking, he’ll come as a dog, because there isn’t anything as humble or patient or loving or loyal as the dog I have in my arms right now.

…and I’m thinking how nothing is as simple as you guess-not right or wrong, not Judd Travers, not even me or this dog I got here. But the good part is I saved Shiloh and opened my eyes some. Now that ain’t bad for eleven.

Well, the man who first translated the bible into English was burned at the stake, and they've been at it ever since. Must be all that adultery, murder and incest. But not to worry. It's back on the shelves.

Since no one really knows what or who God is, or whether God is at all, why can't God be hope?

There were so many of these moments that could never be captured accurately, even in the camcorder, only in the heart.

One way to tell if you're really comfortable with a person is if you can be quiet together sometimes and not feel awkward. If you don't feel obligated to say something brilliant or funny or surprising or cool. You can just be together. You can just be.

It's what they say to do when you're depressed, you know. Walk in someone else's shoes for a while, and your own won't feel so tight.

The Three Cs, I told myself. When you're not Comfortable with it, it's not a Compliment, it's Creepy.

how one lie leads to another and before you know it, your whole life can be a lie.

If it doesn't sweat, jiggle, or pant, it's not alive.

We all have our own battles to fight, and sometimes we have to go it alone. I'm stronger than you think, you'd be surprised.

The world is full of unrequited love,' I said finally. 'You and Patrick having problems?' Dad said, reaching around to get the butter out of the fridge. 'No, I was just wondering what you would say if I was a lesbian.' 'Come again?' said Lester. 'I'm having a hard time following this conversation.

Just that what happens today or next week or next year isn't necessarily the way things are always going to be. As soon as you settle into a routine, life throws you a curveball. Sometimes you hit it, sometimes you don't.

I hate that phrase: move on. Like no matter what happened or what you did, you just “move on,” and that’s supposed to make everything all right.

Everything can change in an instant. Everything. And then there is only before and after.

Sometimes the bad guys don't win.

His face looked almost as gray as his suit, and the pouches beneath his eyes looked like little bags for holding all the sadness that his head couldn't hold.

Funny how one lie leads to another and before you know it, your whole life can be a lie. I sit on the porch swing later, not even

I know, but if I feel this bad for Gramps, how am I going to feel when it’s Dad?” Tyler told me. “You’ll feel even worse, of course, but you’ll carry on, because happiness has a way of creeping in again. It really does,” I said.

Happiness is wanting what you have.

No one looks up. No one pauses. No one even questions. Easy as falling off a log. I

You get a dog on your mind, it seems to fill up the whole space. Everything you do reminds you of that dog. When

For your information, Lester, there are at least five wonderful parts of the female body that can be viewed by the owner only with a hand mirror.

But how did you know that it was Stacy?” “There wasn’t a green light flashing, that’s for sure,” he said. “Mostly, I felt I’d met a person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. That I didn’t need to look any further.”” “But how can you be sure?” I persisted. “You can’t. There’s not just one person in the world who’s your type. There’s a whole group with the same likes and dislikes. But you want to spend your whole life looking for all of them? You just feel that everything’s right. You’re at peace with yourself.

Do we have a hand mirror?' I asked from the kitchen doorway. 'Never use one,' said Lester, examining the date on a carton of sour cream. 'Naturally, you're a male. What you see is what you've got,' I said resentfully. 'Huh?' said Lester.

Patrick and I were about as different as two people could possibly be. Nothing embarrasses Patrick very much, and everything embarrasses me. Just being alive embarrasses me.

I wanted my children and grandchildren to know that no matter when you are born or where you live, happiness and disappointments have the same flavors the world over.

Between the 6th and 7th grade, something happens to your eyes. they water a lot. I think its so you can get all the watering out of the way before you begin wearing mascara.

by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor and The Giver by Lois Lowry. And

Sometimes I wish I could just press a button and be through school and starting my real life,' I told him. 'This is your real life, Al,' he said, 'Don't start living in the future. That's like gulping down a piece of fudge cake and then asking yourself, 'Where'd it go?' You're missing the moment.

Sexually active? Sexually active? Patrick and I hadn't even learned the fine points of kissing yet! I marched on down. 'For your information,' I said from the doorway, as both Dad and Lester jerked to attention, 'I am about as sexually active as a bag of spinach, and if you want to keep me on the porch and not out in the park somewhere behind the bushes, you'll keep the stupid porch light off when I come home with a boy.

