My mother nodded and jumped up onto the counter. She and Leah whispered to each other, but I was too busy folding my napkin into the letter V to pay attention. When I looked up, Matilda was standing in the doorway rubbing her forehead in the same way that my mother had. I watched Leah crack the eggs and then I heard her say something about an art museum and my mother say something about shopping. Their voices started to jumble inside my head, so I tried to focus on how much prettier an egg looked raw than cooked and then the letters came spinning and I watched them dance until it was quiet and peaceful around me.

The next thing I remember is waking up in a bed in the room with the pixie fairies. In the bathroom, I squeezed toothpaste onto my toothbrush and watched it seep into the bristles, and then I started in the back and scrubbed each tooth three times before moving on to the next. I wondered when my mother found the time to pack my toothbrush. Today was Thursday. I had math tests every Thursday. Were we going to go to school? How long were we going to be gone on our trip? I didn’t like missing my math test. I was on my eighteenth tooth and had yet to come up with any reasonable answers to my questions. So I rinsed, spat twice, got dressed, and went downstairs.

Everyone was at the table, my mother and Leah sipping tea from mugs. There was a bowl of cereal waiting for me. I liked that we were finally having breakfast at the right time instead of for dinner, like we had done the night before. It made me uncomfortable when things happened out of order, like eating breakfast foods at dinner time. I poured the milk and listened to the crackling sound of the cereal, which always reminded me of beginnings, and then waited for it to lose its crunch.

“Franny, do you remember that today we are going to the museum?” Leah asked.

I was grateful that I had a spoon in my mouth and could escape without offering more of a response. I didn’t like things that were loud and museums were loud.

“Matilda and I are going to do a little shopping. Why don’t you finish up and get going, and we’ll give you a fashion show when we get back,” my mother said.

“We’re going to buy new clothes?” Matilda suddenly seemed interested in her excursion with our mother.

“Among other things. Why don’t you finish up, and we can get going.”