The walk from the house to the chicken coop was awkward. Lolly’s shyness was getting the best of her. Trevor was doing his best to draw her out, but her mouth had gone dry. When they reached the chickens, Trevor laughed. “Look at that little Bantam.” The tiny rooster was strutting for all he was worth. None of the hens seemed the least bit interested. There was something about his size and his cockiness, that reminded Lolly of Munch. She started to form a response, but the little rooster crowed. Trevor said, “I need to tell my dad to get me one of those. We just have Island Reds.”

Lolly guessed Island Reds were some kind of chickens. Silently she prayed, Dear God, Help me talk, please!

“We’ve got chickens at our farm, cows and goats too. I’ve mostly grown up in the cities so this country life is new to me. Do you have any livestock?”

“No. Just a cat named, Fluff.”

“I am allergic to cats.”

Lolly didn’t know how to respond to this so she just said, “Oh.” It must be horrible to be allergic to cats. She didn’t know how she would live without Fluff.

Nervously, Trevor smiled. It was an uncertain smile. “Do you have any siblings?”

“No. Do you?” Oh my God, thought Lolly, I am SUCH a conversationalist!

“I have an older sister. She dropped me off.”

The girl in the Mustang was his sister, HIS SISTER! The earth seemed to loose all its gravity. Lolly felt like she was literally floating. No this did not mean Trevor liked her or anything, but HE DID NOT HAVE A GIRLFRIEND. All the sudden the bubble she was floating in popped. She was jumping to a conclusion. Just because the girl with the Mustang turned out to be his sister did not mean that there might be another girl with or without a car that he was dating or at least interested in. She felt herself starting to spiral inside. All the ugly things she thought about herself began to rise to the surface. What was she hoping? She was hoping he would like her and THAT was never going to happen.

He asked, “What’s wrong Lolly?”

“Nothing.” It was a lie.

“Oh, okay. That suit Munch is making is really loud.”

As angry as she was at Munch right now, she did not like Trevor criticizing his work. “So, you don’t like it?”

“No. I like it. Its just I’ve never worn anything like that before. Hell I’ve never seen anything like that before. He has some imagination.”

“He does.”

“Munch showed me the sketch of what he is going to make for you. He said he hasn’t found the right color pink yet.”

What? Munch talked about her, she hoped he didn’t say anything bad about her because he was mad at her.

Trevor wove his fingers through the chicken wire and asked, “I am a little nervous about being on a runway, are you nervous?”

“Very.”

He smiled and said, “You will do great. Munch told me you are a natural born walker.”

“Really?"

“Yeah, he talks about you a lot. He told me ya’ll have been best friends since first grade.”

“Yes.” Good grief, this monosyllabic answers were getting monotonous. Firmly she told herself, Longer sentences, Lolly.

“That must be nice. Because of my dad’s job, we had to move around a lot. We moved here because he retired. I’ve never been in a single school for more than a year. I like the idea of being in one place.”

“That’s good.” More words! Use more words!

He let go of the chicken wire and came a bit closer. He looked straight into her eyes. For one brief second, Lolly thought he might kiss her. Would a nice boy just kiss a girl without warning? She had never been kissed so she didn’t know. He said, “Munch was telling me how blue your eyes were and they really are.”

Despite being mad at her, Munch had said that! Maybe she would forgive him for excluding her, maybe she wouldn’t.

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The back door banged open. It was Mitzi with Puccini in tow. She headed straight for them. Great. The first thing the little imp did was lace her fingers through Trevor’s. “Come inside, I want to show you my NEW painting.” She looked at Lolly and said, “Oh, and Mrs. Dutchendorph needs some help with the burgers, Its been forever since she cooked meat. I hope the hamburgers are good.” Lolly did too.

In the kitchen Mrs. Dutchendorph had on rubber gloves and she was eyeing the bowl of ground meet with trepidation. It was obvious she did not even want to touch the meat, much less cook it. Lolly said, “I can do that.”

“Oh, would you? I would appreciate it.”

The spices had already been dumped into the bowl. She stuck her hands in to the meat. Mrs. Dutchendorph gasped and ran to the bathroom. Lolly wasn’t sure but she thought she heard her puke. Several minutes passed before she returned. Lolly asked, “Are you okay?”

“No. I’ll go out and start the grill up while you make the patties. The sound of meat being squished makes me nauseous. Just bring them out and if you could put them on the grill for me, I would appreciate it so much.”

“Sure.”

Mrs. Dutchendorph went out the back door. When Lolly finished making the patties, she went outside. Mrs. Dutchendorph had her back to her and she was staring at the chicken coop. When she turned to face Lolly, there were tears in her eyes. “Usually, Michael starts the grill, but he is so mad at me. If I hadn’t forgotten to get the mail yesterday her never would have seen that letter.” Her voice dropped to a whisper and she asked, “Are you mad at me, Lolly?”

