It was Friday again. Next weekend Pa would be home. Lolly was on the bus, staring out the window. It had been two weeks since Munch told her Trevor had agreed to be in the show. So far, Trevor had been so busy, he hadn't had time to meet with Munch or so he said. She knew it was a a risk for a jock like him to mix with the school's most eccentric duo. Both she and Munch knew they stuck out, but Munch took more chances with people. Lolly was more guarded. She offered friendship slow, Munch put it right out there. He had been hurt or rejected so many times over the years. Yet, every time he got knocked down, forgotten or maligned, he got up again. He tried again. He was determined to rise above his circumstances. Munch would survive if Trevor never showed, but her attraction to Trevor would not. She would not, could not like anyone who did not respect Munch's fierce heart and his talent.

When Mrs. Anderson stopped the bus for Trevor to get on, Lolly kept looking out the window. Instead of passing by, Trevor dropped into the seat beside her. This had never happened. Alarms went off in her head. What was he doing? Mrs. Anderson had assigned seats on the bus. Lolly glanced up at the huge rear view mirror. Mrs. Anderson was looking at them, but she didn't tell Trevor to go to his seat.

Trevor said, "Hey Lolly."

She faced him.

A slight nervousness crept into his voice as he said, "Munch told me you would be hanging out with us Sunday when I come over for my fitting."

IT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN SUNDAY and Munch had not told her. Why wouldn't he tell her? She dropped a casual, "Cool."

"I've never been in a runway show."

"Me either."

"Munch is really good."

"Yeah, he is. He's been drawing as long as I've known him." This conversation was not exactly flowing but it was HAPPENING!

Too soon they were at the school. She followed Trevor out of the bus. She probably would have kept following him if his friends hadn't been waiting for him on the sidewalk. When she stepped into the cafeteria, Munch was already there. She went over to him and asked, "Why didn't you tell me you talked to Trevor?"

He didn't respond. He just grinned.

Lolly grinned back at him.

*

Sunday afternoon felt like it was never going to come, but it finally did. Mitzi and Max came over while she was trying to figure out what to wear to Munch's. Mitzi, as always came to her rescue. A pink sweater, her favorite jeans and chucks were selected.

In the kitchen the phone rang. Max answered it and then handed it off to Grandma Toady. There was silence for a couple seconds and then Grandma Toady said, "Oh, don't worry about it. Tell Lena, to take care of herself." She hung up the phone and made another call. During this call, Grandma Toady lowered her voice. Lolly couldn't hear what she was saying. Once again the phone clicked onto the receiver and then Grandma came down the hall. When she entered the bedroom, the expression on her face put Lolly on guard. Her smile was a bit too bright.She said, "I hit a bit of a snag with my quilting bee, but I called Estelle and she said it was okay for Mitzi to come over with you. Lena is sick and the kids class is canceled." Her smile got even brighter.

Great! Lolly would have preferred to have been asked first, but that was not Grandma Toady’s style. If there was a childcare problem the quickest solution was Lolly.

When Lolly didn't respond, Grandma Toady, "That's okay with you right?"

Like she could say it wasn't okay with Mitzi standing right there.

Mitzi said, "If I have to go there I am packing a lunch."

Grandma Toady laughed and left the room.

The thought of being at Munch's with Trevor had been a terror enough, but adding the ever entertaining Mitzi and her bear Puccini to the mix just made Lolly nauseous. Things were going to go wrong, very, very wrong she could feel it in the pit of her churning stomach.

Max was bored, so he decided to go along too. Great.

On the trip to the farm, Grandma Toady was all smiles and compliments. Max for a change was in a decent mood. As for Mitzi, she could not wait to show Mrs. Dutchendorph the series of portraits she had painted of Puccini. Lolly sat in the front seat staring at the fields. She had no hope, no hope at all of things going well.

When they reached the farm, Grandma Toady stopped the truck and said, “Ya’ll be good now.” There was a slight twinkle in her eye. Lolly could guess what Grandma Toady was thinking as her eyes scanned the perimeter of the farm. She was thinking of Pa and what a lovely home this would be for her son and his adoring wife. For all Grandma Toady's preaching about living in the now, she had a funny habit of jumping to conclusions. No, she didn't just jump to conclusions, she dive bombed them.

When the truck door slammed shut, Mrs. Dutchendorphs came running out of the back door with a big smile on her face. She practically sang, “Hello kids. Good to see you Toady.”

“Good to see you, Estelle.”

Μrs. Dutchendorph asked, "Will you have supper with us after quilting bee?” She saw Grandma Toady’s hesitation. “Um, since Munch’s friend Trevor will be over too, I am going to be making some actual burgers.”

Lolly’s mouth dropped open. What!

“Oh,” cooed Grandma Toady. “That sounds nice. I’d like that. It was give us some time to catch up.”

Lolly thought, you mean time to stick your nose in Pa’s business.

Mrs. Dutchendorph lit up. “Aww that makes me happy. See you in a bit.”

They all waved at Grandma Toady as she backed out of the drive.

Mrs. Dutchendorph glanced at Max's shoulder sling and asked, "How are you doing?"

