“Lee’s brother,” he finally said quietly. “Lee’s brother is coming to school here. Tomorrow.”

“Yes, your brother,” Mr. Hendricks repeated. “You are Lee.”

“Aw, Mr. Hendricks,” Luke protested. “It’s just you and me. We don’t have to pretend, do we? And the other kids — they know I’m not really Lee Grant This Smits kid is going to know I’m not his brother. So we don’t have to act like it, do we?”

Mr. Hendricks just looked at Luke. Luke couldn’t stop the flow of questions. “Why’s he coming here, anyway?”

“He misses his older brother,” Mr. Hendricks said. “He misses you.”

The “older” was a surprise. Luke felt even stranger now.

“Mr. Hendricks, I never even knew Lee had a brother. This kid couldn’t miss me. He’s never met me. What’s really going on here?”

Mr. Hendricks seemed to sag a bit against the back of his chair.

“I’m only repeating what his parents told me over the phone this morning,” he said.

“Well, of course,” Luke said. “They know it’s not safe to say anything real over the phone. They know the Population Police tap phone lines all the time. This is all some… some mix-up or something.”

“Luke — Lee, I mean — I don’t really know what’s going on here. But I think it’s best to proceed with caution. You do need to begin acting like Lee. You do need to pretend that you know Smits well, as a brother. For the sake of everyone involved.”

Usually Luke had a lot of respect for Mr. Hendricks, but now he couldn’t resist making a face.

“That’s crazy,” Luke said. “Why pretend when nobody’s going to be fooled?”

“Nobody?” Mr. Hendricks countered. “Nobody? Don’t be so sure. Actors can’t always know who’s in the audience.”

Luke shook his head disdainfully.

“This is Hendricks School,” he said. “This isn’t Population Police headquarters. This isn’t some Government convention. We’re safe here. Everyone knows we’re almost all third children with fake I.D.’s. Nobody’s going to report us.”