Lorraine knew, of course, that Eugene and Charlotte were quite sly, but she firmly believed that they applied their skill gently and only when dealing with small, insignificant issues like near-lateness to dinner. However, starting on Saturday afternoon, she reconsidered the possibilities that her cousin and sister were also involved in criminal activity. Her previous suspicions - that Eugene and Charlotte were trespassing when climbing over the fence - were quieted by Charlotte’s explanation that there was around a three-foot wide stretch of land not belonging to anyone right behind the fence which led to a road, so technically, she and Eugene never set a foot on private property. However, if Lorraine was told this Saturday afternoon that trespassing had been the only infringement for which Eugene and Charlotte were responsible, she would be rather relieved, as she now realized that her relatives may have been guilty of blackmailing.

What else could explain the fact that when Eugene and Charlotte returned to Mrs. Rollings’s apartment after being absent for an hour, Margaret and Martha came along and admitted wishing to help with packing up and cleaning? What else could explain these girls’ diligence and joy when they were wrapping the twenty dining bowls and the fifty glass jars that Mrs. Rollings stored in her kitchen “just in case” in layers of newspapers so that they wouldn’t break? What else could explain that when asked about the rumors she spread about Eugene and Charlotte’s relationship, Margaret admitted to Lorraine that she had been very wrong about her actions? And why else was Lorraine not allowed to listen when her cousin and sister composed their plan for dealing with the rumors, when they didn’t mind her eavesdropping on the previous conversation with Dylan?

Lorraine admitted to herself that she was frightened, but her fear soon succumbed to her interest. Thus, she spent the rest of the day spying on the teenagers in hopes of hearing something on the matter. Her efforts, however, were fruitless - the only interesting thing she heard was that Dylan did, after all, delete the pictures from the camera seen on Friday -  but her inability to eavesdrop and pretend to work at the same time costed her quite a few unpleasant remarks from Mrs. Rollings who, despite her indecisive nature, had started to form a rather negative opinion of Lorraine. Perhaps that’s what led to Lorraine’s mom, who had a tendency to go along with others’ advice and comments, making the decision of which she informed Lorraine that evening.

“Honey, as you know, Irma will be in college starting this fall,” the woman in square glasses and a formal skirt quietly told Lorraine. Despite all the persuasion from Mrs. Rollings, Lorraine’s mom was still uneasy about holding this kind of conversation with anyone, including her daughter. “That means that she won’t be there to watch you after school.”

“Mm-hmm,” Lorraine replied, hardly looking away from the kitchen TV screen. After dinner, Aunt Alice allowed all the children to watch twenty minutes of TV for all the hard work they had done that day. Dylan refused to watch the childish cartoons, and Eugene and Charlotte decided that it was all right to share their remarks regarding the characters out loud, but Lorraine was still trying to enjoy the movie. Now the twenty minutes were up, but Aunt Alice still hasn’t come back into the kitchen to turn off the TV, so nobody thought of leaving.

“I would have you stay at home all by yourself,” Lorraine’s mom continued, “but legally, I’m not allowed to do that.”

“Mm-hmm,” Lorraine nodded.

“That’s why I called and made an arrangement with Mrs. Quigley who lives across the street from us.”

“Okay,” Lorraine nodded. Mrs. Quigley was rather nice as she always waved to Lorraine when the girl went on a walk with her mom and passed Mrs. Quigley’s porch; however, that lady rarely had a conversation with them for more than thirty seconds because she was always busy with work.

“However, she said that she wouldn’t be willing to have you at her house all the time because she has to stay concentrated. She has an email server to monitor from home, after all.”

“Huh? What’s the arrangement, then?” Lorraine asked, unwillingly turning away from the screen.

“She is going to simply check on you from time to time - maybe come to our house every hour or so to make sure you’re alright and doing what you’re supposed to be doing. She would also take you for an evening walk. But other than that, you would be left completely by yourself.”

“Sure,” Lorraine nodded and smiled to herself. She was used to living with Irma, but once she imagined everything she would be able to do when not being constantly watched by anyone, she started looking forward to these days of freedom. 

“That means, however, that you would have to do some housekeeping.”

“What?”

Lorraine’s mom adjusted her glasses and looked away from her daughter for a moment, gathering her confidence before continuing.

“You’ll have to microwave and partially make dinner, do some cleaning, wash your clothes –”

“What?” Lorraine gasped again. “No, you cannot do that to me. I’m only nine, mom!”

“Honey,” Lorraine’s mom’s voice wasn’t firm, but the words she spoke made her sound relatively convincing, “you’re absolutely old enough to start learning how to do things around the house. For example, by the time I was nine, I was regularly helping my parents with all these things.”

“But you were nine ages ago! Children don’t have to waste time on housekeeping now!” Lorraine said. She was pretty sure that none of the girls with whom she went on playdates had such responsibilities around the house.

“Perhaps the area where we live tends to set the children a bit behind regarding their chores,” her mom objected. “Here, on the other hand, children get used to working much earlier. Charlotte! Eugene!” 

Lorraine quickly glanced at her sister and cousin and realized that they had been listening to the conversation she had with her mom with eager interest.

“When did you guys start having meaningful chores?”

For the first time, Eugene and Charlotte looked genuinely ashamed. Boasting about starting to help their parents at an earlier age than Lorraine did was way below their dignity, but they also realized that Lorraine’s mom wanted to teach her daughter a lesson. They were rescued by Aunt Alice who casually walked into the kitchen and answered the question for them.

“I had them mopping the floor by the time they were six, and they were hanging laundry even before that,” she said, turning off the TV. “Kitchen work came a bit later, though. I didn’t trust these kids with a knife and a gas stove until they were eight or nine. The exact chores don’t matter, but you should have Lorraine start with at least something, Joanne.”

“Don’t worry, it’s going to be fun,” Charlotte said, patting Lorraine’s shoulder. How could she be ironic at a time like this? 

Lorraine pushed away her sister’s hand, not trying to be gentle but simply not having energy for a harder push, and ran away to the guest bedroom. She heard laughter behind her back but couldn’t care less at that point.

Not that she had been completely satisfied with her life before coming to Sunshine Hills, but here, everything seemed to become many times worse. She received criticism instead of praise and hardly had any time left to do what she wanted to do. In addition, there was a high possibility that her cousin, with whom she lived under one roof, and her sister, who was soon to move there as well, were criminals.

“If only today was New Year’s Eve,” she thought, “I’d make a wish to go back home as soon as possible. It can’t be that Dad and Irma would be just as mean to me.”

However, it wasn’t the thirty-first of December. However, it was the third of July. Next day would be the Fourth of July, which wasn’t the first day of a new year but a grand holiday nevertheless. What if her wish would still work?

Just like she had done on every New Year’s Eve, Lorraine took a piece of paper, wrote “Go home to Dad and Irma” as her wish on it, and put it under her pillow. On a second thought, she took it back and with the colored pencils she found on the table, she added an American flag at the corner - after all, the Fourth of July was a patriotic holiday. 

Perhaps it happened only by coincidence, or perhaps by the true power of the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, enhanced by her drawing of the American Flag, but Lorraine’s wish was granted.