But I couldn’t stand there forever like that. I had to step into the room, so I put my hand on the doorknob and turned it. Mom looked up, saw me, and clicked the remote in her hand, right away. The TV went dark.

“Leah!” she said. “How was your day? Who were you with?”

“Oh, a new friend,” I said. “You don’t know her. And it was fun. But I’m really stinky. I walked all over today. Red’s Farm and the neighborhood. Just exploring. I think I’ll go take a shower.”

“Okay,” she said. “That’s fine. But come say hello when you’re done.”

“Okay.”

I quickly cut through the room and toward the hallway, but then Dad called out. “Oh, hey, Leah?”

I turned back around in the doorway. “Yeah?”

“I just wondered . . . did you do some work in the yard this week? I noticed someone mowed.”

“Yeah!” I said, scrambling to remember what he was talking about. It seemed like it had been weeks since I’d mowed and raked. So much had happened since then. “Yeah, that was me. A couple of days ago. I’d almost forgotten about that. It just was looking kind of ratty around here.”

“Well, that’s nice of you!” said Dad. He sounded more excited than an hour of raking should really make anyone. “Thanks, kiddo.”

“You’re . . . welcome,” I said. “It was no big deal. I was bored, and it seemed like a thing I could do. To help out.”

“It was,” said Mom, nodding. “It was really thoughtful.”

Then we all were quiet for a minute, and I couldn’t tell if there was something else I was supposed to say. I stood there, waiting, in the hallway, until the TV clicked back on and released me.

Looking Up

The next morning, I woke up different. Or rather, I woke up differently. All at once, the second my eyes fluttered open. I sat up in a rush and realized I was excited. Excited? I couldn’t remember the last time I’d woken up excited.

It was the way I used to wake up on Saturday mornings with Sam. On the weekends, Mom and Dad liked to sleep in, and so the rule had always been that Sam and I could watch as much TV as we liked, and eat anything we wanted for breakfast, so long as we were quiet.

“Don’t disturb the bears,” Dad would say.

So if I woke up first, I’d knock on Sam’s door, and if he woke up first, he’d come into my room and tap on my forehead. Then we’d head to the living room for cookies with canned whipped cream or ice cream sandwiches or BBQ potato chips.