This wasn't the Krashers' first game together. But it was the first one with a new line-up. Bart and I had made some changes and substitutions since the last time the Krashers played. Still, I thought we had a good, strong team. I looked around the crowded van and smiled at the kids as they sang. Suddenly, I thought of something kind of

funny. Twelve people were in that van, and a third of them were in my family! There was Charlie, who's seventeen, and the oldest kid in my family. And there was me. And there was David Michael, my seven-year-old brother. And finally there was Karen Brewer, my stepsister. (She's the one who had been singing "Doe, a deer, a female deer.") She's seven, and a lot of fun. She doesn't live at my house full-time; she and her little brother Andrew live with us only on alternate weekends and for two weeks in the summer. The rest of die time they live with their mother, Watson Brewer's first wife. She's married again, too, to a man named Seth.

I forgot to mention that my family is kind of complicated.

See, my father walked out on my family soon after David Michael was born. He left my mom with four kids to take care of! (I have another brother, named Sam, who's fifteen. He wasn't in the van that day.) My mom's a strong woman, and she hung in there and kept the family going. I really admire her for that. Then, not too long ago, she met Watson Brewer. A nice guy (even though I didn't exactly love him at first sight), with a station wagon and a bald spot on his head. He also happened to be a millionaire! Truth. And so, when they ended up getting married, my family moved into Watson's mansion. it’s across town from where I used to live, which is too bad, but it's huge and really comfortable, which is nice.