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This had to stop! Keisha whistled through her teeth—high and shrill—just like Daddy taught her and Grandpa Wally Pops taught him. Worked every time. The boys froze. Paulo opened his eyes and looked at Keisha, startled, then he closed his eyes again.

“Listen, you crazy boys. You start clanging those pot lids together and you’ll definitely get sprayed. The two things that really upset skunks are loud noises and—”

“Rap music,” Razi called out. “Especially the kind with the bad words.”

“No, Razi, that’s Mama. Great horned owls.”

“Okay, okay.” Zeke put his pot lid on the table. “Can we go out if we promise no banging?”

“No!”

But Razi wasn’t listening. He was too excited. He skipped outside with his hands covering his mouth. Keisha couldn’t accomplish much with Paulo in her arms, so she took a moment to dash upstairs and lay him in his crib. When she came back down, she used her fist to swipe a peephole in the window. Razi had gotten down on his hands and knees so he could see into the darkened cage. Mama scooped him up and brought him back inside.

“Now the little one gets settled,” she said. “He’s frightened and he can smell us nearby. Speaking of little ones—” Mama looked around.

“He’s in his crib,” Keisha said.

“Well, normal life has to resume at some point,” Grandma said, pushing past them, out the back door and down the stairs, and marching toward the laundry pole with the damp sweater she’d been washing out in the sink. Grandma didn’t even glance in the direction of the skunk as she clipped her sweater to the line.

Bustling back inside, she said: “If we froze all operations just because we got a new animal, where would that leave us? Hungry and without fashionable clothes is my bet. Now, if you please, someone’s got to think of dinner around here.”

“We’re going to have soup, Alice.” Mama held up
another bag of vegetables she’d brought from the garden.

“Yes, but what about the sides?”

“Soup doesn’t have sides,” Zeke said. “It’s too slippery.”

“I’m talking about sides like Texas toast or cottage cheese with pineapple.”

Ick. Cottage cheese. Keisha was listening, but she stayed near the window and kept her eyes trained on the covered metal cage. Twice, she’d seen a little pointed snout peek out and sniff the air. She was sending mental messages to the skunk that it was okay to move from the cage with its uncomfortable metal bars along the bottom to the dirt floor of the pen to the nice dark cozy box.

“You could have s’mores,” Zeke suggested. “They’re a good side dish.”

“Let’s have dessert for dinner,” Razi agreed. “And lemonade for dessert!”

“I don’t think so, hummingbird.” Keisha wiped some Nilla wafer crumbs from Razi’s chin. “You’ve had enough sweets.”

“Wen and Aaliyah are here.” Zeke pressed his finger to the window, making a fresh print.

The children watched as Wen and Aaliyah stashed their bikes against the side of the garage and kneeled
down to pull something out of Wen’s backpack. Aaliyah wanted to tug it out, but Wen pushed her away. Wen almost never pushed.

“What’s that?” Razi’s attention and everyone else’s were now on what was in Wen’s backpack, but Keisha had not forgotten about the little skunk. She could see half his body now, turning in one direction and then another, trying to figure out what to do.

“What are they doing?” Zeke asked.

“It’s the kite!” Razi shivered with happiness. “Wen’s grandpa’s family sent her a kite from China. He made a box with no bottom. She’s gonna show me how to fly it.” Sure enough, when the girls stood up, Wen had a roll of string and Aaliyah was holding what looked like a poster glued to sticks. She pointed to a spot over by
the garage and Aaliyah took off running. The string unwound off the spool. Aaliyah loved an excuse to run. She was the Langston Hughes Elementary School record holder in the 100-yard dash.

“Doesn’t look like much to me,” Zack said. “It’s not even pointy.”

“It’s a box with no bottom, like Razi said. That’s how it catches the air. Wen told me about it, too.” Zeke pushed his brother with his shoulder to get a better look.

“But that’s not a box. That’s flat,” Zack replied.

Keisha worried that if Aaliyah ran too close to the pen, she might get the same result as a bunch of pan-banging boys. The little skunk must have run into the box or back into the cage because he was nowhere to be seen.

Aaliyah put her arm between the two layers of the kite and popped it open. All of a sudden it looked like a long tall box with no bottom. Red and green streamers fluttered in the breeze.

“See, I told you it was a box,” Zeke said.

Just as Aaliyah held up the kite to look inside, Wen must have reached the end of the string because the kite jumped out of Aaliyah’s hand and shot up to the sky. The kite was in the air, but where had Aaliyah gone? She must have run all the way around to the front yard.

“Wait for me, Aaliyah,” Razi shouted. Before Mama could catch the tail of his shirt, he ran out the back door and disappeared around the side of the house.

“That poor little skunk,” Mama said. “In all this commotion I wonder where he went.”

“I think he’s behind the box,” Keisha said. “No! There he is!” The skunk must have been scared stiff because he was standing frozen in the middle of the pen.

“Uh-oh.” Grandma Alice had left off preparing the side dish and come over to the window. She leaned in, resting her chin on Keisha’s shoulder. “He’s stomping his feet.”

“What’s that mean?” Zeke asked.

“It’s what skunks do when they are trying to warn an attacker,” Keisha said. But who was the attacker? It couldn’t be Aaliyah or Razi. They were on the other
side of the house. Wen was far enough away from the pen and she wasn’t moving, either, just watching the kite as it traveled across the sky.

“Now he looks like he’s growling,” Zack said. “His butt’s going up! His butt’s going up! He’s getting ready to let go. Man the pot lids!”

“Settle down.” Keisha grabbed Zack’s arm. “We’re inside. Skunk spray doesn’t go through glass.” Her eyes scanned the backyard. What was the skunk scared of?

“Look! Aaliyah’s coming back.”

