The first thing I noticed was her hair, which she had tried unsuccessfully to tie back with a ribbon. It was honey-colored, but what was more striking was that her eyes matched the hue of her hair. They were the most yellow-brown I had ever seen. She smiled, pointed at one of the trees beyond where we were sitting, and made that sound again. An orange kitten appeared from behind a bush. He walked toward her in that loping, unsteady way kittens walk, and she scooped him up and nuzzled him with her cheek. He lifted his paws over her shoulder and started kneading her hair. “You just move in? I’m Laverne. But everyone calls me Lavi.”

The way she said it sounded like “Lovey” and reminded me of what Mr. Howell called his wife on Gilligan’s Island. “Yeah we just got here today. You live here, too?”

She nodded, stroking the kitten, who had found a home in her hair. “I’ve lived here for almost two years with my mom and brother. It’s not too bad. You gonna be starting school here?”

The question jolted me back into reality. I had no idea why or what I was doing here. I didn’t like looking as though I’d been thrown off guard, so I shrugged my shoulders and nodded my head. Luckily, Laverne didn’t seem to need much more from me. I figured she would assume what she wanted to and whatever that was would be fine by me.

“What’s your name?” she asked.

I paused. Were we on some secret mission, my mother and I? Should I have just said the first name that came to my mind? I hated my name and was always thinking up potential replacements, something glamorous and mysterious. Quinn or maybe Scout. A name that would leave someone speechless. A name that would make me feel like I could wear my clothes backward. I took a deep breath. “Matilda.”

“Oh. That’s a nice name. Like ‘Waltzing Matilda’?”

“What?”

“The song—‘Waltzing Matilda.’ We learned about Australia last year. It’s their national song. Something about stealing sheep. It’s kind of sad. Not your name, the song.”

It was nice to hear that Lavi didn’t think my name was sad, and I was glad that I had been honest when I told it to her. There was something about this girl that made it hard to lie. We sat on her side of the porch for a few more minutes, listening to the rumble of the kitten as it purred and burrowed into her hair. Then I heard a car drive up and a door slam, and Lavi unhooked the kitten from her shirt and placed it on the ground.