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shrugged. “I guess so.”
    “But how did you know ?”
    “Why are you suddenly so interested in this?”
    I hesitated. “Because I think I felt it, too. I just didn’t know what it meant.”
    She frowned. “It’s not common for men,” she said after a while, “but anyone who chooses to listen can. And maybe it’s easier for you. Nuts don’t fall far from the tree.”
    I shook my head and left to get a new shirt. The only nut in this house was her.

    She was still in the kitchen when I came back.
    “I was wondering about something else.”
    She grinned at me. “I know.”
    I glared at her, trying to decide whether to continue.
    “I’m kidding,” she said, laughing. Then she sat at the table and looked up at me, expectant. “I’m sorry. Go ahead.”
    “Yesterday, some really strange things happened.” I sat down across from her. “I don’t know if it was this stream thing, but … I felt something, this tingling feeling, like I needed to look behind me.”
    She gave me her full attention, her eyes wide. “And what did you see?”
    “Well, I saw this girl and … I thought there’d been an earthquake … but it was more like an explosion. A strong wind hit me, like an energy wave.”
    Okaasan cleared her throat. “What kind of girl?”
    “The female kind, what do you think?”
    “Was she pretty?”
    I paused. “Yeah.”
    Okaasan grinned. “Well, maybe you’re smitten.” She clasped her hands in front of her chest. “That happened to me when I first saw your father.”
    I stood up. “That isn’t what happened.” Well, maybe a little.
    She shrugged. “I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about.”
    “But I sensed something at Grandpa’s, too—right before you ran into the house.”
    She stood and looked at me, her face serious now.
    “Children can sense things that adults can’t, but as we get older, we stop listening. I don’t know why you’d start sensing things now, but I recommend you pay attention.” She walked me to the door and put her hand on my arm. “By the way, … you did well in the dojo today.”
    I forgot to say good-bye—I think I was in shock.

Chapter 6

    CHAPTER
    6
    When I got to the basketball court, I found Mack sitting on a bench, gazing into the distance, his basketball under his arm. Without a word, we started a game of one-on-one. He had the height but I had the speed, so it wasn’t as one-sided as you might think.
    Half an hour later, we took a break and lay back on the grass, both of us sweating. A thick layer of clouds tumbled toward the east, but they didn’t look threatening. Mack turned and grinned at me.
    “I went out with Isabella again last night.”
    “How do you do that?”
    He gave me a funny look. “Do what ?”
    “Not that .” I rolled my eyes. “I mean how do you ask girls out?”
    He emptied his metal water bottle. “If I like them, I just ask them.”
    “But what if they say no?”
    He shrugged. “Sometimes they do, but so what? If you don’t ask them, you’ll never know.” Then he gave me a suspicious look. “Why’re you asking?”
    “I just wondered.” I tried to look innocent. “And you’re such an expert.”
    He puffed up his chest. “It’s so true,” he said. Then he got serious. “You’re scared of girls but they’re as nervous as you. It’s when they stop being nervous that they become a mystery. Or they become bitchy for some reason. That’s when I dump them.”
    “Maybe you should try to understand them.”
    He just laughed.
    I recalled my conversation with Okaasan that morning: if I couldn’t understand my own mother, some strange girl was hopeless.
    “Never mind,” I muttered.

    As I trudged up the steep sidewalk under a canopy of oak and maple trees, I noticed a shiny red sports car parked behind the iron gates of one of Grandpa’s neighbors. I stopped to look. It was a Ferrari, a two-door convertible. Very nice.
    I smiled and walked on. No matter what Okaasan and Grandpa said, I’d have a car soon.