“You can touch it,” I said. “It’s sort of like what’s at the bottom of the hamster cage at school.”

“Oh,” he said. “Okay. That’s…I guess I never thought about what goes inside. It’s probably pretty dark in there when the lid’s closed, huh?”

“I guess so,” I said and then for no reason added, “It’s not scary. Want me to get in?”

Oren’s eyes went so wide. “You wouldn’t.”

I shrugged. “It’s just a wooden box.”

His face became a tumble of emotions, and I knew I’d gone too far. He was really freaked out now.

“I’m sorry! I was just trying to…” My breath caught as the guilt stuck in my throat. “I wanted to show you that it’s not scary!” Except I’d just done the opposite.

“Can we…?” He exhaled loudly. “I think I’ve seen enough for today.”

“DYNAH?” I asked.

He nodded, and I put my arms around him in a hug. When he pulled back, he had to wipe away a couple of tears.

“You okay?” I asked. I hoped I hadn’t just given him reason for more nightmares.

He nodded. “Yeah. I think so. Thanks for showing me all this.”

“Let’s go back next door and work on the quilling,” I suggested. “We’ve got some time before your uncle comes to get you.”

“Okay,” he said. “But…can…uh, I think I dropped something in the office. I’ll just run and grab it.”

Before I could ask what he might have dropped, he jogged back to the office. He only took a minute, so whatever it was, he’d found it quickly.

When I saw a bit of yellow poking out of his shorts pocket, I clued in.

I didn’t mention the brochure, but I was really happy he’d grabbed one.

Thirty

On Monday morning I was in the kitchen, sitting at the table with my orange juice and peanut butter toast, looking forward to Oren’s arrival. Even though the weekend had been jam-packed with family time, I had missed seeing him. I got that he was supposed to be spending time with his uncle and maybe even visiting his grandparents at the retirement home, but I wondered if he missed me too.

We were besties, after all.

I was just wondering what he and I would do for the day when I got a text from him.

Sick! Not coming today.

Oh no! What’s wrong?

Barfed. Uncle Jared too. He’s a bad cook.

What did he make?

Burritos. Not bad going down. So gross coming up.

Worse than funnel cake!

He sent a few more funny emojis and then said he was tired and going back to bed.

It turned out it was not food poisoning. Neither of them was better the next day, so they must have gotten some sort of flu. Mom and Dad said it was lucky I didn’t get it, given how much time Oren and I had been spending together. I didn’t feel so lucky and was still pretty grumpy about it because now I was stuck at home by myself. Bored out of my mind.