If someone claims that remodeling an apartment and generally preparing it for lease is a task that takes a couple of days or even weeks, that someone probably never had eleven organized and devoted people working on it, which was exactly the case with Mrs. Rollings’s apartment on the Fourth of July. Here’s the list of all eleven people thanks to whom this task was finished in only one day.

Uncle Alex was in charge of painting the walls. It was his idea to do a slight remodeling - he claimed that washing the walls that were last painted around fifty years ago and were now covered in scratches and spots would be useless. On Saturday evening, he bought some paint, and in the morning, he borrowed the necessary tools from Margaret’s grandfather, a professional remodeler. Last evening, Eugene and Charlotte scrubbed all the uneven spots on the wall with sandpaper. Today, Margaret taped the ceiling where it met the wall so that the paint from the walls wouldn’t touch it. Lorraine and George, the boy in glasses who went to get help when Eugene and Charlotte were fighting on Friday and now also came over to help, did the same thing with the floor and the window frames. Dylan and Eugene did all the painting. Margaret also wanted to paint, but Uncle Alex didn’t let her do it.

“Is it because I’m a girl?” she asked reproachingly.

“No, it’s just that you don’t have enough strength,” he replied. “You have to push hard on the roller and the paintbrush to make sure the paint spreads evenly.”

Mrs. Rollings oversaw everyone cleaning the house. Charlotte and Martha started by washing the windows and then moved to removing the residue from the shower walls, while Aunt Alice and Lorraine’s mom took care of the sinks, the kitchen appliances, and the floor tiles. Mrs. Rollings made sure that all the cleaners did their job the right way, substituting Aunt Alice when she left to make lunch and dinner.

Lorraine came in the morning wanting to hate the job given to her, but soon found that it was impossible to frown when Dylan, Eugene, and Margaret cracked jokes one after the other. When the joke supply had seemed to end, Dylan started re-telling them the plot of some movie he watched with his friends. His story was detailed, and he supplemented it by changing his voice to mimic the characters’, which was likewise very funny. Moreover, George, assigned as Lorraine’s partner, was very nice to her. He complimented her outfit when first seeing her and never stopped telling her that she was doing a good job. 

When the teenagers took a break in their stories, allowing them to talk, she learned that George was nine years old just like her, that he currently lived with his grandma, one of Mrs. Rollings’s friends, because his parents were on a business trip, that his grandma also moved this week to his parents’ house, and that Eugene and Charlotte were very nice to him, helping his grandmother and protecting him from the bullies Bob, Bill, and Blake. He said that upon learning that his son’s gang threatened local children and did some other, presumably very bad things, Mr. Brown now assigned them some mandatory community service that would leave them no time for worse activities. Until Mrs. Rollings moved, he said, Bob, Bill, and Blake would be under her supervision at work, and knowing how strict Mrs. Rollings could be, Lorraine agreed that it was quite a fair punishment.

In return, she told George her age, that she took music and dance lessons, shared a couple of stories about her time with Irma and recounted all her adventures since coming to Sunshine Hills, omitting only her suspicions regarding Eugene and Charlotte, as Eugene was nearby and listening. George listened carefully and ended up praising her decision to stay on a good path in her relationship with her new acquaintances.

Even the tiredness Lorraine felt at dinner couldn’t compete with the satisfaction from the realization that their job was finished and well-done. She even started to slightly regret making a wish to go home last night.

After dinner, Aunt Alice invited Lorraine and her mom to go see the fireworks. Lorraine had not seen the Fourth of July fireworks for the last couple of years because she usually was away from the country on that date, so she agreed enthusiastically to join the Allens. She assumed that they would attend a firework show, but it turned out that instead, the Sunshine Hills people traditionally gathered in an open area and watched the many fireworks coming from private households. Today, the Allens decided to walk to the elementary school field.

Predicting that it would get cold later in the evening, Lorraine’s mom asked her to bring a cardigan with her, persisting in spite of her daughter’s protests. She didn’t want to be the only one bringing an extra layer of clothing. Upon hearing Lorraine’s complaint, Charlotte stated that she also would bring a sweater, and on a second thought, Charlotte decided to put it on right away.

“Isn’t it too hot to wear a sweater?” Lorraine posed the question that had interested her since Friday. 

“I’m used to it,” Charlotte shrugged. 

“But why do you wear it in the first place?”

Charlotte threw a glance at Lorraine’s mom, noting that currently, she and Lorraine weren’t the center of the woman’s attention.

“Promise me you won’t tell your mom – or anyone,” Charlotte whispered.

Lorraine nodded slowly. She decided that she would tell Charlotte’s secret to someone only if it appeared dangerous enough to later justify her actions or if she could use it against Charlotte… for example, in order to save the victims of her blackmailing.

“It’s because of this,” Charlotte said, slightly lifting her left T-shirt sleeve. Lorraine noticed a weirdly-shaped scar. “I always wear my sweater in public to hide this sign. Some people might make a very wro-- um, unflattering impression of me upon seeing it.”