All Summer in a Day” by Ray Bradbury Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo Big Nate series by Lincoln Peirce The Black Cauldron (The Chronicles of Prydain) by Lloyd Alexander The Book Thief  by Markus Zusak Brian’s Hunt by Gary Paulsen Brian’s Winter by Gary Paulsen Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis The Call of the Wild by Jack London The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White The Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury The Giver by Lois Lowry Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling Hatchet by Gary Paulsen The High King (The Chronicles of Prydain) by Lloyd Alexander The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien Holes by Louis Sachar The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins I Am LeBron James by Grace Norwich I Am Stephen Curry by Jon Fishman Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell Johnny Tremain by Esther Hoskins Forbes Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson LeBron’s Dream Team: How Five Friends Made History by LeBron James and Buzz Bissinger The Lightning Thief  (Percy Jackson and the Olympians) by Rick Riordan A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle Number the Stars by Lois Lowry The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton The River by Gary Paulsen The Sailor Dog by Margaret Wise Brown Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor “A Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury Star Wars Expanded Universe novels (written by many authors) Star Wars series (written by many authors) The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann D. Wyss Tales from a Not-So-Graceful Ice Princess (Dork Diaries) by Rachel Renée Russell Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt Under the Blood-Red Sun by Graham Salisbury The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

Last of all, I take the lard bread from my pocket and feed it to Shiloh in little pieces, letting him lick my fingers after every bite. I wrap my arms around him, pat him, run my hands over his ears, even kiss his nose. I tell him about a million times I love him as much as I love my ma. The

Good, because I don't understand anything at all.

That's the unforgivable sin, you know." "What is?" "Refusing to forgive someone." "Refusing to forgive someone is the unforgivable sin?" I asked incredulously.

The dogs were fighting now, and Judd throws his Pabst can at ’em. “You-all shut up!” he yells. “Hush up!” The can hits the biggest dog, and they all

Happiness is wanting what you have. Being happy with what you've got. Enjoying it, and making it all it could be.

Contents Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15

Sistersville, which is halfway between Wheeling and Parkersburg. Used to be, my

Don't expect trouble.

plus a porch that runs along three sides of the house. I told Ma once the Howards had a room just for company, a room just for books, and a room just for plants, and she said that was three rooms too many. First time I ever saw any envy in my ma. David

I’m sorry, Shiloh,” I whisper, over and over, both hands on him so’s he won’t try to get up. The blood’s just pouring from a rip in his ear. “I’m so sorry! Jesus help me, I didn’t know Bakers’ dog could leap that fence.” When we get to the bottom of the lane, instead of going up the road toward Judd’s place, Dad turns left toward Friendly, and halfway around the first curve, he pulls in Doc Murphy’s driveway. Light’s still on in a window, but I think old doc was in bed, ’cause he come to the door in his pajamas. “Ray Preston?” he says when he sees Dad. “I sure am sorry to bother you this hour of the night,” Dad says, “but I got a dog here hurt bad, and if you could take a look at him, see if he can be saved, I’d be much obliged. We’ll pay. . . .” “I’m no vet,” says Doc Murphy, but he’s already standing aside, holding the screen open with one hand so we can carry Shiloh in. The doc’s a short man, round belly, don’t seem to practice what he preaches about eating right, but he’s got a kind heart, and he lays out some newspapers on his kitchen table.

How many girls?” Mother asked. “Two, now,” Peter answered. “I mean three. Three girls!” He looked quickly at Jake. “Three girls, all right. I counted.” Mother studied him curiously.

They’re coming!” Josh yelled. Like a whirlwind the twins rushed downstairs, where Peter was waiting. With Wally bringing up the rear they all went outside. The two older Malloy sisters, wearing jeans and long shirts down to their knees, were walking arm in arm across the swinging bridge, leaning on each other, like two girls who had more sadness than they could possibly bear, Wally thought. As they came closer, the Hatford brothers pretended to be looking down the road, at the sky, anywhere, in fact, except at the Malloys. “Ask!” Jake whispered to Josh. “You ask!” said Josh. “You always try to make me do it.” “Wally, you do it,” said Jake. “Why me? What the heck am I supposed to say?” The girls had reached the middle of the narrow bridge now and, still walking side by side, held on to the cable handrails as the bridge bounced slightly beneath their weight. “If one of us doesn’t ask, Peter will,” Josh warned. “He’ll say something dumb, like ‘Have you buried anyone lately?’” “I will not!” snapped Peter.