He said, “Okay. Is it alright if I go look at the chickens?”

“Sure.”

Mitzi tugged on Mrs. Dutchendorph’s skirt and told her, “I brought pictures to show you.”

“Oh, I am so excited. Let’s go inside so you can show them to me.” Lolly followed them into the house. Inside, the house was eerily quiet. Munch was not watching TV and Etta James was not blasting upstairs. Mrs. Dutchendorph said, "For some reason, Munch is in one of his moods."

Great! Munch picked a fine time to have a mood. She glanced at the kitchen clock. It was almost 2:30. Trevor was supposed to come at 3:00. That mood of Munch's better evaporate soon.

Mitzi pulled her portraits out of a Manila folder and laid them on the kitchen table. While Mrs. Dutchendorph, oooed and ahhhed over the portraits, Lolly went to the attic stairs and looked up. Munch glared down at her from the top step. Great. An angry Munch was NEVER a good thing. He hissed, "Get up here quick."

She did. In his hand was a letter. The handwriting was unmistakable. It was Pa’s. It was addressed to Mrs. Dutchendorph. She asked, "Where did you get that?"

"Duh, the mailbox."

"But its not yours.”

“It sure as hell isn’t. Your should read what your precious Daddy said to my Mom.”

“You opened it and read it! Don’t you know that is a federal offense.”

“So arrest me. You want read it.” He jabbed it in front of her face.

“No! I respect Pa’s privacy and he respects mine.”

“Then I will read it to you.”

“No. You won’t. I am telling your mother.”

Munch crumbled the letter in his hand and threw it at her. He glared at her. “You may want a stepmama, but I don’t want a stepdaddy.”

“My God Munch, they have not even been on a date. You are just like Grandma Toady. Ya’ll are both interfering assumptionists."

Munch put his hands on his hips and cocked his head. “I may not be in advanced classes, but I know there is no such word as assumptionist.” There wasn’t. Munch pushed passed her and stormed down the stairs.

Below, Mrs. Dutchendorph called out, “Michael, where are you going?”

There was no answer only the banging of the front door. Lolly sighed. In all the worst case scenarios she had conjured up for this day, none of them involved this. She picked up the letter and went downstairs.

Mrs. Dutchendorph stood on the front port he calling for Munch, but he was not answering. When she saw Lolly, she asked, “What happened?”

She handed Mrs. Dutchendorph the wadded up letter. "I did not read it but Munch did.”

Mrs. Dutchendorph smoothed out the letter. Her hand went slowly over Pa’s hand writing. Her eyes grew soft. “Thank you Lolly. I think its best we let Michael cool off. Hopefully he will settle down before his friend gets here.”

Hopefully! He better, but it was not likely.

Fifteen minutes later a car rumbled outside. Through the living room window, Lolly saw Trevor climb out of the red Mustang. A girl, she had never seen before was driving it. Her stomach dropped. Trevor waved at the girl as she pulled away. Could this day get any worse.

Mitzi bolted from the couch and reached the door before Trevor even knocked. She swung open the door and announced, “Munch has runned away.”

Trevor smiled at Mitzi and said, “He did.”

“Yup. We don’t know where he is. He could be lost.”

Mrs. Dutchendorph pulled Mitzi from the door and said, “Come in Trevor, I am Michael’s mother.”

Trevor extended his hand, and said, “Pleased to meet you.” His eyes strayed from Mrs. Dutchendorph to Lolly. She gave him a forced smile. Was that girl his girlfriend? She was trying to not jump to conclusions, but Grandma Toady's blood ran thick in her veins and she could not help herself. This was starting off brilliantly.

The back door opened and closed. Max and Munch entered. Munch called out, “Hey Trevor, right on time. Come upstairs with Max and me.” He had completely excluded Lolly.

Silently Lolly watched the boys go upstairs. How could Munch do this? A small hand slipped into hers. She looked down at Mitzi. The little girl said, “Boys are stupid and they have cooties too. Can we go see the chickens? I need to tell them to hide their eggs so Mrs. Dutchendorph can't steal their children while I am here." There wasn’t anything else so do, so Lolly nodded.

While Mitzi carefully explained to the chickens the dangers of Mrs. Dutchendorph, Lolly kept glancing up at the attic window. Trevor Long was in there. He might have a girlfriend, and it was not her. Then there was stupid Munch, she had never been so close to hating him. She looked back at the chickens. Mitzi stood rigid. Her face was flushed and she whimpered, “I gotta go pee. We better hurry. I waited too long again.” Lolly snatched her up and ran for the house. They made it just in time.

When they came out of the bathroom, Trevor was coming down the stairs. He saw Lolly and grinned. He said, “Max said I should see the chickens, ya’ll want to show me?”

Mitzi shook her head. "I have spent enough time with chickens for one day. I am going upstairs to paint.” She stomped up the steps.

Trevor asked, “So have you seen enough chickens for one day?”

Her first instinct was to say, yes, but she knew she had to find out who the girl in the red Mustang was, so she said, "No."

“Okay, then lets go.”