"Mom kicked everyone outside for awhile," I explained.

    "Oh," said Ben. "The house is a little spooky when if s so quiet." "Don't worry," I said, leading him into the dining room. "It won't last too long. But hopefully it will last long enough for us to get some work done." That sure turned out to be wishful thinking! No sooner had we opened our math books on the dining room table than I heard the back door slam. "Let's each do this first problem and see if we come up with the same answer," I suggested to Ben, pointing to a problem in the book.

    We were working on the problem when suddenly I jumped up from the table and screamed. Something warm and furry had run across my foot.

    Ben jumped up, too. "Mal! What's wrong?" Then I saw Frodo, our pet hamster, scurrying along the floor by the wall. The sound of laughter came from just outside the dining room.

    I stormed to the doorway. There were Adam, Jordan, Byron, and Nicky, red-faced from giggling. "Ha! Ha! Ha!" I said angrily. "You guys are a riot. Someone come get Frodo." "We haven't seen Frodo," replied Jordan.

    Glaring at my brothers, I went back into the room and tried to grab Frodo. Boy, is he fast! It took almost five minutes for Ben and me to catch him.

    Once I'd put Frodo in his cage, I returned to the dining room. "Sorry about that," I apologized to Ben.

    "It's okay. I finished the first problem while you were gone. I'll just wait for you to do it." At that moment, Margo appeared in the doorway. "Excuse me," she said. "Mom wants to know if you and Ben would like some lemonade." "Sure," I told her. "Thanks." In minutes Margo came back with the drinks. With her was Claire who carried a tray of still-warm butter cookies Mom had made. "Thanks a lot," said Ben, taking a cookie.