Free A Face in Every Window by Han Nolan Page A

Grandma Mary had said. "He'd start picking his nose in public or touching his privates, and we can't have that, you know. Anyway, they're not going to teach anything I couldn't teach him me own self, right here in me own home."
    But, of course, Dr. Mike had to interfere, reminding Mam that Grandma Mary was dead now and that she needed to consider what was best for Pap and that Pap needed someplace to go during the day. He thought Pap really could get a
job, someday, just as Larry had wanted Pap to learn the piano. Mam agreed, of course, and so it would be their own fault when Pap went along to the grocery store one day and decided to pull his pants down because he'd seen someone in his class doing it.
    I was so upset just picturing the whole idea, I'd forgotten that Bobbi was with us. Pap came toward me with his arms out, wanting to hug me, and Bobbi stepped forward in front of me and hugged him first.
    "Hey! It's Bobbi come to stay!" Pap said.
    I glanced at Mam and I could tell she was surprised to see Bobbi, but she was also delighted.
    Pap dapped and hugged me and Larry, then sat down in the rocker and began a rapid rocking, his fingers twitching on the armrests.
    Bobbi walked over to Mam, who stood beaming at the top of the porch steps, and the two of them hugged. "I'm glad you changed your mind," Mam said, and then I knew that Bobbi had been invited. She had been invited behind my back, just as Larry had. Everything went on behind my back, mine and Grandma Mary's—a total betrayal.
    "She can help me put up the Nativity," Pap said, rocking his chair hard enough to hit the wall behind him. "You know where we're going to put it?"
    Bobbi turned from Mam, wiping at her eyes and said, "No, where?"
    "Right above where you're standin' right now on this porch, is where. And it's flat up there so they won't fall off and get hurt And you can be a Three Wise Man if you want to."
    Bobbi nodded "I can't wait," she said.
    Mam twisted around, looking back at the driveway.
    "Bobbi, how did you get here? I don't see a car."
    Bobbi shrugged. "Oh, I just hitched a couple of rides." She set her gaze on me and added, "Thanks for
inviting
me to stay, Mrs. O'Brien."
    "Well, we're glad to have you. There's plenty of room here."
    Pap jumped up from his seat and hugged Bobbi again, squeezing her tight "Isn't this so fun?"
    Mam answered him. "We need to celebrate all this good news. Come on," she said to Bobbi, "let's pick out a bedroom for you, and then we can all go down to the kitchen and make ourselves a celebration dinner."
    We all paraded back into the house, with Pap grabbing up Bobbi's bag and swinging it up onto his head.
    "Hey," he said, "this isn't so heavy as the boxes we've been moving."
    I entered the house last, kicking the front door shut behind me. The four of them continued up the stairs and I stayed behind watching them—this new thing my family had become, this monstrous entity with eight eyes and eight arms and legs, this oddball creature with one giant mouth that had devoured my real family.

Chapter Ten
    W E ALL SPENT the next several weeks adjusting to our new lives. Everything was new: home, family, school, jobs.
    I was the only one, however, who found the transition difficult. I felt as if I were drowning in a swirling pool of chaos. In school I stuck with what I did best, classes and homework. At home, though, life was a party that never ended, and Mam was the one keeping the party going. At first she just stayed up late talking with Larry and Bobbi, then she went out on more dates with Dr. Mike, coming in at all hours, and finally she created what she called all-night fun-a-thons. Mam, Pap, Larry, and Bobbi would dance to loud music all over the house, the way Mam used to do with Pap, or the group would read plays to one another, acting the parts, or watch movies, or play basketball. The next morning Mam would have to drag herself out of bed, gulp down several mugs of coffee, and set out for work exhausted before the