However, while deciding what she would say if asked for advice, Lorraine suddenly realized that she didn't yet have many thoughts about the girl whom she only met today. She thus stopped trying to step into the adults' conversation and started observing Charlotte, who was washing the dishes after the meal as if the discussion had nothing to do with her.

"Why don't you just load everything into the dishwasher?" Lorraine asked at last after watching Charlotte scrub a frying pan for more than a minute.

"Bold of you to assume we have a dishwasher, Lorraine," Charlotte sang as a reply.

Lorraine considered the answer for a couple of seconds. Her imagination suddenly pictured Charlotte's first day at her house, gasping at the machine that would save her loads of time. Lorraine could then teach her to load the dishwasher, repeating "How can anybody not know how to do such a simple thing?". Perhaps it would take tons of time to teach her sister, but Lorraine would be patient. With Charlotte's every mistake, she would sigh and scold her a little but continue the instruction nevertheless. 

"Well," Lorraine said, rubbing her hands, "you will maybe be able to learn how to use one when you come to live with us."

"No, thank you, I'd rather pass," Charlotte replied, finally drying the pan. "I don't want to waste all the water a dishwasher uses. And just come to think of the electricity bill you must be getting because of it!"

"But washing dishes by hand is such a waste of your precious time! And time is your most valuable resource!" Lorraine argued, finishing with a phrase that dad often said.

"I didn't expect anyone younger than me to say that," Charlotte confessed, picking up another dish. "Where are you rushing, may I ask, that you put your time above the environment?"

"I didn't talk about myself," Lorraine explained, "I just meant generally!"

"Oh boy, do they generally use dishwashers where you live?" Charlotte's tone suddenly became condescending. "Let me guess: does your kind also use a car even when it can just walk? Do you guys buy a lot of clothes that you first don't wear and then just throw in the trash?"

"Aren't you just jealous because you don't have a dishwasher, a car, or lots of clothes?" Lorraine guessed.

"Jealous? I pity people like you!" Charlotte laughed. "You guys are always chasing after some big goals like self-development, while not really knowing how to preserve the environment or save up money --"

"What - are - you - saying?" Lorraine almost shouted but lowered her voice after everybody in the room turned to them for a split second. "We're much more rich than you are, don't you realize that, dum-dum?"

"It's only because your parents are getting paid more," Charlotte shrugged. "Imagine how much richer you would be if you didn't use a dishwasher or a car. All of that money saved on electricity and gas --"

"Don't you think it's better to earn lots of money while spending all of that time at a job?" Lorraine rolled her eyes. She was really getting tired of her sister.

"For your parents, yes," Charlotte agreed finally, putting the last dish onto the rack. "But I don't have a job yet because I'm only thirteen, and neither does Eugene. We cannot earn any money yet, but we can save it, and we have all the time to do it. And as you don't have a job either, you could help your parents by saving money as well."

"But my parents don't need me to do it," Lorraine protested with a heavy sigh. Luckily, she didn't have to continue the debate because her sister, no longer interested, shrugged and turned to Dylan and Eugene, trying to join the boys' conversation.

Lorraine sat down and put her head onto her hands. She really didn't expect to get tired from simply talking. How could Charlotte be so unwilling to listen to her? What also annoyed Lorraine was a small thought in the back of her mind that some things that Charlotte said might have actually been right. At least, she finally made a clear decision that she didn't want her sister to live with them because she, Lorraine, simply wouldn't survive arguing with her. She meant to say that to her mom immediately but was suddenly distracted by what she heard from the corner of the kitchen where the teenagers were standing.

In the last few minutes, Dylan found out that Eugene and Charlotte lost the fight, and, what was even worse, the fight was stopped with outside help from an adult. His unparalleled respect dwindled with every second and would probably be substituted by months and years of jokes if not for what happened next.

"Say Charlotte, don't you think it's about time we gave Dylan his camera back?" Eugene asked casually.

"Oh, sure!" she nodded. "Although we need to delete our photos first."

"Let's first see if Dylan wants them deleted," Eugene smirked. "Why don't we go and look at them together?"

"I really don't care about your little kids' pictures, children," Dylan said.

"You'd better see them just in case," Eugene insisted. "Come on, it'll only take a minute."

Finally persuaded, Dylan followed two thirteen-year-olds out of the kitchen. Lorraine, interested immensely, tried to join them, but was kindly asked to stay back. She stayed in the kitchen for a few more minutes and then crept into the hallway, up the stairs, and towards the open door of the room where the teenagers were sitting.