Wally Hatford, huh?, Caroline said to herself. Well, the Hatfords would soon find out they were no match for the Malloys.

Beth took the binoculars. “Boys,” she answered. “Right.” “Spying on us!” she said, starting to smile. “Right again.” “What are we going to do?” Eddie laughed. “Give them something to look at.” “But what?” “We’ll see,” said Eddie. Caroline smiled to herself. Whatever did girls do without sisters? She took the binoculars again and watched as the four boys across the river slowly made their way back down the trapdoor in the roof. “Whatever we do, it’s got to be good,” said Eddie. “If they want a show, we’ll give them something to talk about.” “Like what?” Beth insisted. “Dance naked around the yard?” Eddie gave her a pained look and was quiet a moment, thinking. At last she said, “Somebody has to die, and Caroline’s it.” “Eddie!

Whatever did girls do without sisters?

Eddie, Beth, and Caroline, this is . . .” She paused, waiting for the boys to say their own names. “Josh,” said Jake. “Jake,” said Josh. “Peter,” said Wally. “Wally,” said Peter.

She says she’ll return my briefs if you return her paper, Wally. Do you know what she’s talking about?” Wally nodded and swallowed. “Tell her I’ll return the paper if she returns the flashlight.” Mr. Hatford spoke into the phone again. “He says he’ll return the paper if you return the flashlight. Don’t ask me what’s going on around here. I’m only their father . . . Okay, five minutes from now on the bridge . . . He’ll be there.” Wally’s father put down the telephone and looked at the boys. “That wouldn’t be my flashlight she’s talking about, would it?” Wally nodded still again. “Is this what goes on in the afternoons when I’m not here? People run off with my flashlight and shorts? I get home early for the first time in a couple of months, and what do I see? Some girl leaving our yard at sixty miles an hour waving my underwear in the wind!” “She’s the Crazie,” Peter said soberly. “Well, if you’ve got something of hers, Wally, you get on out to the bridge and give it back. I want my briefs and my flashlight back, and anything else that’s missing. What do they want next? Socks? Toothbrush? Keys? They holding a garage sale or something?

Three figures huddled on the widow’s walk on top of the Hatford’s house. Rain beat steadily down on their yellow slickers and the air was cold. “Even if we catch pneumonia and die, it’s worth it,” said Caroline, her teeth chattering. “Even if we fall off the roof and break both legs,” Eddie agreed. “One more time?” Beth asked. “No. Didn’t you hear them running? Let’s wait until we think they’ve forgotten about it, then sock it to them again,” said Eddie. They giggled.

