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I was. I raised a single eyebrow. Alex fetched a napkin.
    “Next, test dates and vacation schedules. Anything else that's important.”
    I filled in one month's activities and was shocked at how complicated a kid's life had become.
    How could Merry allow the kids to fill up their lives with classes and meetings? Or was this the normal life of a child today? What happened to being kids, doing kid things? Playing, reading, going to movies, lying around daydreaming, studying? The kids needed a PalmPilot. I'd have to teach them to be kids before I left.
    “What about you?” Emilie stared at the page of squares filling the center of the table.
    “Board meetings in New York, the occasional doctor's appointment, and a ski trip to Aspen.”
    “Cool. I want to learn to ski. Can I come too?”
    “Not this time, Alex. It's all old ladies like me.”
    “Rats.”
    “When are you going?” Emilie picked at a bit of spilled food on the placemat.
    “Next month.”
    “Oh, I forgot. I get to sleep over at Andy's or Ben's every Friday and play video games all day on Sunday.” Alex kept his eyes on the table.
    “Nice try.”
    We'd concentrated so hard on the calendar, none of us heard Whip come in. “You know better than that.”
    “Phooey.”
    “How's Mom?” Emilie glanced at her father.
    Whip looked like his nickname. He sat vigil day and night at the hospital while he waited for any bit of good news.
    “No change. Want to go see her tomorrow?”
    Alex and Emilie nodded.
    “Can we go for ice cream afterward?” Alex asked, ever the bottomless pit.
    “Use your indoor voice.”
    Ah yes, that old programmed response. I developed it when Jack was Alex's age. I hadn't forgotten everything about child rearing.
    “Sure. Want to come along, Max?” Whip asked.
    “I don't think so. I'll see you when you get back.”
    “She's coming.” Emilie glared at me, daring me to say “No.”
    Guess I'm going to see Merry and eat ice cream.

CHAPTER NINE
    Less than two weeks after I overloaded the monthly calendar, a chirpy weatherman announced Richmond was going to get two inches of snow the next day. As the school closures crawled across the bottom of the screen, I couldn't believe every school district threw up its hands and canceled classes.
    “We don't have a lot of plows.” Emilie grinned. “We get a day off whenever it snows.”
    “Two inches? In New York, we have to get a foot or more before we even delay the start of the school day.”
    “This isn't New York,” Alex said. “Besides, now we get to sleep in tomorrow.”
    With nothing I could do about a lost day of classes, I went to bed. When I looked out the window the next morning, I was surprised to see more than a foot of snow lying like a sheet across the driveway and lawn. Then I chuckled.
    I tiptoed downstairs and returned immediately. I rapped on Emilie's door until she opened it. I hit her with a snowball. Her yells woke Alex, who suffered the same fate.
    “Get dressed. We're going to make a snowman.”
    “You're crazy.”
    Alex fled to his room. The sound of drawers being opened and shut told me he was looking for his warm clothes.
    “Hey, you guys named me Mad Max.”
    Emilie scooped a dab of slush off the floor and rubbed it on my face.
    By the time both kids were downstairs and out the garage door, I was flopped on my back in the driveway, making a snow angel.
    “Come on. It's fun.”
    Emilie lay next to me. Before long, Alex laughed and threw snow at his sister and me. We had a rousing snowball fight before we built a snowman. We must have made enough noise to wake the neighborhood, because soon doors banged open up and down the street. Kids' shrieks filled what little space there was between snowflakes.
    I sent Alex rooting in the garage for a snow shovel, but he returned empty-handed.
    “How do you clear the driveway?”
    “Snow removal is spring. We just wait until it melts.”
    I waved both hands at the kids and went inside to make hot chocolate and