Jon started out the door, going down to the corner to wait for the school bus. His mom was acting sort of weird this morning. He turned the corner just in time to watch it speed away without him.
He hurried back home and ran into Mikey, who was still hot on the trail of his missing mother. "I missed the bus...but it wasn't my fault."
Mikey looked at him, momentarily amused in spite of the wrongness of the situation. He'd been on the other side of this conversation, and usually his mother was mad. And to see Jon with that fearful expression on his face, expecting she would be...Mikey felt a sudden odd feeling toward his older brother. He realized he was, until he found his Mom and fixed this, in charge. "Come on," he said, looking up at Jon, sympathetically.
As they went inside, the phone rang. The caller ID flashed Gary Fiennes. That was the name of his mother's boss. "Oh, I'm glad I caught you," he said. "I need you to pick up some papers for me on your way in today," he said.
Mikey froze. In? To his mother's office? What was he supposed to do?
