“They didn’t want to come,” she told him, her voice flat. “They think there’s something bad about our family.”

“Anyone who’d think something like that is just plain dumb,” said Nate, relying on Naomi’s theory. “You wouldn’t even want to have those people as your friends.”

“Yes, I would.”

At ten minutes before two they heard the sound of a car on the gravel. For Junie, it was as if an electric shock had shot through her body. “They’re here!” she called to Nate, who had gone up to his room by then.

Nate looked out the window. A car had arrived finally: a station wagon, very old. The driver got out first—somebody’s mother, definitely. She walked slowly around the side of the car, opened the back door, and leaned inside.

Very slowly, the passenger got out: Lynnette, the girl with cerebral palsy, who sucked on her collar. She was wearing a party dress, and her hair had been curled too tightly, with barrettes put in odd places.

Walking was difficult for Lynnette, particularly when she was excited. Small, happy yelps came out of her as she lurched across the lawn, her head jerking in random-seeming directions, first toward the barn and the cows, then at the sight of the balloons tied to the dogwood bush by the door.

Junie stood in the open door, waiting for her. She stood very straight, with her hands at her sides, and she had a smile on her face, like she’d stood in front of the mirror first and put her fingers in the corners of her mouth and moved her lips around till they got into the right position.

“Hey, Lynnette,” Junie called out to her when the girl and her mother got close to the door. “You came to my party! I was waiting for you.”

Lynnette’s mother started explaining to their mom how difficult it was to get her daughter dressed sometimes. “We still wear diapers for special outings like this,” she whispered. “Not that she really needs them anymore. Just to be on the safe side.”

Junie took Lynnette’s hand then and led her through the mud room to the living room, with all the balloons and the decorations. Lynnette was making some noises that Nate couldn’t understand, but Junie evidently did, because she patted Lynnette’s hand and put her finger very gently on Lynnette’s lips.

“Don’t give it away, what my present is,” Junie said. “It should be a surprise.”

Lynnette had brought Junie two model horses, it turned out. October Sky and Palomino Pal.

“We had some games set up,” Junie told her, “but I was thinking: Do you think it might be funner if we just played horses? You could use one of mine.”