Free In Good Company by Jen Turano

playing an exhilarating game of walking the plank, and exhilarating means invigorating if you didn’t know.”
    “I distinctly remember cautioning you against trying to drown the children before I left this morning.”
    “What an interesting imagination you have, Everett, especially since the game of walking the plank was yet another one of the children’s ideas,” Millie returned. “Since I agreed to go first, if there were any thoughts of drowning a person, I do believe those thoughts originated with the three little angels currently glaring at me. Why, it’s truly only because I’m fleet of foot that I was able to make it across the plank without falling in, especially when obstacles were thrown my way, such as sticks, mud, and I do believe, a shoe.”
    She shook out the folds of her dry skirt. “As you can see, I was able to cross successfully. I then encouraged the children to follow me, which they did, but . . . alas, they were not as successful as I was at navigating across the plank.”
    “She threatened us with a really big snake when we were in the very middle of the fountain,” Elizabeth said, speaking up in a voice that shook with indignation. “We could have died a horrible death if the poisonous thing had bitten us.”
    Millie smiled. “What a wonderful imagination you have, dear, quite as good as the one Everett possesses, and a flair for the theatrical, I must add. Why, I thought since the three of you seem to have a liking for slimy creatures, and you also seem to like sharing those slimy creatures with others, such as Mrs. Smithey, you’d want to add the snake I found to the rest of your collection of peculiar pets. How could I have possibly known all three of you are frightened of snakes?” She nodded at Elizabeth, just once, although to Everett it almost seemed as if something unspoken swirled between Millie and the young girl.
    Before he could dwell on that idea, though, Millie turned back to him. “Since you look as if you’re contemplating bodily harm, that being my body in question, I must tell you that it was just a little garden snake. And it’s not as if I tossed it at the children—I simply held it up as I got back on the plank to join them.” Her lips began twitching. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone jump off a plank so quickly, and then, well, watching the children try to run through water to get away from me and my tiny little snake was absolutely . . . amusing.”
    “She’s a lunatic, Mr. Mulberry,” Elizabeth declared, “and I want you to get rid of her right this second.”
    Before Everett could think of a single reply to that, especially since he wasn’t certain Elizabeth was exactly wrong with the whole lunatic theory, Millie stepped forward, all signs ofamusement gone from her face. “Did you just call Everett . . . Mr. Mulberry?”
    “That is his name,” Elizabeth said.
    Suddenly finding himself pinned beneath Millie’s glare, Everett forced a smile. “May I presume you have a problem with the children calling me Mr. Mulberry?”
    “I do.” Millie swung her attention back to Elizabeth. “From this point forward, all three of you shall address Mr. Mulberry as . . . Uncle Everett.”
    Elizabeth immediately turned hostile. “We don’t want to call him Uncle Everett,” she said as the twins nodded in obvious agreement.
    “It’s not up for debate,” Millie countered.
    “Is it up for debate that he calls us the brats ?” Elizabeth shot back.
    Millie squared her shoulders, shot him another glare, and returned her attention to the children. “He will no longer be using that particular endearment, but now, if you three will excuse us, I feel a distinct need to go over a few things with your Uncle Everett in private.” She stepped closer to him, took a firm hold of his arm, and immediately began prodding him toward the door.
    “You’re just going to leave us tied up like this?” Elizabeth called after them.
    Stopping in her tracks,