ANNA LED ME into the living room. “Sit, sit.”
I perched on the edge of the couch, waiting and feeling awkward. Anna and I stared at each other. It was weird, being in a stranger’s house.
“Um, it’s really nice of you,” I said. “I mean, letting us park here and letting my sister use your toilet and everything.”
“Beautiful little girls, your sisters. How old? Five and six?”
“Five. They’re twins.”
“The little one…Whisper, is it?” Anna tilted her head.
“Yeah. Well, Juniper, really. Whisper’s just a nickname.”
She nodded. “It suits her. Quiet little thing.”
I swallowed. “She’s never been a big talker.”
“Well, we’re all different, aren’t we?”
“Um. I’m kind of worried about her. Actually…” My heart was racing. I knew Mom wouldn’t like me talking about this with a stranger.
“Are you?”
“She just gets upset a lot. Tantrums, you know?”
Anna laughed softly. “My daughter—Thomas’s mom—she used to have terrible tantrums. When she was three, four…she’d throw herself down on the ground and kick and scream like a crazy thing. One time, she must have been three because we were living in that third-floor apartment in Dubrovnik, she got so angry. She wanted something… I think it was water that had spilled, but she wanted that exact same water back. Not a refill. Not different water.”
I laughed. “That’s totally something the twins would do.”
“She was lying on the ground and kicking her legs and shouting…And I had just had enough, so I walked away. And you know what she did? She just shut off the tantrum, toddled after me and threw herself back down and picked right up again. She looked out of control, but she could just shut it right off. The little monkey.”
I laughed, but I was thinking about Whisper. “My sister…I don’t think she’s like that. I think she gets really scared or something. Overwhelmed. And she doesn’t shout.” I looked down at my socks. They were stained and grubby. I curled my toes under to hide a hole in one of them. “She doesn’t even talk.”
Anna frowned. “Not at all?”
I studied the pale-blue carpet under my feet. “Yeah. I mean, no. Not at all.”
She shook her head. “Tch, tch. Your poor mother. She must be worried.”
“I guess,” I said. “But she’s so busy with this project, you know? Her shows and everything…”
“Well, you talk to her,” Anna said. “All right, Wolf? You let her know you’re worried. It’s not good to hide your worries.”
“I think we’re leaving in the morning,” I said. “Driving to Hope.”
“To do another show?”
“Yeah,” I said. “That’s right.”
“Well, maybe you could take a little break,” she said. “Stay an extra day. I bet the little girls could use some fun and exercise. There’s a swimming pool a few blocks away.”
“I’ll ask my mom,” I said.
But I already knew what the answer would be. Fun and exercise and swimming pools didn’t rank too high when you weighed them against saving the world.
And I could see in my mind a map of Canada, the highway stretching from coast to coast, and along the way a thousand stops, a thousand stupid shows, a thousand black- and-yellow bee-shaped dots.
From down the hall, I heard the toilet flush and the door open and slam shut. Saffron never did anything quietly. “Wolf?” she called out.
“Right here,” I called back. “In the living room.”
Saffron skipped into the living room, humming, and stopped abruptly when she saw Anna. “Oh. Hi.”
Anna smiled at her. “I like your bee costume,” she said.
Saffron gave a twirl. “Yup. Me too.”
“And so you are traveling around, talking to people about bees? I bet you’re learning a lot of interesting things.”
I wondered what Anna really thought. Probably figured we were all crazy. Maybe she felt sorry for us. That was probably why she let us use her driveway.
“Ty’s telling me a story about a bee called Buzzy,” Saffron announced proudly. “He’s making it up just for me, but Whisper listens too. Buzzy likes to—”
I interrupted before she could start relaying the Buzzy story in every last boring detail. “Thanks so much, Anna. For letting Saffron use the bathroom and everything.” I took Saffy’s hand. “Come on,” I said, tugging her toward the front door.
“Bye, Anna!” Saffron said, like they were old friends. “See you later!”