"Afraid to use your real names?" I asked.

"Funny as a funeral," said Bob-or-Craig, obviously mimicking James.

Why, I wondered, did the teasers continue to come back? They must have been fascinated by the Hobarts. Otherwise they wouldn't keep egging them on. Maybe they liked hearing new words and phrases and names for things. But the teasers were so mean. If they wanted to hear Johnny ask for "fairy floss," or Ben call someone a "rev head," or Mathew talk about "brecky," they could just ask the boys to tell them about Australia. Most teasers, I had found out, tease because they feel inferior and need to feel superior - like a bully who beats up the runt of the school because the runt is easy to beat. However, I knew this - but it didn't help the Hobarts much.

Ben and Mal and I put our heads together and had a conference. We decided to let the kids try to work things out for themselves. And so the teasers kept teasing. In the middle of the worst of it, though, I noticed something. James was eyeing Susan. When Bob-or-Craig (the short one) stood in front of her and began flapping and clicking right in her face, James ran to Susan and put his arm around her protectively.

"Leave her alone," he said. "She's - she's my mate." Susan had a friend! My heart soared. And then I got another of my ideas. Even though Mallory and Ben and I had decided to stay out of things, I joined James, Susan, and Bob-or-Craig.

"You won't believe this," I said, "but Susan is really smart." "Yeah, right," said the teaser. "Sure she is." "No, really." I explained that Susan had a calendar in her head. "Go on," I said. "Give her any date. She'll tell you the day of the week it fell on." "Okay," said Bob-or-Craig (the tall one) with a smirk. "December first, nineteen eighty-three." "Thursday," said Susan woodenly.

"That's right!" exclaimed the boy. "That's my sister's birthday. How did she know that - and so fast?" "Oh, that was probably easy for her," I said. "Go back further in time. Do you know the birthdate of one of your grandparents or something?" "I do," said the shorter boy.