She followed Wally up front where Miss Applebaum was placing two chairs, face to face, about three feet apart. “I want you to sit here,” she told them, “and I want you to talk to each other for ten minutes. Perhaps at the end of that time you will have said everything there is to say, and there will be no more disturbances in class.” No! Caroline thought. She would rather be paddled! One minute would be bad enough, five minutes would be cruel and unusual punishment, and ten was torture! She lowered herself sideways into one of the chairs. What was she supposed to say to a boy who, up until that morning, had thought she was dead? Miss Applebaum stood with arms folded. “Well? I’m waiting.” Caroline crossed her ankles. “You started it,” she said to Wally. “What did I do?” he mumbled, sitting sideways himself. “Dumping all that dead stuff on our side of the river.” “So you pretended to die.” “Is this a normal conversation?” asked Miss Applebaum as she picked up a box of supplies and headed for the closet at the back of the room. “No,” said Caroline, but she was talking to Wally, not her teacher. “This is not a normal conversation because you and your brothers aren’t normal human beings. Normal people don’t go dumping dead fish and birds around the neighborhood.” “It wasn’t my idea,” said Wally. “Well, actually it was my idea—dead fish, I mean—but it was Jake and Josh who—” “So none of you are normal.” “We’re not normal?” said Wally, his voice rising. “What do you call people who go burying each other in the river?” “It was a great performance, and you know it.” “It was dumb.” “You believed I was dead.” “I believe you’re crazy.” “We’ll see about that.” “Whatever you two are arguing about, you’d better get it out of your systems now, because when you come to school tomorrow, I expect you to pay attention,” Miss Applebaum called, sticking her head out of the supply closet. “You and your dumb brothers,” Caroline muttered because she couldn’t think of anything else to say. “You and your stupid sisters,” said Wally. “We’re smarter than the four of you put together,” Caroline told him. “We’ll see,” said Wally. “If you’d just left us alone instead of dumping that dead stuff, things would be okay,” said Caroline. “If you’d go back where you came from, there wouldn’t be any more trouble,” Wally replied. “Oh, yeah? If you went back to where you came from, you’d live in a cave!” “That does it,” said Wally hotly. “The war is on.” “Okay,” called Miss Applebaum, coming back to the front of the room for another box. “If you two have settled things, you may leave now.” She looked from Caroline to Wally. “Unless, of course, you are not agreed.” “We agree,” said Caroline emphatically. The war is definitely on. She could hardly wait to get home and tell her sisters. What she discovered when she got outside was that she wasn’t the only member of her family who had been kept after school. Eddie had stumbled over Jake’s foot in the cafeteria and, sure that he’d tripped her on purpose, brought her tray down on his head. Beth, of course, had waited for Eddie, so there they were again, the three of them coming home late on the very first day. Mother was dusting shelves in the hallway. “Whatever happened to your nose?” she asked, looking at Caroline. “She bumped into something that needs a little fixing,” said Beth. “Needs a lot of straightening out,” put in Eddie. “Well, how was school?” Mother asked. “Urk,” said Eddie. “Ugh,” said Beth. “It has possibilities,” said Caroline.

The boys want us to think the river’s polluted. I heard them talking!” “Those creepy jerks!” cried Caroline. “Those jerky creeps!” said Eddie. “This isn’t a joke anymore. This is war!

The first thing he usually did when he got home was shower, but today he could scarcely make it into the house because the boys were blocking the steps. “How y’doin’?” he said, maneuvering around them and going inside. The boys got up and followed him. “Anything exciting happen today?” Jake inquired. “I told Mrs. Blake I wouldn’t deliver her mail unless she kept her dog in the house,” Father said. “Almost got my pants torn off by that beast of hers. Other than that, no.” “Anybody die?” asked Peter. Wally reached over and pinched his arm, but it was too late. “Not that I know of. Why? Did I miss something?” “I guess we’re getting bored,” Jake said quickly. “Nothing exciting ever happens around here.” “Well, you could always go check out that new family,” Father suggested. “Mr. Malloy is the new football coach at the college, I hear, and they’ve got three daughters about your ages.” “Did you meet them?” asked Josh. “No, but I will before too long. Want me to say something for you?” “No!” cried the four boys together. Father smiled a little as he took off his shirt. “Okay, then. We’ll just let things develop and see what happens.” What happens, Wally thought, is that someone’s going to find the body, and someone is going to ask questions, and someone—namely Wally himself—was going to jail. All because of two words. Two words! Dead fish. He swallowed, but it didn’t get rid of the rock in the pit of his stomach.

When they reached the house, Wally took a box of crackers up to his room and sat on the floor to eat them, his back against his bed. He still couldn’t believe that he was the one who had officially declared war on the Malloys. How had it happened? Only a week before he was lying on his back in the grass, and now here he was: Number One on their Most-Wanted list. He was on bad terms already with his teacher, had almost broken Caroline’s nose, and had made everything worse by calling her sisters stupid. Well, they were stupid. And deep down, seven layers beneath his skin, Wally knew he was glad that he had thrust his head back and bumped Caroline. He’d just wanted her to stop bugging him, that’s all. But her nose sure looked peculiar by the end of the day—a lot redder and fatter than it had looked that morning. Then he had another thought: What if it really was broken, she had to have an operation, and he had to pay for it? His hands began to sweat, and he swallowed the piece of cracker in his mouth without chewing. Was there such a thing as just a sprained nose? A bruised nose? A slightly but not completely fractured nose? A bent nose, maybe?

