“You should learn as many things like this as you can. You never know when it will come in handy,” he said to Natasha one day as they caulked the tub.

“But we can just call you,” she said.

“It’s always better if you know how to do things yourself,” he said. “You need to be your own backup plan.”

But Natasha scoffed at the idea of being her own backup plan. She wanted Miss Webster and Mr. Pettinger as their backup plan.

That night after they had gone home she said to her sisters, “See, they would be perfect on the farm. Maybe Miss Webster wouldn’t even want to be a principal anymore. She could be a farmer.”

“What if they want their own children?” asked Fiona. “Most people do.”

“Their children could live here too,” said Charlie.

“Yes,” said Fiona, laughing. “I wasn’t suggesting they send them away. But where?”

“He could just keep building bedrooms,” said Charlie.

“And they’d have us for babysitters!” said Marlin. “It would be kind of ideal for them, I would think.”

“We could get horses!” said Natasha.

Everyone thought it was a wonderful plan.

“But we will not mention it,” warned Fiona repeatedly. “Not once. Not to anyone. If it happens, let it be their idea.”

“What about Al then?” asked Charlie. “Won’t his feelings get hurt?”

“I doubt it,” said Fiona. “I doubt he has feelings. He only agreed to pretend to be our guardian for the money. He wasn’t going to do it at all until we offered to pay him. And I wouldn’t mind having that eighty bucks a month back if we do get adopted by someone else.”

“Is money low?” asked Marlin.

“We have enough,” said Fiona. “But it won’t last forever. We’re good for this year and the one after.”

Maybe, she wanted to add because there were even more expenses and complications than she had counted on when she had originally totted up what they had and what it would take to live. She now knew there were taxes and insurance as well as the utilities and the expensive phone plan and internet. She was beginning to get letters from Hiram Pennypacker. He was furious that Al had not come in with proof of guardianship. He wanted her to come in to talk about taxes. He wanted her to sign things. At first he sent requests by snail mail in a formal lawyerlike fashion. Then he sent her emails and texts and finally he began phoning. She let all his phone calls go to voice mail. She ignored his emails and texts and she buried his letters at the bottom of her underwear drawer. If she could just avoid him, she thought, until she could figure out what to do about the legal guardianship, then he wouldn’t accidentally find out what was going on. She knew this was lame but she had enough to do with her schoolwork, overseeing Marlin, Natasha, and Charlie, and keeping the house running. She thought she was doing a pretty good job keeping it going smoothly and that the family’s needs and wants were mostly provided for. Then one day after school Natasha said she wanted to join strings.