A few minutes later, the doorbell rang, so I ran downstairs to answer it.
I absolutely love answering the door. It could be anyone! It could be a record producer who heard me singing out my window and wants to make me a star! It could be a stray Great Dane who needs a home and just happened to press my doorbell with his nose.
Nana is always telling me, “Be-a care-a-ful! Neva open da door-a to-a stranger-a!” Which is why I always look through the glass window in the door to see who it is before I open it.
The person I saw through the glass was not a record producer or a Great Dane.
It was a girl I’d never met before. Here’s what she looked like:
1. Straight black hair pulled back into a neat ponytail.
2. Tortoiseshell eyeglasses, just like Jude’s.
3. An enormous backpack on her back. The backpack was so big, she was hunched over. She looked like a turtle with a huge shell on her back.
4. The biggest book ever in her arms.
“Who are you?” I asked. I had to talk kind of loud so she could hear through the glass.
“I’m Chloe,” she said. “Matt’s sister. I came to pick him up.”
I was dumbstruck. No, that does not mean I was turned into a dumbbell, which is what I used to think. It means I turned speechless.
“Matthew Sawyer has a sister?” I asked.
“Yep,” she said. “And she is me. I mean, I’m her.”
“But you don’t even look like him!” I said.
She smiled. “That’s because we’re stepsiblings. His mom and my dad got married a few years ago.”
I shouted up to Matt: “DO YOU HAVE A SISTER NAMED CHLOE WHO WEARS AN ENORMOUS BACKPACK WHO IS PICKING YOU UP TODAY?”
Like my grandma says, “You-a neva can-a be too-a careful!”
“YES!” he shouted back.
So I let her in.
I was full of questions. I asked Chloe how old she was (thirteen) and did she live with Matt (half of the week) and what the heck was that gigantic book she was holding.
“Oh, it’s the dictionary,” she said. “I’m trying to read the whole thing.”
She sat down at the kitchen table as I made her a Bop Shoo Bop.
Jude came into the kitchen to get a glass of water. When he saw Chloe and her dictionary, he got excited.
“Oh, cool! I’ve always wanted to read the dictionary!” he exclaimed. “What letter are you up to?”
“I’m only up to c.” She sighed. “There are so many c words!”
“There are so many c words!” Jude agreed. He nodded so hard, his glasses slid down his nose and he had to push them back up. “Even just the words that start with con!”
“Contain, contend, conversation,” Chloe said.
“Control, conference, concentrate,” Jude added.
“Our last name!” I burst out. “Conti!”
Jude said, “Don’t you have to help Matt finish his lists?”
Then he turned back to Chloe. “Connive.”
“Contract!” she laughed.
“Congress!” he laughed.
I had never heard Jude have so much fun with anyone besides Ezra. It was like they were two people sharing one big brain.
I went back upstairs, where Ezra was printing out the lists for Matt.
“Matt,” I said. “Your sister is really smart.”
“Yeah, so I heard,” he replied. “She can be a total show-off.”
“I know how you feel,” I said.
Pearl ran in then, holding Ricardo. She scrambled up onto Matt’s lap and asked him to tell her a story about the bad gerbils.
And he did. He made up a story about a gerbil named Jerry who started the bubonic plague and a good little rat named Reginald who was framed for the whole thing.
“Reginald died many, many years ago,” he said, “but his great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson is still alive. And do you know what his name is?”
She shook her head. She was so mesmerized by Matt’s story that her mouth was hanging open.
“Ricardo!” he said.
She made a yelp of surprise. Then, to my amazement, she threw her arms around Matt and said, “My best fwiend!”
And to my even greater amazement, he hugged her back.
My sister was best friends with Matthew Sawyer.
My brother was best friends with Matthew Sawyer’s sister.
Life is full of surprises.