"Yeah," I replied. "1 think Mal's in love." "Not that," said Dawn. "What I mean is - no one's paying a bit of attention to Ben." "Oh," I replied. Hmm. Either the older kids didn't care that Ben was Australian - or the Hobarts were beginning to be accepted.

Chapter 11.

"Bye, Mrs. Felder. Have fun!" I called, as Susan's mother left through the garage door. To be perfectly honest, Mrs. Felder looked as if she were escaping. She was on her way to the beauty parlor to have her hair col - I mean, cut (that was exactly what Mrs. Felder had said!), and to get a manicure and a pedicure. She said that an afternoon at the beauty parlor was just what she needed to relax. And she did look as if she needed some relaxation. Some rest, too. She said Susan had barely slept the past three nights - and that when Susan was up, Mr. and Mrs. Felder were up as well. Susan screamed and cried and whined when she was up at night. No one knew why. She also prowled the house. Mrs. Felder said she and her husband had considered locking Susan into her room at night, but that they just couldn't bring themselves to do it.

I was glad.

I closed the door after Mrs. Felder and turned around to face Susan. I had planned to take her over to the Hobarts' to see James that afternoon, and I wanted to catch her before she could sit down at the piano.

Just as I was taking her hand, the doorbell rang.

"Hey, Susan! That was the doorbell," I said emphatically. I was hoping to help Susan pick up some vocabulary. "Let's answer it," I went on. "Maybe a friend is at the door. A friend for Susan. Maybe it will be James or Mel." Click, click, click went Susan's tongue. I don't think she'd heard me at all.

I led Susan to the front door.

"Okay, Susan. Open the door," I said. I helped her to turn the knob and pull the door open. She did this with one hand, flapping the other hand in front of her eyes.

On the steps stood the tall teaser. The tall Bob-or-Craig - whose name I was now certain was neither Bob nor Craig, since the short teaser's name was Mel.