"Fine," she answered.

Her voice sounded hoarse, and that made me feel even worse for her. When she entered the den, she was drenched in sweat and her face was red.

"What a workout!" I said.

"Yeah," answered Rosie. Her eyes went from me to my sketch pad, which I had put on the coffee table. "Can I see?" she asked.

I was shocked. Rosie the Great, showing an

interest in ray drawings? I held up my pad. "Sure."

Rosie stared at the Milk Duds for a long time without saying anything. Then she flipped to the Twinkie. "I hate these," she said.

"The drawings?" I asked.

"No, Twinkies." She flipped through some more drawings. "You erase a lot."

"Well, they're only sketches," I said. "I'm going to make paintings of them."

"Of candy?" she said with a little sneer.

I shrugged. "Why not? It's fun."

Rosie didn't answer. She kept flipping the pages, staring at each drawing.

"The Ring Ding is better than the others," she said.

"Thanks." It wasn't a rave review, but I had to take what I could get.

Rosie looked at all the sketches, then handed the pad back to me. "I like to draw sometimes," she said.

"Really?" I asked. I supposed she was going to say her art was appearing in a New York gallery.

"Yeah," she said. "A little. Well, I'm going to change and start working on a project before my mother comes home."

"You're done with homework?"

"Yup. When Janine was here."

"Okay." I decided to be daring. "Hey, if

you like to draw, how about working here with me?" I asked. I figured as long as we had something in common, there was hope.

Rosie turned around. I smiled. "It would be really relaxing," I said.

"Thafs okay," Rosie answered in a dull voice.

Then she turned and trudged up the stairs.

Oh, well. I had tried.

Chapter 6.

Thursday was the one day I couldn't sit for Rosie. And I have to admit, I was relieved.