I supposed we could just ring the doorbell and say, ‘Look, let’s bury the hatchet and be friends,’” Beth suggested. The girls looked at each other and smiled a little. “Naw,” said Caroline. “This is a lot more fun.

Now, what’s this all about?” she demanded. “They started it, Mom,” said Caroline, wringing out the tail of her shirt. “We did not!” said Jake hotly. "Eddie turned the hose on Josh.” “He dropped his bucket on purpose!” cried Beth. “I did not!” said Josh. Mrs. Malloy looked around curiously. “You kids hardly know each other! How did you get to be enemies so soon?” Wally looked at Caroline. I dare you, his eyes told her.

and

smug

rattly bridge where the road curves by the old

It’s hard to sleep that night. Our sofa’s got more lumps than bean soup, and every time I turn over, I pull out the blanket from the bottom. I get up about two in the morning and stand at the window. Moon’s almost full, and the snow sparkles like diamonds. I’m not lookin’ for moonlight or snowlight, though—only Shiloh. We keep the shed door open on nights like this so he can go in there and sleep if he comes back late. But I know my dog; he’d make at least one detour up on the porch first to see if somebody was awake to let him in. Not a fresh paw print anywhere. I’m thinking of the hunters we heard up in our woods. Deer season’s over now, but there’s possum and coon to hunt; rabbit and groundhog, too. What if a hunter took it in his head to steal Shiloh? You ride along and see notices posted on trees about a dog missing, and most of the time

Karen made a face. "Oh, c'mon." "I don't think so," I said. "Old Play-by-the-Rules McKinley," said Brian, laughing at me. I could hardly stand him. "You've got that right," I said, and turned away.

I sure wasn't going to ask Aunt Sally, because if she told me once that getting your period was like a moth becoming a butterfly, she'd probably say that sexual intercourse was like a deer getting antlers or something.

I remember how awkward it feels to start school in a new place where you don't know a single person. I know the drill-- how you smile to show others you're friendly and approachable, but you don't impose yourself on anyone, and you try to make friends one at a time until someone invites you to join the group.

pretending that Shiloh’s a bear, tryin’ to get in. The more they squeal, the more Shiloh wiggles about, tryin’ to get his nose under the edge of the sheet, tail going ninety miles an hour. If that dog had wings, he’d fly, except his propeller would be on the wrong end.

Feed tomorrow and it will eat the joy of today.

begging for a cat for over a year. It isn’t that we’re rock-poor; trouble is that Grandma Preston’s got real feeble, and she’s being cared for by Dad’s sister over in Clarksburg. Have to have nurses

that

anywhere

How’s my wittle Shiloh-biloh-wiloh?

I’ll remember you acting crazy!

It was Jake and Josh, the eleven-year-old twins, she suspected, who had made the plans about driving the Malloys from Buckman. Jake, especially, who seemed to be the ringleader. But in some ways Josh was worse, because he kept a sketchpad of drawings that made his brothers laugh, and Caroline knew that most of those drawings were cartoons of her and her sisters. When she saw the twins returning with their canvas carriers slung over their shoulders,

Peter was only seven, and if he hadn’t been a Hatford, Caroline thought, she might have liked him because he was sweet

shut up!

But I also know that you can lie not only by what you say but what you don’t say.

lie don’t seem a lie anymore when it’s meant to save a dog, and right and wrong’s all mixed up in my head.

Caroline took one look at the box and figured Wally had given her a present in return—something even grosser than cat vomit. She took it to her room, then had second thoughts and took it out to the garage instead. Maybe she should call the bomb squad to open it. It was probably something that would explode in her face.

Dad,” he said later after all the company had gone and he and his father were picking up the wrapping paper. “Have you ever thought about living somewhere else?” “Where did you have in mind, Wally?” asked his father. “You want me to move down the block, maybe?

If he went any slower, it would be Monday by the time he got there,” said Josh. “If he went any slower, the Malloys could be moved out and back to Ohio,” Wally observed.

The boys groaned as Peter stopped in the middle of the bridge again, his head thrown back, and tried to collect snowflakes on his tongue. Finally he reached the other side and slowly made his way up the hill to the Malloy house, taking two steps up the steep slope of their back lawn, sliding one step back, taking two steps more, sliding one step back, before he disappeared in the snow and fog. An hour went by. An hour and fifteen minutes. An hour and a half. “What could he be doing over there?” groaned Josh. “What’d he do, take a suitcase? Is he moving in?

