“What about my backpack?” I said.

“Do you think he’ll be able to breathe in there?” Josh asked.

Mom inspected my backpack. “And if you keep it open, I think he’d get out,”

“No! I’ve got it.” Jeanine popped up from the table. “Somebody give me a phone.”

• • •

An hour later, we were walking single-file through Central Park along a narrow strip of shade, me followed by Jeanine, followed by her friend Kevin, followed by Henry riding in Kevin’s sister’s doll carriage, followed by Zoe, who was pushing the carriage, followed by Josh. The park was closed to cars because of the holiday, and the road was filled with bikers and Rollerbladers whizzing past.

We made a brief detour into a large playground at Seventy-Second Street to cool off in the sprinklers. Even Henry got a turn. The only one who didn’t was Kevin, who refused to leave the carriage unguarded. According to him, kids had tried to make off with it in the past. It wasn’t one of those doll strollers you see all around. It was a fancy, old-fashioned baby carriage that his parents had bought on a trip to London. I did notice it was attracting a lot of attention, though I couldn’t tell whether that was because of the carriage itself or the bunny riding in it.

As we cut across the park toward the East Side, we could hear “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” floating across the baseball fields.

“That’s it!” Zoe pushed the carriage faster, and the rest of us hurried to keep up.

“Boy, she’s pretty excited, huh?” Josh said as we passed the popcorn cart by the carousel’s ticket booth.

“You have no idea.” I grabbed onto the back of Zoe’s T-shirt to make sure I didn’t lose her in the crowd waiting at the entrance. “Jeanine?”

“Over here.” She poked her head between a man and a woman carrying identical girls in matching dresses.

Just then, the music stopped.

I tugged on the back of Zoe’s shirt. “Hold on. We still have to get tickets.”

“Here, give me the money,” Josh said. “I’ll get the tickets. You stay with Zoe.”

I fished the cash my parents had given me out of my pocket and handed it to Josh.

“Wait, this too!” Zoe reached into the carriage, felt around under Henry and his blankets, and pulled out a ziplock bag filled with coins.

Zoe, it turned out, had been saving up for rides on the Central Park carousel ever since we’d moved out of the city.

So after Josh, Jeanine, Kevin, and I enjoyed the two rides my parents had paid for, Zoe stayed on for another eleven. Henry was done after three. I don’t think Zoe minded though. Holding on to him cramped her style.

“Maybe she should stick to wooden horses,” Josh said as Zoe flew past us for the zillionth time, calling, “Yeehaw!” and slapping her horse with the reins.

When she was finally out of tickets, we grabbed hot dogs at a stand by the ball fields and headed for El Mariachi.