“Mom! Dad! Quinn! Come see!”
“How did it get to be past eight a.m. with me still in my pajamas?” Mr. Andrews stood in the master bedroom doorway and glanced back at the clock on his dresser as Mickey scampered up and down the hallway, rapping her knuckles on each door she passed. “Okay, Mickey, that’s enough; we’re all awake now. Honey, are you in the shower?” he called down the hallway.
“Quinn, Mickey, are you up yet?” Ms. Lee emerged from the bathroom, already dressed for the day. “Neally’s dad asked us to let them know when we’d like to get going.” She ran her fingers through her freshly washed hair. “Quinn, would you phone Neally after breakfast and ask if ten o’clock is okay?”
“Sure.” Quinn leaned against his bedroom doorway. “What’s up, Mickey? Did Peppy bust his wheel again?”
“Something way better—come and look!” Mickey’s parents and brother followed her into her bedroom, and Mickey pressed her nose against the window. “I can see the day!”
Billowing clouds filled the horizon, from east to west. Backlit by the morning sun, the clouds looked as though they’d been stroked across the sky with a rose-orange watercolor brush.
“Isn’t it lovely? I wish we could catch it!”
“Me too.” Ms. Lee hugged her daughter and kissed the top of Quinn’s head. “It’s going to be the perfect day for a picnic.”