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she’ll be with us, so we thought we should sign her up.”
    Herbert pursed his lips. “I can’t sign up somebody with no transcripts. Where did you come from, Amy Kate? Where did you go to school last?”
    She told him, squirming a bit on the hard chair she’d been offered. “The mill closed, and everybody was out of work, so my dad went with a friend to Lewiston. They’d been offered jobs there. Only he hasn’t come back yet, and my brother went to look for him. They’ll probably come and get me in a few days.”
    His eyebrows rose. “But you don’t know for sure? Well, you ought to be in school, of course. We’ll have to write to your old school and find out where to put you.”
    â€œShe just told you where to put her. She’s in the sixth grade.”
    â€œBut she has to have the transcripts from her last school,” Herbert said, frowning ever so slightly.
    Addie had no more patience with the school principal than she’d had with Grandpa or Aunt Cassie. “Oh, come on, Herbert. You always were a stickler for protocol, but you never hadany common sense. You were a wimpy little boy and you’re a wimpy man. Put her into the sixth-grade class and then send for whatever papers you need. What difference does a few days make?”
    The man had gone from pink to red to near purple at her words. “There are rules and regulations, Addie. I don’t make them, I’m just expected to follow them—”
    Addie made a rude noise. “If the rule said you couldn’t leave a burning building before the fire truck arrived, you’d stand there and fry off the rest of your hair. Buddy’ll be here at nine o’clock on Monday morning. Do you want Sylvia to get the basic information now, or then?”
    The purple countenance was fading only a little. “Now, I suppose,” he said reluctantly. “But I hope you understand, Addie, that—”
    Addie stood up, pulling Buddy with her. “You want me to talk to Sam Bass and the rest of the school board? See if they’re all as nervous Nellies as you are? Sam’s no mental giant, but he’s got the interests of the kids at heart. I can’t think he’d keep a kid out of school just because she’shomeless at the moment, and isn’t carrying the proper documentation. God only knows when Dan will show up, if he ever does. You must remember how unreliable he was when he made a promise.”
    Buddy felt color warming her own face at being pronounced homeless. And why did Addie have to keep making slighting remarks about her father? It was obvious that the school principal, too, was struggling with rage as well as humiliation. Yet he made one more attempt to temper Addie’s attack.
    â€œI only recollect one promise he made that he didn’t keep, Addie, and it was nothing like these circumstances. I’m sure he’ll be back for his little girl as soon as he can. But you’re right: Until he comes, she needs to be in school. Don’t worry, Amy Kate, I’ll get in touch with your last school, and we’ll get this all straightened out. You go talk to Sylvia, now, and she can get the basic information.”
    Sylvia was perfectly kind. She filled out a couple of forms, and Buddy felt her embarrassment diminishing. Still, being designated as homeless and hearing that her father wasconsidered unreliable and untrustworthy was very upsetting.
    She didn’t say a single word to Addie all the way home.

Chapter Four
    The house was filled with the mouthwatering aroma of roasting meat. Addie went upstairs to take off her sweater without any suggestions as to what Buddy should do next. There was no sign of Cassie or Grandpa, so she wandered out the back door to the rear yard. It was a pleasant place, with plastic lawn chairs under the brilliantly colored trees, and a round table that still had puddles of water on it.
    But there was nothing to do