Home (8 page)

It was a quiet—very quiet—drive back to the farm.

“You did the right thing,” Stone said. But she only said it once. And when she didn’t get an answer, at least she had the brains to shut up for the rest of the trip.

JoJo and Thor were waiting outside when Stone pulled into the driveway. Oddly, Thor didn’t try to tackle them, or stand on them or even lick them. He just walked up to the side of Stone’s car, and when the twins climbed out, he slowly followed them into the house and up the stairs. He looked like a sad, little puppy. A 220-pound sad, little puppy.

JoJo put her hand on Allie’s shoulder after Stone drove off. “That must have been hard,” she said. Allie blinked, then stared at the ground. JoJo wrapped her arms around Allie and gave her a long hug—and, for the first time ever, Allie hugged a foster parent back.

“See you tomorrow,” Allie said, with a shaky smile.

Allie slowly climbed the stairs to their bedroom. She pulled back the covers of her bed, then stopped.

“Climb in, Allie. There’s lots of room,” Madeleine said, smiling sweetly.

Allie smirked. “No, there
isn’t
lots of room, you silly girl.”

Madeleine, Luke and Thor were already heaped up in her bed. And it was a single bed. If Allie stepped one foot on that thing, it would probably break in half from all the weight.

“I’ll sleep over there, okay?” Allie pointed at the next bed over.

Madeleine nodded. “That’ll be good. Thor will be able to see you there, so he won’t get scared.”

Allie climbed into the empty bed. She stretched her arms and legs as far as she could. It was the first time since the twins were babies that she’d slept alone. She switched off the bedside lamp and watched the moonlight dance on the ceiling as she drifted off to sleep.

“JoJo, I’ve been thinking,” Allie said, as she flipped through the silly joke book she’d found in the living room. “I might be ready for braces.” JoJo froze—for just a second—then went back to cracking eggs into the hot, buttered pan.

“We can do that. But I probably won’t be able to get an orthodontist appointment until August. Is that okay?”

“Sure.” Allie shrugged. “I’m not going anywhere.”

JoJo and Arthur exchanged smiles.

“I’ll call today,” JoJo said, as she tossed a piece of bacon to Thor.

Madeleine and Luke came scuttling down the stairs.

“Just in time for breakfast,” Arthur said. “Come on, have a seat before Jonathan gets in from chores and tries to eat it all.”

“Not hungry, thanks,” Luke said, as he made a beeline for the door. He was trying hard to keep his pockets covered, and Thor was trotting along beside him, sniffing and wagging his tail.

Allie caught Luke by the door and peered into his pockets. The smell of spicy sausages and peppers hit her nose. Luke must have snuck down before anyone else was up and crammed his pockets full of last night’s leftovers.

“Luke, you have to stop that,” Allie whispered. “If they catch you hoarding food, they won’t let us go home.”

“Silly, Allie. You said
this
is our home, now.”

Allie stared at Luke, as it sunk in.
Really
sunk in. For years, she’d tried to hide the twins’ weird quirks so the social workers would let them go home. But if she’d given up trying to get back there, the twins could be as weird as they wanted.

“Okay. Out you go!” Allie smiled.

Luke trotted outside, with Thor in hot pursuit. If that boy could figure out how to eat his sausage and pepper stash without losing his pants to the dog, it would be a miracle.

BWWWAAAAAAK!

The sound of a crazed rooster was followed by the sound of someone screaming like a girl. The door crashed open, and Jonathan tumbled in, cradling the egg bucket.

Bang!
He slammed the screen door shut and leaned against the wall, as the rooster strutted back and forth on the porch.

“You didn’t break any eggs, did you?” Arthur asked.

“Is that
all
you care about?” Jonathan asked. His face was so white, even his freckles had lost some of their color. “That stupid rooster keeps trying to kill me, and all you care about is your next meal. If I ever get my hands on that thing, we’re having
him
for supper.”

Allie looked at Jonathan and snorted. “Well, you’re quite the witch,” she said. “Where’s your broom?”

A message from the author:

If you enjoyed
Home
, I’d be incredibly grateful if you posted a quick review on Amazon. Even a review of only a few sentences is a great help! Just click here and it will take you directly to the page:
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Thank you!

Brenda Kearns

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Also by Brenda Kearns:

The Day I Washed My Face in the Toilet

Sleepover Zoo

There’s Nothing Wrong With Claudia

Parrots and Popcorn

Ediciones en español:

El día que me lavé la cara en el inodoro

Fiesta de pijamas en el zoológico

No hay nada malo con Claudia

Pericos y palomitas de maíz

Éditions françaises:

Le Jour où je me suis lavé la figure dans la cuvette

Pyjamazoo

Claudine ne fait jamais rien de mal

Pop-corn et perroquets