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she was neat and organized. This morning Maddie was heating something on the stove. Sugar sparkled on the counter from where she must have spilled some. She was kneeling on a stool so she could see into the pot.
    â€œWhat are you making, Maddie?”
    â€œSugar.”
    â€œHow can you make sugar out of sugar?”
    â€œI’m making hot sugar.”
    â€œOh. I think you’re killing Larry’s pot.”
    She thought this over. “Okay, I’ll stop and clean it.”
    â€œI’ll clean it,” I said.
    I cleaned it so that Larry wouldn’t have to. He had seemed tired that morning. He needed to finish a deck by the end of the week, because the customer planned to have a soiree in his backyard that Saturday. “What’s the difference between a ‘soiree’ and a ‘party’?” we’d asked, and he said you have to dress upmore for a soiree. He added sadly that our mother preferred soirees.
    It was already two p.m. My mother decided to take us to a public swimming pool because she couldn’t stand the heat. But when we left Larry’s house to go to the swimming pool, a man ran up to us eagerly. “Helen Kimura?” he asked our mother.
    â€œYes?” she said.
    â€œThank you!” He handed her some papers. Her face darkened as she read them. I watched the man drive off. Marilyn peeked over Mom’s shoulder. Our mother didn’t even notice. Then, though we were in our swimsuits, she turned around and went back into the house and told us to pack.
    It turned out that we had not escaped Mr. Bronson at all; the papers were from his lawyer. He must have hired an investigator to find our mother.
    That made me scared. That man could follow us anywhere.

chapter five
    ON OUR RIDE BACK HOME we stopped repeatedly so that our mother could make calls at pay phones across the nation. We did not know if she was calling lawyers, Maddie’s father, or what. For my mother, a telephone was a well-used accessory.
    As we drove somewhere in the flatlands of Nebraska, the sun behind us and the darkening sky before us, Lakey suddenly clutched our mother from behind, nearly choking her. She didn’t mean to choke her, just to get her attention, but the car spun a couple of times and I heard screaming and we landed in a ditch. It was like I disappeared for a second, like I went somewhere else, and then a moment after we stopped spinning, I was back inside myself again.

    â€œIs everyone all right?” our mother asked.
    â€œYes,” we all answered, though my neck hurt.
    Blood trickled down the side of Lakey’s head. Mom leaned over the seat and wiped it away. She examined the cut on Lakey’s forehead. “It’s not deep,” she said. “Thank goodness.” Then she looked with irritation at Lakey, whose face was sheepish. “What on earth were you thinking, young lady?”
    â€œWhat about
bowling
?” Lakey said.
    Our mother tried to understand for a moment, then gave up. “What
about
bowling?”
    â€œYou had fun bowling with him.” Lakey burst into tears.
    â€œOh, Lakey.” Our mom took Lakey’s face in her hands. Lakey climbed in front between Marilyn and Mom, and our mother held her close.
    â€œDon’t you want to marry him?” said Lakey. Mom lightly kissed Lakey’s forehead several times, seducing her as she seduced her men. Her face filled with love. We all waited expectantly for her answer. Lakey’s eyes filled with hope. “Are you going to marry him, Mom?”
    Our mother kissed her again and spoke gently. “I have bigger fish to fry,” she said.
    It seemed to me that this was the wrong time for oneof Mom’s clichés, but on the other hand, I didn’t want to say so out loud. So while my sisters nodded wisely, I just sat there. Then we girls got out to push the car as our mother steered. When that didn’t work, Lakey had to steer while our mother pushed