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Chapter Thirteen
That evening, Kylie found herself heading back to Derek’s house. It had taken her a surprising amount of time to get ready. Nothing in her closet felt right. There was a lot of thought required to look like you hadn’t put thought into your appearance.
She settled for jeans, a V-neck T-shirt, and a cardigan to keep it nice but casual, and only put on a bit of mascara and lip gloss. She wanted to feel as un-Toronto-ish as possible, so she threw on her dad’s red plaid jacket and her pink sneakers when she left the house.
Turning down Derek’s street, she stared at the yellow house with the cute white trim and white wrap-around porch that had always been her favourite house in the entire village. The house sat so cozy and peaceful on this narrow side street. There were many large trees in the front and back yards, but one particular maple tree in front was a bit gnarly, with some lower branches perfect for climbing.
It was weird that out of all the houses in Camden, Derek had bought this one. As she approached, she saw an occupied tire swing hanging from one of the gnarly branches. Charlie swung by his waist with his shaggy hair dragging on the ground.
“Are there any Pteranodons nesting in this tree do you think?” she asked as she made it to the front yard.
His smudged face turned awkwardly to peer up at her.
“Pteranodons nest on cliffs and rocks.” He wrestled himself out of the tire.
“My mistake. I have a lot to learn I guess.”
“I have a dinosaur en-cycle-pedia in my room. You can borrow it if you need to.”
“That’s very kind of you.”
“I’m supposed to tell Uncle Derek when you get here,” Charlie said, standing still.
“You should probably tell him then, huh?”
“Will you come with me?” He held out his hand.
“Sure thing.” She took the offered hand.
They went in through the front door, and Cate yelled from farther into the house, “Charlie! Shut the door! Quick!”
He obeyed, then they stood there a moment. Kylie could hear some banging and rummaging coming from upstairs and from in the kitchen.
“Uh oh,” he said.
“What’s happening?” she asked.
“Taco’s out!” He darted deeper into the house to join the banging and rummaging noises.
What on earth was he talking about? It was awkward just standing there, but she didn’t want to intrude on whatever family business was going on.
Then she saw something brown and white scurry from the direction of the kitchen, across the blue rug in the living room and under an armchair by the window.
Ah. I get it now.
She kicked off her shoes, got down on hands and knees, then crawled over to the armchair. Laying on her belly, she spotted the furry critter and slowly reached for it. Scooping the hamster into her hands she stood up and carried him into the kitchen.
The scene before her was funny and also confusing. Derek was kneeling by the lower cupboards, with his head and shoulders completely inside of them, removing boxes of cereal and jars of peanut butter. Charlie was helping by standing on Derek’s back to look into the sink.
“I’m guessing my little friend here is Taco?” she said, raising her voice over the din of the search.
Charlie turned around and jumped off Derek’s back. “Taco!”
He ran over to take the hamster from Kylie then scolded poor Taco over escaping. She snickered as the boy stomped up the wooden stairs. When she turned back to Derek, he was sitting on the floor staring at her.
“What?” she asked, shuffling her feet.
He cleared his throat and began putting items back into the cupboard.
