Mimi and Max

After school I told Mimi all about my big surprise vacation. I said, "I'm sorry I won't be here to watch Unlikely Heroes with you tomorrow night," but she didn't seem very sad about my being gone.

"Oh, that's okay," said Mimi. "Max is coming over with his parents for dinner, so I can watch it with him."

This was not what I was wanting to hear, so I said, "What if he doesn't like it? Lots of boys don't like that sort of show because the heroes don't wear costumes or capes or even have big muscles." Mimi surprised me 100 percent by what she said next. "Don't worry," she said. "He loves Unlikely Heroes, just like us. I already asked him. Isn't that great?" "Yeah," I answered, "great."

But I wasn't being even 50 percent truthful, because great is getting lots of amazing super-surprise presents when it is not even your birthday. Great is not having your next-door-neighbor-best-friend-in-the-whole-world become best friends with her new next-door-handstanding-boy-neighbor while you have to go away on vacation.