Before I go into what happened, though, let me say a little about the Pike kids. The most interesting thing is that three of the kids are triplets — Byron, Adam, and Jordan — identical boys. (Kristy and I can tell them apart, though.) They're nine. The oldest Pike is Mal-lory, who's ten, and is usually a big help to baby-sitters. After the triplets come Vanessa, who's eight; Nicholas (Nicky), who's seven; and Margo and Claire, who are six and four. They're quite a brood. Actually, they're really good kids, but their parents have raised them liberally (according to my father), and without batting an eye, they do things I'd never dream of. For instance, Claire sometimes takes off her clothes and runs around the house naked. No one pays a bit of attention. After a while, she just puts her clothes back on. Also, although each of the kids has to be in bed at a specific time, none of them has to turn out the light and go to sleep until he or she feels like it. As long as they're in bed, they can stay up as late as they want. And they don't have to eat any food they don't like.

Kristy and I showed up at the Pikes' at five o'clock on Friday afternoon. We showed up separately, of course. Actually, I have to admit

that I'd sort of been tailing Kristy all the way to the house. Since the Pikes don't live too far from Bradford Court, we were walking to their house, and I wasn't far behind Kristy.