“No, of course not.” The situation was a bit weird, but Mrs. Dutchendorph was one of the kindest people that Lolly knew. She said, “Munch will get over it.”

“I hope you are right.”

As Lolly put the burgers on the grill she asked, “What made you decide to fix real burgers?”

“I didn’t want Michael’s new friend to think we are any weirder than we are. Honestly, I just didn’t want to scare him off. It isn’t often Michael has a new friend, much less one that comes to our house.” There was pain in her voice and fear.

Lolly heard the rumble of Grandma Toady’s truck coming down the drive. She pulled around back and parked under a tree. Max, Mitzi, and Trevor came outside. Munch did not. Grandma Toady climbed out of the truck. In her hand was a bag. “We had some left over brownies. I thought the kids would like them.”

Mitzi shouted, “This kid LOVES brownies!”

Grandma Toady said, “I know, but don’t you dare feed Puccini any.”

“I won’t. but he will be very sad."

“He will get over it.” Grandma Toady put the bag on the picnic table. She took one look at Mrs. Dutchendorph and said, “Are you feeling okay Estelle?”

Mitzi said, “She threw up. I heard her.”

Grandma Toady put a hand on Mrs. Dutchendorph’s forehead. “You are a bit clammy go on inside and lay down. I will take care of this shin dig.”

“Thank you.” Mrs. Dutchendorph went inside.

Grandma Toady surveyed the group and noticed Munch was missing. She asked, “Is Munch in a mood?”

The ever informative Mitzi said, “Yup.”

“His loss. Now set the table and put out the buns and condiments.” To Trevor, Grandma Toady said, “I don’t believe we’ve met. Just call me Grandma Toady, everybody does. And your name is?”

“Trevor, Ma'am.”

“Nice to meet you. How do you like your burger?”

“Medium rare, please,” Trevor said.

The way Grandma Toady could handle any situation was a continuing wonder. Unlike Lolly, she never met a stranger, never was at a loss for words and always knew how to make people feel comfortable. During the meal she entertained them with stories of the crazy old ladies in the quilting bee. She didn’t name any names, but Lolly knew who she was referring to. Their laughter eventually brought Munch out. He didn’t say much, he didn’t look even look at Lolly but at least he wasn’t still sulking in his room.

When the meal was over, Grandma Toady told them, Load up, it’s time to go home.” She asked Trevor, “Do you need a ride home son?”

“If you have room?”

“We got room. Big kids in the back, little girls with bears and grandmas in the front.” To Munch she said, “Look after your Mom. She’s not feeling good.”

“Yes Ma’am.” To Trevor he said, “Thanks for coming over, you too Max. Bye Mitzi.” He didn’t say anything to Lolly.

Max, Trevor and Lolly climbed into the truck bed. Grandma Toady told them to sit against the cab. They did. Lolly sat between Max and Trevor. He was so close she could almost touch him.

*

Lolly had her curtain open and was staring up at the night sky thinking about Trevor. He seemed really nice. She wondered what he thought of her, if anything.

There was a knock on her door. She said, “Come in.” It surprised her when Max opened the door and walked in. It had been ages since he had been in her room. For several seconds he just stood there staring at his feet, finally he raised his eyes and said, “Munch told me about the letter. Don’t be too hard on him, Lolly.”

“Why not? What he did was wrong.”

“Maybe so, but think about it from Munch’s perspective.” This conversation was surreal. Lolly didn’t now Max thought about anybody but himself. Max continued. “He’s scared.”

“Of Pa? Pa is the nicest man I know and besides, they aren’t even dating.”

Max looked at her. “They will be. Munch told me what was in the letter.” Lolly started to cut in, but Max held up his hand, “Think about it. Mrs. Dutchendorph is ALL of Max’s family. He rarely sees his grandparents because they live so far away. He has not had to share his mother with anyone since his dad died. While your mom may not be around, if you needed to, you could call her. Munch can’t call his dad and he doesn’t even know where his birth father is. You on the other hand, have Grandma Toady, Mitzi, Me, my mom and your dad.” He paused and said, “Munch just has his mother.”

Lolly protested, “He has me.”

“You are his friend, not his family.”

Again, Lolly wanted to protest, but she held her tongue. In truth she had never thought about what it must be like for Munch to have such a small family. While she and Munch were together a lot, she did not live with him, she had not known him his entire life. She did not share blood with him or any family characteristics. He didn’t have an Aunt Jessie who wore the same shoe size he did. He didn’t have a little cousin to pick out his clothes and make him laugh. He just had his mom. Just his mom. “Okay, I think I get it. I’m glad that Munch had you to talk to today.”

“Me too.” He turned and walked out of the room.