“He’s probably scared of Aaliyah,” Zeke said. “She’s scary when she runs right at you in gym.”

“But it wasn’t her a minute ago. She was in the front yard.”

A shadow passed over the lawn.

Suddenly Keisha knew. “Oh no, look up. It’s the kite.”

“Why would the skunk be afraid of a kite?” Zeke asked.

“He’s not. He’s afraid of the shadow. I read about it when I was waiting for Mr. Peters to come back to the phone. Owls fly overhead, casting big shadows just like that kite. A skunk’s instinct tells him to get ready to defend himself when he sees a big shadow like that.”

“But Aaliyah’s going to get the ‘stinct’ part of it if she’s not careful,” Grandma said.

The skunk had bared his teeth and was raising his rear end even higher in the air. Aaliyah ran closer. Keisha knew her friend would want to run by the window so everyone could admire the way she was flying the kite.

“He’s gonna do it! He’s gonna spray Aaliyah,” Zeke shouted.

“No way. Aaliyah’s too fast for the stink,” Zack said.

“Yeah. She’s faster than a speeding stink bomb.”

“Boys,” Mama said. “Settle down.”

Aaliyah ran back across the driveway and saw the skunk, hissing and looking toward her. She was so surprised, she stopped dead in her tracks, turned around and looked up at the kids.

Now
all
noses were pressed against Mama’s clean window. When Aaliyah stopped, so did the kite. It fell toward the earth and got tangled in the branches of the horse chestnut tree. Wen, who’d been standing by her bike the whole time watching the kite’s progress, pressed her hands to her face. Keisha could see how upset she was. Her kite traveled all the way from China only to get stuck in a tree on its first flight?

Razi ran to the tree and jumped up, trying to grab the lowest branch. He knew he wasn’t allowed to climb that tree!

Keisha cracked open the back door. She didn’t
know which was worse: Aaliyah covered in skunk spray or Razi dangling from the horse chestnut tree. But Razi couldn’t jump high enough to reach a branch, so he gave up and ran over to Aaliyah. When he saw the skunk, he put his arms around her to protect her.

“He’s gonna blow his stinky stuff on you,” Keisha heard Razi warn Aaliyah.

“Oh no, he’s not.” Aaliyah put her hands on her hips and stared down the skunk. “If I get skunk spray on me, Moms will never allow me out, and it is
my
summer vacation.”

Keisha knew skunks didn’t understand English, but she was pretty sure he felt the anger coming from Aaliyah. He chattered his teeth and raised and lowered his tail as if to say he would nip her if she came any closer.

“Don’t you raise your behind to me, mister! What do I look like to you? You’re not even as big as my cat.”

“Oh no.” Keisha put her head back inside the door and said to Mama, “She’s telling off the skunk.”

“Go get that child while there’s still time. Skunks don’t spray unless they have to. You may be able to avoid a disaster.”

“That girl doesn’t have the sense she was born with,” Grandma said. “I told her all about skunk spray.”

Keisha thought about explaining to Mama and Grandma that it didn’t matter what the threat was; if someone insulted Aaliyah, she had to stand and defend herself. Keisha was about to run out and get Aaliyah when, suddenly, the skunk’s tail went stiff and his little body jerked like he was shooting jets of spray.

Keisha plugged her nose and slammed the door shut. Grandma turned the key in the lock. Aaliyah made an ugly face and ran toward the back door with Razi right behind her. Keisha looked around for Wen, but she couldn’t see her. Maybe she was running, too.

“They’re not allowed in this house until they’ve
been decontaminated,” Grandma Alice said. “It will cover every surface. We’ll never get the smell out.”

Aaliyah was pounding on the back door. “Yuck! Let us in.”

“Stall her,” Grandma said. “I’ll get the rubber gloves and Grandma’s special patented skunk stink remover.” Grandma grabbed the pot off the stove and splashed some of the stink remover around the kitchen as she went to find a bucket.

“Oh,” Mama said, rubbing her temples. “Sometimes the cure is worse than the illness.”

“That stuff stinks, too.” Zeke joined Keisha by the door.

“Let.”
Bang
. “Us.”
Bang
. “In.”
Bang!
Aaliyah pounded on the door.

“I can’t,” Keisha said. “Not until you’ve been decontaminated.”

“What are you talking about? He didn’t spray me! Don’t you think I’d know if I’d been sprayed by a skunk?”

Keisha opened the door a crack and Zeke helped it along. “C’mon, Zack. Wanna smell some skunk stink?”

“I can’t find my washing pail,” Grandma said. “I’ll just have to take it in the pot.” The soup pot was getting heavy for Grandma. She had her rubber apron and gloves on now and was struggling toward the door. Zeke
held it open for her and she came down the steps slowly, sloshing a bit of her cure on her apron with every step. Mama rushed by them to the skunk’s pen.

“You can put your pot down, Alice. This isn’t skunk spray.” Mama sniffed the air. “But there is something. Razi Carter? Come to me, please.”

“Yes, Mama.” Razi had his hands under his shirt, a sure sign he’d been doing something with them he wasn’t supposed to.

Keisha looked for the skunk. It must have retreated back into the cloth-covered cage. That was probably the only place it felt safe.

“Razi, what do I see sprinkled around this pen? Are these crumbs? Did you give something to this skunk?” Mama asked.

“I gave him a traditional Razi greeting.”

“And what is that?”

“That’s not skunk spray I smell,” Grandma Alice announced as if she were the only one who could make the decision. “That’s the result of an intact
flatus apparatus.”

Everyone looked at Grandma.

“Huh?” Zeke, Zack and Aaliyah said at the same time.

Grandma straightened and said in her Professor Alice voice: “An odor resulting from an intact
flatus
apparatus
and caused by an upset stomach or other digestive problem.”