That was one of the peculiarities of THE SANBORN HOUSE. It didn’t have room service. But Aunt Evie said they got a good deal on the rooms and she didn’t mind that much, on this vacation. It was a real holiday and she thought they’d want to all have their meals together. Especially when their parents arrived. If they ever did arrive.

“With his parents?” asked Aunt Evie.

“Whose parents?” said Max who had sort of lost the train of thought.

“The boy you made friends with who lives in the hotel.”

“Oh,” said Tess, jumping in. “We only met his mother. We met his sister, too. She was eight and very adorable. His mother was very elegant, and she was having a costume party.”

“Really?” said Evie. “Were people wearing masks?”

“No,” said Tess. “But there was a piano player and a singer, and dancing, and everyone was wearing clothes that looked like they might have been from the twenties. And the kid had a table hockey game and Max played table hockey with him and Max won.”

“Do you think I really won, Tess?” asked Max. “It seemed like he just stopped paying attention.”

“I think he was just—” she hesitated, “—tired,” said Tess although she wasn’t sure that was true. It had been very strange.

“Is their suite nice?” asked Aunt Evie.

“Oh, no,” said Max. “They live on a whole floor.”

“Oh,” said Aunt Evie. “That does sound lovely. I’m glad you had a nice time.”

Tess sincerely hoped that would continue to be the case.

As if in further punctuation, there was another bolt of lightning outside illuminating both the sky and the dining room.

Max counted again. One . . . two . . . and again, he didn’t make it to three before the bolt of thunder hit, loud and rolling, and the walls of THE SANBORN HOUSE seemed to shake.

~ CHAPTER FOURTEEN ~

an incident in the garden room