My friends and I hold our meetings in my bedroom, and we were due for one later that afternoon. Mrs. Rodowsky had said she would be home before five, and the meeting would begin at five-thirty. Perfect. That would give me just enough time to fly home and straighten up my room. Ordinarily I don't bother. (My friends are used to my messes.) But that day my room was extra messy because I'd been experimenting with making ceramic mobiles, and little figures and pieces of wire were every-where. (Along with Snickers bars and M&M's and Neccos and Fritos and ranch-style potato chips and crackers and popcorn . . .) The back door opened and Bo bounded into the room, followed by Jackie. "The toolshed is still standing," Jackie announced. "If I broke anything out there, I don't know about it." I smiled. "Don't worry. You didn't mean to bump into the rocket ship. It was just an accident." "Another accident," Jackie corrected me.

    "Well, anyway, Shea and I have already put most of the spaceship back together. See? It broke into big pieces." Jackie the walking disaster grinned. "Good," he said.

    Plink, plinkety, plink, plink, blam. "Bull- frogs!" yelled Shea. (This time even he giggled.) "Hey, Shea! You can stop practicing now!" I called. "Time's up." "Okay!" he called back. But he didn't stop. I think he was getting worried about the recital.

    "Lucky-duck Shea," said Archie as we lifted the spaceship back onto the table. "I could put on a show, too, you know. I can play 'Mary Had a Little Lamb' on the piano." "With one finger," murmured Jackie. Then he hurried on. "I bet I could play the . . . the, um, the . . . well, I could play something." "And I could dance," added Archie, "and sing. I could be a star." Mrs. Rodowsky came back promptly at 4:45 that afternoon. As soon as she had paid me, I climbed onto my bicycle and pedaled home. As I rode along, I thought about Jackie, who wished he could play an instrument, and about Archie's words: "I could be a star." It was time for my friends and me to cook up a musical project for the kids we sit for. Obviously the Rodowsky boys would want to be involved in something like that. And I was sure other kids would, too.