"Please! Please!" Becca was tugging at Daddy's pants leg now. "Mama says it's okay!"

"She does?" Daddy asked.

"I said it's okay if it's okay with Daddy\" came Mama's voice from inside. "And if Jessi doesn't mind watching you!"

"Please?" Becca repeated to Daddy, then turned to me. "You'll watch us, right?"

"Peeeez!" Squirt was now wearing his jellies and was toddling toward Daddy.

Daddy picked up Becca in one arm and Squirt in the other. "Well, I don't know," he

said. Then with a wink, he added, "What do you think, big sister?"

"Well, I have a lot of homework," I replied, pretending to mean it. Poor Becca's face just sank, so I quickly added, "But I'll watch for a while."

"Yippee! Yippee!"

Daddy let Becca down, and she raced around to the back of the house. Daddy followed, carrying Squirt, and I followed them. Becca got the sprinkler out of our garage, and I helped her attach it to the garden hose. Then Daddy, Becca, and Squirt unrolled the hose into the middle of the backyard. I stayed by the faucet.

When they had set it up, Becca called out, "Ready!"

I turned the faucet on. The water shot upward, sending a cold shower over Squirt and Becca. They both started squealing wildly.

With a big smile, Daddy said, "Let's keep it to about'fifteen minutes, okay? I'm going to change and then help Mama and Cecelia with dinner."

"Okay."

So there I was, sitting on a lawn chair, watching my brother and sister having the time of their lives. I thought about the summer coming up, and about how this was only the start of the hot weather, and about how often

we'd be using the sprinkler. Then I thought about that billboard on the expressway, with the Olympic swimmer . . . and that was when the idea came to me.