“See ya, dum-dum,” Charlie said, and my brothers rose, the whole house shifting to accommodate them, and they were off. I wished that I had two more of me. If there were three of us, three Frankies, maybe I’d stop vibrating so much, trying to keep it all in one stupid brain. I thought about that other Frances, my half sister. I decided that when she was a teenager, I’d show up at her school in a silver Porsche and kidnap her. I’d drive her to Coalfield. I’d show her one of my posters. And if she didn’t understand, I’d drive her right back to my dad’s house and kick her out of the car, not even slowing down.

And then, the rhythm of this summer giving me just enough time to wash my face and brush my teeth, Zeke was at my door, already sweating from the bike ride over. He had this jittery, nervous look about him, and he kind of pushed his way into the house.

“Your neighbor was really staring at me,” he said. “He’s kind of spooky. I think, maybe, he knows what we’re doing. He had on, like, weird pajamas.”

I walked out onto the porch and looked over at Mr. Avery, who waved. I waved back.

“It’s not pajamas,” I said, like that was the most important part of what Zeke had just told me, like it mattered at all. But it did to me. “It’s a haori.”

“What?” Zeke asked.

“It’s like a kimono, but not so fancy. It’s a kind of jacket, I think. He explained it to me once.”

“Who is he?”

“Mr. Avery,” I said. “He’s from Los Angeles, but now he lives with his sister. He’s neat. He used to be an artist. But he’s pretty sick. That’s why he wears the haori, because he says he’s cold all the time.”

“He was an artist?”

“Yeah, kind of. He tried to explain it to me once. It was, like, a performance. Performance art.”

“I know about performance art . . . I think,” Zeke replied.

“Well, that’s what he did. In Los Angeles. And Japan, I think. That’s where he got the haori. He’s pretty proud of it.”

“I think he knows what we’re doing. He really stared at me.”

“He’s probably wondering what you’re doing here, because I never have people come over. He’s just bored. He’s in the house all the time, except for these little walks that he takes around the block. He has cancer, I think. He’s got other things to worry about than what we’re doing.”