"Come on, guys!" I called into the house. "Time to go outside."

Buddy came running up from the basement, just as Suzi was walking through the

living room. "I saw a rat downstairs!" Buddy announced.

"A what?" Mrs. Barrett, Mr. DeWitt, one of the workers, and I asked all at once.

Suzi was goggle-eyed. Buddy approached her, holding his fingers to his mouth like fangs. "It had these sharp, sharp teeth, and it said, 'Where's Suzi? Where's Suzi?' "

Suzi burst into tears and ran out of the house. "Mo-o-o-om!"

"Hamilton Barrett, you come over here this instant!" Mrs. Barrett commanded.

The next few hours passed in a blur. The workers marched in and out of the house with paint supplies, wallpaper, and ladders. I set up games of red light-green light, tag, duck-duck-goose, and anything I could think of. We went on a backyard treasure hunt and found a golf ball, an interesting rock, and an empty film cannister.

Franklin nearly exploded when one of the workers accidentally put a hole in the kitchen wall. Mrs. Barrett hated the new living room wallpaper and insisted on switching it. Madeleine managed to sneak inside and came out screaming, with a hand covered in plaster.

Lindsey yelled at Madeleine. Mrs. Barrett yelled at me. Franklin yelled at Mrs. Barrett.

The workers yelled at each other. When I tried to take Madeleine into the basement to wash her hands in the industrial sink, she freaked out. "I hate rats!" she screamed. Buddy thought this was hysterical.

By lunchtime, I felt like an overcooked lasagna noodle, limp and flat.