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from what the girls had been doing down by the river with a butterfly net in the first place.
    A siren sounded in the distance, but a man from the rescue vehicle was already running toward the little group on the bank.
    The burly man who had pulled Caroline out turned to the others. “You kids better get on some dry clothes,” he said.
    Never mind the others, Caroline was thinking. What about me, the almost-drowned?
    As a fire engine stopped on the road above, Caroline rolled over on her back, her arms outstretched.
    “What have you got?” a fireman yelled, running toward them.
    “A girl was in the river, but we pulled her out,” the burly man said.
    “What about the other kids?” asked the fireman.
    “They helped rescue her. We're all okay, I think.” He looked at Caroline uncertainly.
    Then another car door slammed, and Caroline heard Mr. Hatford's voice: “Don't tell me … !”
    “Yep, Tom. Looks like it's your boys again. I don't know if they hunt for trouble or trouble hunts for them, but this time they were the rescuers, I hear,” the fireman said. “Got a girl who fell in the river, but they're all okay.”
    “Who was it?” Mr. Hatford asked his sons, and they all three pointed to Caroline. Mr. Hatford groaned.
    The rescue worker was kneeling beside Caroline. “You okay, sweetheart?” he asked.
    Caroline didn't answer.
    He reached for her wrist and felt her pulse. Caroline let her eyelids flutter. “Are you okay?” he asked again.
    No answer.
    “If she was in the river, she probably got bouncedaround a little,” Mr. Hatford suggested. “Looks like she got a bump there on her forehead.”
    “Can you tell me your name?” the rescue worker asked Caroline.
    “Juliet,” she whispered.
    Jake and Josh and Wally and Eddie and Beth all stared.
    “Juliet what?” the rescue worker said.
    “Shakespeare,” said Caroline breathily.
    “Caroline!” yelled Eddie.
    “Do you know what year it is?” one of the firemen asked as the men gathered around the limp wet figure on the ground.
    Caroline tried to remember the year William Shakespeare was born. “Fifteen … uh … sixty-four,” she said.
    “Car-o-line!” the Hatford boys all yelled together.
    “Hit her on the head again, Mr. Hatford,” said Eddie. “I think you'll discover she's fine.”
    “How did this happen?” Mr. Hatford asked.
    “We saw Caroline fall in the river and couldn't reach her. She had hold of a limb, so we ran around to the other side of Island Avenue to catch her when she came by here. We flagged down these men on the road to help us,” said Wally.
    “Good thinking,” one of the firemen said. “But next time have somebody call 911. You kids were lucky today, but you never know about a river. If we hadn't gotten a call from a woman on the bridge, or these men hadn't happened along, no telling how this day mighthave ended. Where do you live?” he asked the girls. “We'll get you home.”
    “No!” Eddie said quickly, not wanting her parents to see the ruckus they had caused. “We're in that white house right down there. We'll walk. Come on, Caroline.” She and Beth pulled their younger sister to her feet. Water oozed from their clothes.
    “I'll follow along behind them,” Mr. Hatford told the firemen. He motioned to his boys to get into his car. Turning to the Malloy girls, he asked, “What were you doing so close to the water in the first place?”
    “Yeah, Eddie, what were you guys doing down by the river with a butterfly net?” said Jake.
    But Caroline interrupted. “Is this London?” she asked faintly. “Am I on Drury Lane?”
    “Caroline, shut up,” said Beth, and without a word to the boys she and Eddie grabbed their sister by the arms and led her home.

Eight

Conversation with Caroline
    “J ust forget those girls!” Jake growled the next day, when baseball practice was scheduled for after school. “Every time we get mixed up with the Malloys, we get in trouble.”
    “You can't exactly forget