“Why so?”

“You’ll eventually figure it out,” Charlotte replied mysteriously and walked away, putting on her sweater.

***

The two-mile walk to the elementary school was absolutely worth the sight. At first, everyone who gathered turned to a single direction, depending on where a firework would sparkle. As the evening went on, though, the fiery stars started appearing everywhere. Lorraine started spinning around, trying to see all the fireworks at once, and ended up choosing a direction that she liked best. Then suddenly, fireworks started to cease, but nobody was thinking of leaving just yet in hopes of yet another family, living in the neighboring blocks, deciding to entertain the viewers. And sure enough, with intervals lasting sometimes a dozen of seconds and sometimes a couple of minutes, the fireworks returned. 

In the breaks between these spectacles, Lorraine took a nice look around the field. George, standing next to an old lady with a cane, waved to her. Dylan was now with a group of high schoolers in the corner of the field. In the opposite corner she saw Bob, Bill, and Blake, scolded again by Mr. Brown who was holding an aluminum can in his hand, pouring out its contents on the grass. She noticed that Eugene also separated himself from the family and was now standing near Margaret and Martha. Charlotte explained quietly that the girls were leaving for a summer camp soon, so he wanted to spend as much time as possible with them before they parted. Lorraine started to ask why their relationship with Margaret and Martha changed so suddenly but was interrupted by yet another festive explosion. When the show ended, Charlotte was already standing beyond Lorraine’s reach and talking to Martha.

Finally, as the fireworks became more and more rare, the crowd started to spread. At one point, Aunt Alice suggested that they should go home as well. However, she permitted Eugene and Dylan to stay behind with their friend groups upon the condition that they would also return home as soon as they could. Despite being extremely strict, Aunt Alice understood that the Fourth of July was a special occasion, and some rules could be broken that day. 

Lorraine reflected that the spectacle dumbfounded her and concluded that she was now feeling extremely patriotic. She remembered an extremely patriotic song she learned in her music lessons, “You’re A Grand Old Flag”, and started singing it, using her own marching steps as a metronome. In a few moments, Charlotte joined her in singing and marching, but Lorraine immediately noticed that her sister was often singing the wrong notes - lower than the ones that Lorraine was singing. Deciding not to let Charlotte ruin the song, Lorraine started to sing louder, but her sister also increased the volume of her melody. At last, Lorraine decided that Charlotte’s mistake was for the better, and once they ended, she immediately told Charlotte that she had been out of tune. 

“Was I?” Charlotte shrugged. “I’m pretty sure I was singing it right.”

“I haven’t heard anything off either, Lorraine,” Aunt Alice said. “You made a nice harmony together.”

“There’s no way Charlotte was right! Didn’t you notice how she was always singing lower notes than I?”

“Exactly,” Aunt Alice nodded. “The two of you were in harmony. I believe you’re a soprano, and Charlotte is an alto.”

“A what?” Lorraine couldn’t believe that there existed an excuse for yet another one of her sister’s wrongdoings.

“Instead of singing the same note, we were singing two different notes at a certain interval,” Charlotte explained. “That often makes the song sound prettier. Though I have to admit that you’re far better at projecting the sound than I am; I could hear your voice vibrating. Would you teach me how to do that someday?”

Lorraine didn’t talk to Charlotte for the rest of the two-mile trip home.

***

As Uncle Alex opened the front door, Lorraine could hear something ringing inside the house.

“That must be my phone,” Aunt Alice realized and picked up the device from the small hallway table, immediately answering the call. She accidentally pressed the loudspeaker button as well, allowing Lorraine to hear an enraged woman’s voice emerge from the phone:

“Why in the world were you not picking up? Alice, I’ve called you twenty times already!”

“I was watching the fireworks with my family,” Aunt Alice replied calmly.

“But why couldn’t you take your phone with you? Can’t you understand that I need you to –”

Aunt Alice pressed the loudspeaker button again, and Lorraine couldn’t hear the rest of the replica. She wanted to at least listen to Aunt Alice’s replies, but her mom made her go upstairs and brush her teeth, stating that Aunt Alice had a right for privacy. Lorraine realized in time that sharing how Dylan, Eugene, and Charlotte didn’t always mind her eavesdropping wasn’t a good idea and obeyed silently. 

She ran back downstairs once she got the chance. As she was descending, the front door opened, and Eugene entered with a smile and shining eyes, nearly skipping.

“I got to walk the girls home, and Margaret gave me the address of her camp so that I could write to her!” he announced and only then noticed that Aunt Alice was still on the phone, gesturing him to quiet down.

“All right then,” the woman sighed. “I’ll be expecting you tomorrow evening, then. I’ll make sure that the room is ready.”

Eugene gasped and froze in place, eyes opened widely and fixed on Aunt Alice. She hung up and met his glance with a sour smile. 

“Your parents are coming here tomorrow,” she told Eugene. He remained standing, lowering his glance as his last bits of the evening’s joy seemed to evaporate.