The next day Gloria was just like Chicken. For hours she went from the kitchen to the front door. She kept picking up the phone and listening and putting it back down. “Just making sure it works,” she said. Telly was going to call any minute. Then she went to the door again. She looked out the window. “This homecoming needs to be planned out. What with, you know, downstairs and all.” She pointed her thumb at the basement door. “I told him he had to call. I really hope he doesn’t just show up.”

He didn’t just show up.

For dinner she cooked a big breakfast. “Why not?” she said. “We don’t have to follow any rules.” She fried eggs and sausages. She made toast. The smell went everywhere. I wondered if it went through the floor and into the basement. Maybe Rowan could smell it too.

It made me think of the place I went with Telly and Dian. Barney’s Diner. “Is this like br-lunch?” I asked.

Her eyes got small. “What would you ever know about brunch?”

I shook my head fast. “Nothing.”

“Brunch is not a proper meal. Only lazy people use that word. People who can sleep in and don’t got to work.” She put a plate in front of me. It was piled up with a lot of food. “This is a proper meal.”

Gloria sat down and hummed as she ate. “You don’t recognize that tune, do you?” I shook my head again but she didn’t see. She was looking at the spoon from her coffee. It was in front of her face. She smoothed her hair. “I had quite the voice when I was young, Bids. Full of talent. They said I could’ve gone professional.”

“That’s nice,” I said.

“Nice?” She dropped the spoon and it made a loud noise. I jumped. “Is that the best you can do?” My heart started to beat fast. “Honestly,” Gloria said. “The conversation in this house just makes my head spin. It’s so bland. Why can’t you say something interesting or insightful?”

I looked down at my sausages. All I could think of was Carl. He would break the wieners in half and give the big parts to Girl. That was being nice, Rowan said. Nice.

Gloria smacked the table. “Are you in there? Why don’t you talk, hey? I can’t figure out what goes on in that thick little skull of yours.”

I swallowed. I couldn’t think of no words.

“Nothing. That’s what I’d say. Nothing goes on.”

She poked me between my eyes with her finger. My head popped back. Then she got up and went to the phone again. She checked the front door. She yanked up the curtain and pulled it back down. Outside there were only long lines of sunlight getting smaller and smaller.