Free Home Alone by Lisa Church Page A

body up near his sister's nose.
    Winnie let out a scream and would have knocked the lizard out of his hand had her swipe at him been better aimed. But he had expected her reaction and had the little reptile safely back on a rock before she could do it any harm. Alec was the kind of kid that loved teasing people, especially his sister. Sometimes even Winnie had to admit his pranks were funny. But more often than not, she thought he was immature and anything but funny. Today was one of those days.
    "You ever do that again and I'll…"
    "You'll what?" Alec said, grabbing for the lizard. "Tell Mom?"
    Winnie looked at the boy in disgust. That would be the last thing she would do. If her mother discovered they couldn't get along now, she surely wouldn't trust them to stay alone later. She needed to set her brother straight fast. Nothing was going to ruin her afternoon of being treated like the new grown-up she was.
    "Listen, little brother, when are you going to stop playing tricks on me? You're getting too old for that. When you were a little kid, you were funny. Even I laughed. But now, you should be growing out of that stage. You should be trying to show people how you've changed."
    Winnie almost laughed at the stunned look on her brother's face. He probably thought she was crazy talking to him like this. Usually she got mad, said a few mean words, and walked away. But today, well, today was different. She had to let him know their afternoon of freedom depended on his behavior. One fight, no matter how small, would immediately change her mom's mind about leaving them alone.
    "You know, Mom was just saying how grown up you've been acting lately." Winnie's words took her brother totally by surprise. She hoped he wouldn't guess this tale was as long as the lizard's tail he was holding.
    "She did?" Alec asked, dropping the lizard to hear more.
    "Yes, she said you've been acting quite mature lately, and she thinks it's about time she gave you more responsibility around here." Winnie could see her brother mentally patting himself on the back. He was hanging on her every word.
    "She even mentioned something about letting us stay by ourselves this afternoon while she and Dad go into town for a while." Winnie was nearly bursting when she finally got to say the words out loud. Unfortunately, her brother didn't seem quite as excited as she was with the news.
    "Big deal," he said, squatting back down to the sand. "So we're here alone instead of having Grandma in the other room. What's so 'grown up' about that?"
    Winnie could have slugged him. He just didn't get it. He must be too young to understand what a gigantic thing this was. Why, staying alone ranked right up there with getting your first phone or being allowed to choose your own clothes for school. Maybe it was because he was a boy. Or maybe being eight was simply more stupid than she remembered. Either way, Winnie didn't really care. All she really needed was his cooperation for the next few hours so he wouldn't blow the deal she had made with her mother. She figured the best way to do this was to stay away from him until her parents were ready to leave. That way, there was no chance for little fights or dumb tricks to make her mad.
    The time went by slowly. But 4:00 finally came, and so did the list of instructions on how to handle their next hour or two alone.
    "We'll be fine, Mom, I promise," Winnie said, practically closing the car door on her mother. Her dad just winked at her and started the car engine.
    "Call Grandma if anything goes wrong," Mrs. Frazier said as she opened her window.
    "Mom, Grandma lives in Pennsylvania. What good is she going to do?" Alec asked.
    The boy’s whining voice was enough to make Winnie cringe. They were almost home free. Don ' t ruin it now, little brother!
    "I know," she said. "Force of habit. I know you'll be fine. If only we had cell phone service in this area, I would feel a lot better." And with that, her dad backed out of the