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the movies. People apparently do a lot of
chucking
in Australia, which is where I finally figured out he’s from.
    Aunt Bethany’s house is just as I imagined, on the outside at least. It’s very big, with a freshly mowed lawn, three-car garage, and a circular driveway made out of paving stones, not blacktop like a normal driveway. The crisp smell of apples hangs in the air, although I don’t see any apple trees.
    “Out back’s a hole for a pool,” Ray says as he grabs my suitcase from the trunk.
    I follow him up to the large red front door. “A hole?”
    “Yup. The mister and missus can’t agree on the shape of the pool, so there’s been a hole for a year now.”
    “Wow, Ray, you just said two whole sentences that I understood!”
    He grins. “That bloody well won’t happen again!” As he unlocks the door he says, “The Aussie lingo comes out stronger when I first meet someone. You’ll get used to me.”
    I’m not planning on getting used to anyone. I’m about to tell him this when I hear Mom’s voice in my head telling me to be polite. So I don’t say anything at all.
    A large SUV squeals into the driveway and we both turn in the doorway. Emily jumps out of the backseat practically before the car stops moving. She’s grown a lot since I last saw her, but compared to her I still look freakishly oversized. She’s dressed in a thick silver outfit that covers every inch of her except her head and makes her look more like an astronaut than a fencer.A large silver medallion dangles from her neck that says 5 TH P LACE and her light brown hair whips around her face.
    “Tara!” she yells, leaping up the two porch steps. “I’m so glad you’re here!” She reaches around to give me a big hug but it’s kind of awkward because she’s wearing all this padding and her arms aren’t very long. She squeals and says, “This is going to be so much fun!”
    When Emily lets go, Aunt Bethany hands her the fencing helmet that rolled out of the car after she jumped out, and takes her place in the hug. “You’re so tall! Just like your dad!” She and my mom have the same light olive skin and dark brown hair, but other than that they don’t look anything alike. For one thing, Aunt Bethany is wearing a dress and heels, full makeup and nail polish, and has jewelry on every place one can wear it including her ankle. If my mom puts on a skirt it means someone died.
    Uncle Roger strolls over and pumps my hand with a huge grin. I remember now how straight he stands, with his chest sort of puffed out, but not in an arrogant way. He has lost some hair and grown a mustache in the few years since I’ve seen him. Even though he’s probably ten years older than my parents, he doesn’t have any gray hair. I wonder if it’s because he’s rich and doesn’t have to worry about a lot of things. Every time we move to a new house I spot a few more gray streaks on Dad.
    Everyone asks me questions at once. “How was the train?” “Are you hungry?” “Do you want to see the town?” “Do you want to call your parents?”
    I really don’t want to talk to my parents, but I don’t want them to worry, either. “I lost my cell phone on the train,” Iexplain, “so maybe you can call them?” I know they won’t be too mad about me losing the phone since Dad loses his every other week, but I’m not planning on telling them about losing everything else. Not until I absolutely have to.
    “No problem,” Uncle Roger says. “We can get you a new phone tomorrow. You got replacement insurance?”
    I nod. Unable to think of anything else to say, I opt to stare at the ground. All this attention is making me miss the peace and quiet of the train, where no one bothered me. Ray picks up my suitcase, clears his throat, and says, “Tara probably wants to get settled upstairs. You know, wash the train off her.”
    “Of course she does!” Aunt Bethany says, whisking me inside. Ray bounds up the long, carpeted staircase with my suitcase