“Maybe they know more than you think they do.”

“I doubt it. I’d even be willing to be direct and say, If you pass the quiz, go ahead and get divorced. But if you fail it, you have to stay together.”

That proposition seemed risky to Amelia, but she didn’t think his parents would go for it anyway. What adults ever agree to conditions made by kids?

“What are the questions like?” she asked.

“Question number five,” he said, reading from the notebook. “What are the two things your son is most afraid of?” He paused.

“And the answer is . . .”

“You really want to know?”

She nodded.

“The first one is obvious,” he said. “I’m afraid they actually will get divorced.”

“But if they really hate each other, maybe it would be better if they did,” said Amelia.

Casey’s answer was simple and immediate: “No.” He blinked rapidly. “Now, do you want to know what the second thing is?”

“Sure.”

“I’m afraid that something huge and awful will happen on New Year’s Eve this year. All over the world.” His voice was serious.

“You mean Y2K?”

“Yeah. Aren’t you afraid?”

“Not really.” She’d heard theories about computers—all kinds—shutting down at midnight on December 31.

“I am. It makes sense—I mean, computers won’t know how to deal with the change from nineteen ninety-nine to two thousand. Planes will fall out of the sky. Security systems and elevators will fail. Bank accounts will be frozen.”

“I never fly anywhere,” said Amelia, thinking of Florida for the first time that day, “and I don’t have any money to speak of. And—it’s only April. They—whoever they is—will figure it out by the end of the year.” She smiled and threw up her hands nonchalantly, but she could tell by the look on Casey’s face that he was deeply concerned.

“Well, I’m worried enough for both of us,” he said.

Y2K was the least of her troubles, but Amelia knew that, truthfully, there was nothing she could say to reassure him. And, then, suddenly, she felt alone. So alone. It dawned on her that if there were a quiz about her, no one would know the answers except maybe Mrs. O’Brien and possibly Natalie. She doubted that her father would do very well. No one really knows me, she thought. A hard, glittering realization. It was pathetic, but Dr. Cotton knew her better than anyone.

Then it struck her that her greatest fear was that Mrs. O’Brien would die before she, Amelia, left for college. If that happened, what would she do? How could she make it through the string of unbearable days? She shook her head as if to loosen the ugly thought and allow it to fall away. She needed to get her hands into some clay as soon as possible.

11 • A Lot

All morning, while Amelia worked on her clay sculptures, Casey worked on his quiz, except when Louise asked him to clean the sink and take out the garbage. Knowing about the quiz made Amelia feel like she had a secret, and as she rolled the clay between her hands, she also felt infinitely smarter somehow because of it.