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Middle Ages. Kim had rejected Robin’s last idea of building a castle out of cardboard and sticking it on a cloud made of cotton balls.
    “What’s wrong with it?” Robin had demanded.
    “I don’t know. I just don’t want to do that.”
    For a fleeting moment, Robin wondered what April’s slip of paper had said. Did she really not care that she didn’t have a partner? Most of the fun of doing projects was working with someone. Robin had invited her to come to the library with them at lunch hour, but April had muttered something about talking to the art teacher and then disappeared.
    “And when are we going to get together to work on this thing anyway? We can’t do it Friday because of my party.” Kim was sliding into a full-scale panic. “Maybe you can stay at my house Saturday night too?”
    An icicle slid down Robin’s back. Saturday night was the overnight at the cabin. And Robin wasn’t goingto be at Kim’s party on Friday anyway. Do it now, a voice whispered in her ear. Just tell her . I’m not going to your party .
    “Do you think you could stay two nights?” Kim looked at her hopefully.
    Robin swallowed. “Maybe,” she said.
    That night Dad barbecued. Robin stood beside him on the porch in her down parka, her hands buried in warm oven mitts. “Why are we doing this?”
    “Why not?” Dad poured a stream of red barbecue sauce across the steaks.
    “It’s winter.” Robin stamped her boots to keep warm.
    “Hey! You’re jiggling everything!” Dad stabbed one of the steaks with the end of a knife. “I think we’ll go for well-done tonight.”
    Molly stuck her head out the kitchen door. “Mom wants to know how much longer.”
    “Five minutes.”
    “April says steak is gross,” Molly announced. “She says that cows have a right to live, just like us.”
    “Scat, rat, you’re letting all the cold air in the house.”
    April must have come out of her room at last, thought Robin. Her cousin had brought home a plastic bag of old magazines that the art teacher had given her and had shut herself up in the computer room as soon as they got home.
    “Done,” said Dad, poking another steak. Hurly circled his feet, and he pushed him away with his boot. “I’d like to know who’s been teaching this dog to beg.”
    “Dad?”
    “Yup.”
    “Did these steaks come from one of Kim’s family’s cows?”
    “Yes. What’s the matter? You’re not going over to the other side too, are you?”
    “No,” said Robin firmly.
    At the dinner table, Molly turned down steak and munched her way through a baked potato and carrot sticks. Robin took a bite of meat and tried to decide if she felt guilty. Chew chew. Nope. Nothing.
    Partway through the meal, the phone rang.
    “I’ll get it!” Molly dived for the phone. “It’s Gran,” she reported. “Guess what, Gran? My tooth is coming out...a loonie, I hope...Here’s Mom.”
    Robin swirled her milk in the bottom of her glass. This was an odd time for Gran to phone. She usually called around eight, when she got back from the hospital. She glanced at April. April had stopped eating and was staring at the phone.
    “I see.” Mom’s voice was smooth. “I think I’ll take this in the other room. It’s a little noisy in here.”
    It wasn’t noisy at all, thought Robin, unless you counted the clink of knives and forks. Even that had stopped for a few seconds, and then Dad started in on a story about a fox he’d seen while he was plowing.
    Mom was gone a long time. Robin was scraping plates into the garbage, and Dad was dishing up tapioca pudding when she came back. She slipped into her chair and stared at her half-eaten dinner.
    “Everything okay?” said Dad.
    “Ye-es. There’s been a bit of a complication.” Mom looked directly at April. “It’s nothing to worry about. The doctors want to do a little more surgery on your mother.”
    “What do you mean?” said April. Her face went pale.
    “They need to put in another pin.”
    “Doesn’t sound