“Don’t worry about Chum,” said Ben when he was beside me again. “He goes to my church, but he hasn’t quite figured out the whole peaceful thing. He probably won’t punch you. He likes to threaten people he knows he can beat up. If he punches you, he’s not doing it for God. He’s doing it because he can’t control his emotions.”

Then Ben turned his bike around and started riding backwards! He was the best bike rider I’ve ever seen. He turned around so he was going forward again and stopped his bike and moved it back and forth in place. It was like magic.

When I got over the shock of how good a rider Ben was, I noticed that he talked like a Circle Square kid. I wasn’t expecting that from a kid from Stony Butte. I also wondered about Chum’s name. My dad calls people chum sometimes. It’s British for “friend,” but it’s also a kind of fish that you feed to other fish. Either way, it’s a strange name.

“Our pastor’s working with Chum, but he’s kind of a case. Probably has home trouble. Same with Lallie. She’s the girl with the braid. She gets offended a lot. It’s kind of her thing. I wouldn’t take it personally. Does your house here have a pool?” he asked.

It was interesting that he said the thing about not taking things personally. Maybe Ben read my dad’s book! Obviously, I couldn’t ask him, but I wondered.

I shook my head.

“Bummer,” said the kid. “I’d like to know someone with a pool. Guess I’ll have to keep looking. Nice to meet you. Okay, I gotta go.”

“Bye,” I said, and he waved back at me as he rode away.

Somehow, just from that one little talk I felt better about the day, which wasn’t quite as bad as the first one. It made me think I could survive living in Stony Butte until we could go home.

At the end of the block, I could see our little house, all by itself. It has exactly no trees around it and the street and the sidewalk ends right in front of it. Kaput. No more street. Past the house are dirt trails that head off into the park toward the butte, but they are only for bikes and hikers. Last stop before the butt. That’s us.

I let myself in with the key. The house was dark, but I could hear noise coming from Kate’s room. My mom was at an appointment with an employment counselor.