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next weed, making Carrie smile.
    It was this kind of thing that helped the kids turn out okay. Someone cared enough to discipline them, and that meant something. Even if it was annoying at the time.
    She walked over the lawn to the front door and winced when she heard the sounds of things crashing around inside. Oh dear.
    She knocked hard on the door, hoping to be heard over the racket.
    “One minute!” a harried voice called from inside. Willow. The next moment, the door was opened a crack, and Willow’s face appeared. She had a long, thin face with large, doe eyes in a soft shade of blue that had faded slightly with age. Her long gray hair had escaped her ponytail on either side of her face. But her mouth widened into a smile as she saw Carrie and the basket.
    “Backup,” she said. “Just what I need.”
    Carrie grinned and gave Willow a hug as she walked into the house. Sure enough, all hell was breaking loose inside. Janet was actually lucky she was outside doing punishments.
    Tim and Thane, the twins, were fighting from some kind of tower, while Jessie and Mark, two other siblings, had set up their own fort from the couch cushions and were lobbing toys over their small walls to crash all over the living room.
    “It’s war,” Willow said, putting her hands up.
    The twins had bright-red hair and pale faces and were only eleven years old. They weren’t identical, just looked like brothers, but they had the same squashed noses and big green eyes. They were adorable.
    Jessie had beautiful blond curls and brown eyes. At six years old, she looked like a little princess but could be an absolute bossy demon. Her brother, Mark, at ten, was completely smitten. Her personal slave.
    They were doing most of the lobbing of projectiles, while Tim and Thane were trying to dodge. They were the older kids, after all, and probably knew they would get harsher punishments if they hurt one of the little ones.
    The youngest of the group, Robert, was three years old with beautiful, dark curls. He was sitting at the entrance to the living room, watching it all from a safe distance, wearing only a tee shirt and a diaper.
    He looked over at her and Willow, and his little grin went bright and wide. He stood on chubby legs and toddled over, reaching up with his hands.
    She lifted him into her arms and gave him a hug. Robert snuggled in, then got interested in the basket as Willow took it.
    “My sammich is peanut,” he said.
    She nodded, setting him down and taking his hand to go into the kitchen.
    “I be right back,” he said, toddling back toward the living room. “Sammiches!” he told the others.
    She heard the commotion stop and several exclamations of, “Carrie’s here?”
    She had to grin at being associated with a sandwich. But as the kids came into the room, peeking around the doorframe, and then shyly walked in and one by one came to her for hugs, she crouched down to meet them. One by one, she asked how they had been doing, letting them know she cared.
    Willow went out to call Janet in to join them, and then they all sat down to lunch.
    Willow didn’t like sandwiches and joined them with a cup of coffee. Carrie couldn’t help but notice that her old friend was getting thinner, and the lines around her mouth were getting deeper. She didn’t know exactly how old Willow was. She could only guess, and she didn’t want to. It didn’t seem respectful.
    “So who got good grades this year?” Carrie asked, knowing school had just let out and she hadn’t seen report cards yet.
    All hands went up, and then Janet grabbed Tim’s hand and yanked it down. He frowned, trying to jerk away, but then Willow gave him a stern look, and he calmed.
    “Okay, not that great,” he said. “Better than last year, though.”
    “You had F’s last year,” Thane said unhelpfully, making Tim pout.
    “Improvement is always good,” Carrie said.
    “I got straight A’s,” Jessie said sweetly.
    “In finger painting,” Janet said jealously.