The worst part of the whole trip was that the flight attendant told me she had a special treat for me, which turned out to be a hot dog. I hate even looking at a hot dog, and I really hate smelling a hot dog, but she said the pilot had asked for that hot dog to be put on the plane especially for me, and she certainly hoped I was going to eat it. And then, for some reason I still don’t understand, I did eat it.

After she took my empty tray, I stared straight ahead for the rest of the trip. When we landed and the plane door finally opened, all of this sticky air came in. We lined up and walked out, and there was Dad, standing next to some empty chairs in the Florida airport. As soon as I saw him, I threw up all over the rug, and then I started crying.

Dad said I should have told the flight attendant, “No, thank you.”

—

I made a reminder in my head for Jesse to tell Sonia about saying “no, thank you” if she doesn’t like the food on the plane.

Then Miriam said that when she suggested I think about how Sonia might feel about the trip, she didn’t just mean the plane trip, but the whole idea of what the trip meant: That Sonia’s dad was getting married to my dad. That Dad and Jesse and I were living together now, as a family.

“On Mondays and Wednesdays,” I said.

“Right,” Miriam said.

“And every other weekend.”

“Yes,” Miriam said, “but are you thinking about what I’m saying, Bea? It might take Sonia a while to get used to the idea of her father getting married again. What if she’s never been so far from her mom before? What if she feels uncomfortable or strange for a while? Let’s make a list of all the different things Sonia might feel. Can you start?”

“She might feel excited and happy,” I said. “Because now she has a sister almost exactly her age.”

Miriam nodded. “And she might feel excited and happy and quiet. Or not sure how she feels. She might feel homesick.”

I noticed that all of Miriam’s ideas were bad ones. “You went three times in a row,” I said.

Miriam said, “You’re right. I apologize.”

“Sonia might feel lucky,” I said. “Because she’ll have a sister, which she didn’t have before. And, I just realized, she has a dog now, too—she has Rocco! Maybe she wants a sister just as much as I do. Or even more.” I wasn’t sure that was possible.

Miriam smiled. “Yes. Or she might not know right away how she feels about a new sister.”

“Until she meets me,” I said.

The October Spelling Party

I hate today,” I told Mom before school on the last Friday in October.