Mary Anne is great to talk to, as I said before. For the moment, I felt less worried. "I'm

going to go upstairs and make it a zillion and one letters," I said.

"What about your list?" asked Mary Anne.

"I know what I need," I assured her.

"I do, too," Mary Anne said, wrinkling her nose. "Honey, nuts, soybeans, and two tons of tofu."

"Three tons," I teased, as I headed out of the kitchen.

Upstairs I opened a new box of writing paper. Each sheet had a tiny silver unicorn in the righthand corner. Jeff had bought it for me inCalifornia . Here's what I wrote:

eJt/si-

you'// te fere, fn Janu nghi-! &ei- r<?#dy Ibr -friz adventure. 0f a //'&fr/K&. S-fos&t/brapkj Jtfnd of a ifrot/sand #?r///s. X W'sh. E&t ser/ot/sfi/, £ am looking forward io meeting Afary/lsine. tf/nd tog an have, j?e&? p/ann/rtg what toe. Sbc/r 0f us W/'// do when </?u get here. Zget pooped Just- fastenin  fo ihem. yes-ter&ay /-£>gan a

ne wanfs us ID See.

I stopped writing because I'd heard the front door open and close. In a moment my mother called up the stairs. "Dawn, come on!"

"Okay, be right there," I called back.

I started writing very fast.

Oof- 1o run. Mom's calling. /?/?/)£ and I have -fa go shopping for our A/ew years EV& steep wer party. All -me, members of the, &$C are. coming. My brother Jeff has invited -the P/kc in'ple.-fe. 33-shou/d be zooey bu+ -fun. £ ty%> you haya Q very happy A/ew year X can'-f- wait- 1u see you.

'       -fbr noi4J>

I stuck the letter in an envelope and ran down the stairs. Mom, Mary Anne, and Jeff were in the kitchen. It was weird to see Jeff with his sun-bleached hair and light tan, all bundled up in a jacket. He was putting a cup of soup into the microwave.

Mom was rummaging through the junk drawer. "The supermarket is having a sale on sparkling cider," she said. "I cut the coupons. I know they're in here somewhere."