I was so lost in thought when I reached home that I nearly tripped over Janine who was sitting on our front stoop reading one of her sociology texts. Her bookbag was perched beside her.

    "Oof! Sorry," I said. "What are you doing here?" The weather that day was gorgeous - warm and sunny - but Janine prefers to study in her room. She is not an outdoor person.

    "I'm locked out," she said. "I can't find my key." "Well, I'm here to save the day," I replied.

    Our parents both work, so at my house forgetting or losing your key could mean trouble. Dad is a broker with a company in Stamford, Connecticut, which is the nearest city, and Mom is the head librarian at the Stoneybrook Public Library.

    I unlocked the front door and let Janine inside.

    She checked her watch. "You have a meeting soon, don't you?" "Yup," I said. "I'm going to clean up my room. Want to keep me company?" Janine may be dowdy, and she may be a genius who makes me look dumb next to her, but she is still my sister, and I love her.

    "All right." Janine followed me upstairs and along the hall to my room. "Goodness. What are you working on?" she asked. She cleared a space on my bed so she could sit down.

    "Mobiles," I answered. "Want to see?" I held up a half-finished one with ceramic cowboy boots, a cactus, and a coyote hanging from delicate curving wires. Then I showed her a still life I was painting, a charcoal sketch I was finishing up, and an idea for making jewelry with beads, sequins, and lace. And then I began to tidy up.

    Janine watched with a half smile as I dug a package of Ring-Dings out from under a pile of papers and drawings on my desk, and tried to make order out of chaos. "Are you going to be ready in time?" she asked.