“The government! How come?”

Scott leered toward Ryan. “Yeah. How come?”

Ryan accepted a slice of watermelon. “Some people think that the moon has been eroded in some way, or inhabited, or severely altered in appearance by extraterrestrials, and the government put a hologram in place to avoid mass panic on earth.”

Kimmy said, “So there are aliens and the government knows, but they don’t want us to know.”

Ryan said, “It’s just somebody’s idea.” He spat a watermelon seed onto his plate.

“It’s a bunch of bull is what it is,” Scott said, leaning back in his chair, gripping the tumbler with both hands as though using it to warm himself. “Kimmers, you keep listening to what they teach you in your classes at school. You can leave all the crazy ideas to all the crazy people.”

John had been watching all of this quietly, and he exchanged a look with Poppy indicating that it would be best if someone else shut Scott up before he had to.

Poppy got the gist, but Lisa beat her to it. Lisa rose from her chair, went to Scott’s, dug her thumbs into his shoulders, and said, “Let’s go dish up ice cream.”

He leaned forward. “Ow,” he said. “That’s no massage.”

Lisa leaned in to pluck the crumb from his goatee, and Scott looked deeply offended, as though he’d put it there deliberately and she’d messed up the plan.

“Scott . . . now,” Lisa said.

He followed when she gave him a severe look.

Lisa pulled the glass door shut behind them, but Poppy could still hear the crescendo of a fight in the kitchen.

Rae rolled her eyes like this was nothing new.

Kimmy turned back to Ryan. “Do you think the government is brainwashing us?”

Ryan cleaned the remaining melon from the rind, all the way down to white. “Could be,” he said. He swatted a mosquito on his knee.

Kimmy said, “Like they’re sending messages into our brains right now, like, beep-boop-beep, and we don’t even know it? Like . . .” Kimmy’s face radiated with possibility. “The government just made me say that, and they’re making me say this . . . and this . . . and this . . .”

Alex said, “And they’re making me say . . . this.”

Kimmy was enthralled. “And me, say this!”

Poppy was relieved that this topic had already trumped any potential interest in the conflict indoors.

“We wouldn’t even know if they were brainwashing us,” Kimmy said, “so we definitely wouldn’t know how to stop them.”

Ryan said, “Some people think there’s a way.”

“To stop yourself from being brainwashed?” Kimmy said.

Ryan nodded.

“Well, what the heck is it?”

“If the government is sending things to our brainwaves electromagnetically, some people think you can stop them by putting tinfoil over your head.”

Kimmy’s nose wrinkled. “Really? Like make a little hat out of it?”

Ryan nodded. “Haven’t you ever seen that in the movies?”

Kimmy looked at Alex. “We should do that, so the government stops making us think stuff and say stuff.”