“I’ve got to tell you something,” I mouthed.

“What?” he said out loud.

“Shut up,” I mouthed back. I stood up and walked to our bedroom, gesturing for Joel to follow me.

“What’s going on?”

I glanced back to be sure our mother wasn’t within ear-shot. “There’s someone in our clubhouse,” I whispered.

“What?”

“There’s a girl in the clubhouse.”

He shook his head. “You wish.”

“Oh yeah? I’ll make you a bet. Loser does the dishes for the next month.”

Joel was smart enough to not take the bet, but he still didn’t believe me. “Why would there be a girl in our clubhouse?”

“Is it a bet?”

“No. You’re up to something.”

“Come see.”

“If you drop a bucket of water on my head, Mom will kill you.”

“I’m not going to do anything to you.”

We walked back into the kitchen to find our mother gone. As I was scooping the eggs into a bowl, she walked back in. “What are you doing?”

“Uh, I thought I’d eat breakfast outside.”

“Just eat it in here.”

“I miss the clubhouse.”

“Eric, it’s freezing outside.”

“Please. I won’t be long. Then we’ll go.”

She shook her head and sighed. “Just don’t leave the bowl out there. And hurry. We need to leave soon.” She walked back out.

I put a piece of buttered toast on top of the eggs and Joel followed me out to the backyard.

“If this is one of your stupid tricks…”

“Jeez, enough already. I’m not going to do anything to you.”

When we got to the clubhouse I knocked on the door, then pushed it open. I got down on my knees and stuck my head in, holding the bowl of eggs in front of me. It was dark inside, and little Eva’s “Loco-Motion” was playing on the radio.

“Grace, I brought you some breakfast.” She didn’t respond. It was much warmer than it had been the night before. I crawled in and turned on the light. She wasn’t there. Joel came in after me.

“She’s not here,” I said.

“I told you no one was here. You have to do the dishes.”

“No, I don’t. We never bet.” I looked around. “You can see someone was here. Who do you think turned the radio on? And there’s her bag.”

Joel seemed baffled by the evidence. “Then who is she?”

“A girl I met at the Queen last night. She ran away from home and didn’t have anyplace to go. I told her she could stay here.”

Just then Grace crawled back in. “Eric…” She froze when she saw Joel. Joel stared back at her. I’m not sure who was more surprised.

“It’s okay,” I said. “He’s my brother. He won’t tell anyone.”

She crawled the rest of the way in, then stood. “I was using the bathroom.”