We live in this neat house out on Burnt Hill Road. It's an old farmhouse built back in the seventeen hundreds and it even has a secret passage that might be haunted.

Although I'd always wanted a sister, my new family was a bit overwhelming at first (for Dawn, too, I found out). But we really care about each other. I like living in a big family. Well, compared to the Pikes it's not such a huge family, but you see what I mean. I wouldn't have it any other way.

"Huge," said Mal.

"Huh?" I said, wondering if she'd turned into a kind of mind reader.

"The chunk of time after school is out at the end of June."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, the camps that most of the kids go to don't begin for three whole weeks. And the

civic center won't start its summer activities until the middle of July."

I was beginning to see what Mal was talking about. "Three weeks of kids out of school, parents still at work — and lots of jobs for the BSC," I said.

"Maybe too many," said Mal. "Since we're, you know, a little short-handed."

I nodded. Neither Mal nor I particularly wanted to talk about it. We were short-handed because one of the members of the club had quit not top long before. Stacey McGill, our treasurer, had just left the BSC — and her friends — for her boyfriend and his group of "more sophisticated" friends.

It was true. They were more sophisticated than most of us in a way. But it still hurt.

Quickly I said, "So what're we going to do about it? Get a new member of the BSC?"

"We could, I guess," Mal said. "But who? And where?"

We were quiet for a moment, thinking it over. At last we looked at each other and shook our heads.

"I vote we make this club business," Mal said. "Bring it up at the next meeting."