Eager Star by Dandi Daley Mackall

barn as Hawk’s fancy bird.
    â€œHey, Sal!” I couldn’t think of a single thing to say to her.
    â€œLizzy said Summer hasn’t shown yet, but that I could check out here.” Sal scratched her arm as if something had bitten her.
    â€œSummer is not here yet,” Hawk said.
    â€œWho else is coming?” Sal asked.
    Hawk answered for me. “Just you and Summer. Let’s go back to the house.”
    Sal tiptoed out. “What’s with the stuff in the yard?”
    â€œPizza!” Lizzy yelled from the house.
    Sal picked up the pace. “I’m starved!”
    Inside, I looked around our living room through Sal’s eyes. Pale green walls badly in need of paint, no pictures, a gold shag carpet worn flat by the door and the television, Dad’s reading chair covered with newspapers, and a couch that never should have left Goodwill. But the musty smell was disguised by the scent of fresh-baked bread and mozzarella cheese.
    â€œWhere should I put my pack?” Sal asked. She didn’t seem to trust any place she’d seen so far.
    I led her to the bedroom, snatching up clothes off my half of the room. Lizzy’s half looked perfect. “Throw your stuff over there.”
    Sal plopped her pack on Lizzy’s bed and herself next to it. “Small room, but at least you’ve got the extra bed for company.”
    â€œLizzy’s company. That’s her bed, but she and Hawk will sleep on the floor with me tonight. You and Summer can have the beds.”
    â€œYou share a room?” Sal glanced at the walls. My half was covered with horse pictures torn from magazines.
    I showed Sal where to wash up, explaining that the hot faucet is really the cold. “And the door doesn’t lock. You can hang a washcloth over the outside knob so people know somebody’s in there.”
    The phone rang.
    â€œMaybe it’s Summer!” Sal almost knocked me down on her way out of the room.
    Lizzy answered, then put her hand over the mouthpiece. “Winnie! For you!”
    â€œIs it Summer?” Sal asked.
    I dried my hands and picked up the phone. “Hello?”
    â€œWinnie?” It was Summer. “I’m not going to be able to spend the night at your house.”
    â€œWhy not?” I asked.
    â€œWhy not what?” Sal asked, crowding in to hear.
    â€œMother doesn’t feel comfortable having me stay there without another mother to chaperone,” Summer answered. “You understand.”
    I understood. Like it was my fault my mother was dead? I rubbed the scar on my elbow. The one I’d gotten in the car accident that had killed my mother. I didn’t think there were any new ways left for me to miss my mother, but Summer had found one.
    Sal kept trying to press her ear to the receiver.
    Summer was still talking. “Dad doesn’t really know Odd-Job Willis that well. You know how it is.”
    I knew how it was.
    â€œSummer?” Sal shouted toward the receiver.
    I handed Sal the phone and walked over to Lizzy and Hawk, who looked at me as if I were an old mare just assigned to the glue factory.
    â€œWhy didn’t you call me?” Sal whined into the receiver. “I know!” She turned her back to us, listened silently for a full minute, then whispered, “Okay!” and hung up.
    â€œLet’s eat!” Lizzy produced the most beautiful pizza, oozing with cheese and pepperoni and sausage. We sat at the table and held out our plates.
    Dad strolled in, still wearing the one-piece work suit that makes me think of astronauts. “Smells great, Lizzy!”
    I introduced him to Sal. “Dad, aren’t you going to that business luncheon tomorrow?” I glanced at Sal, but she just bit into her pizza.
    Lizzy looked like she wanted to stop her and bless the pizza first. Quickly she said, “Thanks for this food, God! Amen!”
    Sal gave Lizzy a sideways glance as if my sister had just spoken to