He’ll never set the world on fire, but he’s steady,” Wally overheard his mom say to his aunt once. And that was just fine with him. But when the Malloys moved in, he forgot what peaceful was. He forgot what quiet was. When a strange animal, possibly a cougar, was sighted around Buckman—an animal the newspaper nicknamed an abaguchie—Wally even dreamed that the animal had carried off Caroline, and he would never have to feel her poking him in the back again with her pencil.

He had to interview Caroline Malloy? He had to let her interview him?—to ask questions about what he liked, how he lived, what he ate? And then, as though that weren’t enough, he had to be Caroline for a day? Did Miss Applebaum go to Torture School to come up with these projects or did she think them up all by herself in the dead of night?

Well, I know what I want to be too,” she told her parents. “An actress on Broadway.” “Caroline, you’re always onstage, twenty-four hours a day,” said her father. “You can’t even tie your shoes without making a production of it.” Caroline wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or not.

He slowly unfolded it, cleared his throat, scratched his head, and said, “Would you rather go to the dentist or throw up?” Good grief, thought Caroline, as the minutes ticked by. How was he supposed to be her for a day if he didn’t ask any better questions than that?

I don’t care, she thought angrily, turning all her anger back onto Wally again. I am going to make him as miserable as I can this Christmas, and if we’re both stuck in fourth grade for the rest of our lives, he’ll be sorry he ever heard the name Malloy.

There’s only one way to find out,” said Eddie, smiling slightly. Beth turned to her sister. “Spy on them?” “Exactly.” Caroline began to feel all warm inside again, though not, she knew, with the Christmas spirit. Eddie and Beth were back in her corner again, making plans, and that was right where she wanted them to be.

Mind if we check the other rooms to make sure?” an officer asked Dad. “Please do,” said Father. “If there’s a body lying around up here, I want to know about it.

You know, Jean, maybe it’s a good thing we had all girls. If those Hatford boys belonged to us, we’d be in a mental ward.

Outside, Wally, Josh, and Jake stared at each other. “You want to spend the night in the Bensons’ garage?” asked Jake. “How about a one-way ticket to Texas?” moaned Josh.

Mother went back inside when the police had gone, but Dad did not. Instead he walked to the edge of the porch, cupped his hands over his mouth, and bellowed like a bull moose. “Wallace, Joshua, and Joseph! Get in here! Now!” “You want to spend the night in the woods?” Wally whispered to his brothers. “He’d just come looking for us,” said Josh.

They came out of the bushes as their father yelled again, crossed the road, and went up the steps to the porch, where Mr. Hatford held the door open for them. Whenever Dad held the door open, Wally always felt like a prisoner going into his cell.

Boys fell for so many things you wouldn’t think they’d believe. It was really incredible. None of her friends back home had been quite so stupid.

But . . . but what will we talk about? We can’t just sit here staring at each other and stuffing cookies in our mouths!” Beth had protested, and Caroline noticed that her cheeks were strangely pink. “Why, Beth, we’ll talk about whatever comes to mind. With eleven people in a room, it shouldn’t be hard to think of something to say.

As soon as the girls were in the kitchen, Beth and Eddie started to giggle. “What?” asked Caroline. “Do you know what looks like cinnamon?” said Eddie. “Chili powder.” Caroline gave a little squeak of delight. “And do you know what looks like chocolate sprinkles?” asked Beth. “What?” Carolina asked again. “I don’t know,” said Beth. “What does?” The sisters looked through Mother’s cupboards. The closest thing they could find to chocolate sprinkles was cracked pepper. “Now here’s the thing—we’ve got to mix them so the guys won’t get suspicious. Caroline, you mix a little cinnamon and chili powder together, Beth, you do the chocolate sprinkles and cracked pepper, and I’ll get the coffee for Mr. and Mrs. Hatford.” “Ha! Wally wanted both the chocolate and cinnamon. He’s going to get a double dose!” laughed Caroline. Was this a good party or what?

Caroline Malloy, the Crazie, went after her sister with a hammer. Missed, but I can imagine what the hammer did to the floor.