Solange opened the door. She was wrapped in a towel and combing out her hair with one of the hair brushes Miss Gaby had laid out with the toothbrushes.

"We need to make a list of two days worth of clothes and drug store stuff that we need," said Amanda.

Solange wrote out her list while Amanda told her about the plans Miss Gaby had made.

After Amanda was through telling her everything that had been "settled" this morning, Solange asked, "Do you think going to LA is a good idea?"

"How do I know? Ever since the bombing there have been all these nice strangers helping us. Well at least this time, one of them is my grandfather and I trust him," replied Amanda.

Amanda looked at Solange for a moment and then asked, "Are you going to be okay about leaving Armand in New Orleans? You were really upset last night."

"I don't really have a choice, do I? Armand and I have not been apart since grade school. The only time I did not see him was when I went to New York City to visit Auntie Tina and Thibodeaux," said Solange. "And when we were both sixteen, he went to New York with me."

"I guess we are just going to have to miss everyone until after the trial," said Amanda. "But what about Michael? Now that Armand is not around..."

"Hey, men have been interested in me ever since I turned twelve, old men, young men, little boys. But that has not changed how I feel about Armand; he's my best friend. Besides, even if I did not love Armand, Michael lives in New York City, he is twenty-three years old, and we have nothing in common. I am not about to be some fling for a guy in the hip-hop business. Besides, Michael thinks I'm an idiot."

"I don't think that's true," said Amanda.

"Which part? Me being a fling or Michael thinking I'm an idiot?" asked Solange.

"Both," replied Amanda.

"Yeah, I was really smart to get us both kidnapped. But hey...now that you are growing up, all kinds of men will want you and you need to be sure not to fall for one of them like my Cousin Marie-having Thibodeaux at such a young age ruined her life. She never did grow up. That's why it's Armand for me. He respects me and who I am," said Solange.

"I told you. I am going to Harvard and I am not interested in boys," said Amanda.

"Well, they sure will be interested in you," said Solange.

"Well, I will think about that when I get back to my life. Right now the only men who are really interested in me want to kill me," said Amanda.

"Except Thibodeaux," said Solange.

"Thibodeaux and I are just friends," said Amanda.

"Right, just friends," said Solange. "You could do worse than Thibodeaux, a lot worse. He was the best little kid. I took care of him full time starting when I was nine years old until Auntie Tina came and got him after the flood."

"Why did she do that? Your house was not flooded," asked Amanda.

"No, not ours. But after the flood Auntie Tina came to stay with us and see about all of our relatives and friends. She wanted to be sure everyone had a place to stay and were not sick or anything. When she got there, my Mom was working at this makeshift hospital. They were shorthanded, a lot of people were hurt and injured, and she is a nurse so she was never at home. And the schools were closed so I had Thibodeaux all day long. Auntie Tina could tell that Thibodeaux thought I was his mother, so she started asking questions and found out that I had been taking care of him for the last three years, picking him up from school, making his dinner, making sure he did his homework. Well she got really mad and said that had to stop. She enrolled me in the best Catholic school in New Orleans, paid for my ballet lessons, and then she took Thibodeaux to New York City and put him in that fancy school in the Bronx. I missed him so much at first, I thought I would die. But Auntie Tina said she was doing the right thing, that I did not need to be a grownup at twelve just because my Cousin Marie was irresponsible and my Mom was too busy to help," said Solange.

"Wow, that is some story. I knew you used to take care of him but I did not realize that you were the only one," said Amanda.

"Well, that is what happened. And even though I was horribly sad to not see Thibodeaux every day, Auntie Tina was right. Both Thibodeaux and I did much better once we were enrolled in private schools, and you saw how much I love to dance. I had taken dance lessons before Thibodeaux came to stay with us, but afterwards, there was no one else to take care of him so I couldn't. Armand would come to the house after he got out of ballet school and he would dance with me, but it wasn't the same," said Solange.

Solange looked at Amanda who was speechless, "Come on, I didn't want to make you sad. Let's go downstairs. I want to see the rest of this house," said Solange.

Solange got dressed and then she and Amanda went downstairs and walked into the kitchen.

When Solange walked into the room, Michael looked up and pulled out the chair next to him. "Come over here so I can see your face."

"It is just a few bruises," said Solange.

Michael tapped on the chair and Solange walked over and sat down.

Michael put his hand on Solange's chin and turned her face from side to side. Amanda could see he was trying to hide how angry he was.

"Hey, Michael, it's okay. Amanda and I are walking and talking," said Solange.

Amanda turned away from watching them and handed the list to her grandfather, "Here you go and thanks so much."

Solange, Peter, and Thibodeaux ate breakfast like they were famished. While they were eating, Amanda and her grandfather cleaned up the kitchen. Amanda thought about how she always just pitched in to clean up now, something she never would have done when she was living at home. Then her mother would have to nag her to do her share of the chores. This pitching in without being asked was definitely something she needed to quit doing as soon as life was back to normal. Acting as grownup as Solange was exhausting.

Miss Gaby's car pulled up behind the house. She walked in and handed the keys to Michael and said, "Would you please bring the food inside. No one can see the back of my house from the road, so I think it will be okay for you to be outside."

Thibodeaux started to walk outside to help.

"Let me do it alone," said Michael. "I think we covered our tracks pretty well last night but just in case, the fewer people who go outside the better."

Gaby had bought a lot of groceries and once Michael had them inside, everyone helped her put them up.

Gaby stopped storing the food and looking at Michael and DJ said, "While I was out shopping, I was thinking about what we need to do and I would like to call three of my friends and ask them to help."

"Three more people! I don't think that is a very good idea. We already have two more people, you and Amanda's grandfather, involved in our problems," said Michael.

"Hear me out. I have three really good friends, two of whom I have known since grade school and another friend that went to Yale with Lafayette and me-Lafayette is the man who has the house in Los Angeles. And these three friends would want to help. Most Americans would do anything they could to help bring to justice the guys who bombed New York City and my friends would be honored to be asked to help," said Miss Gaby.

"Hey guys, listen to Miss Gaby. She's one of the smartest women I know," said Grandpa Wally.

"Okay, who are these three?" asked DJ.

Amanda was stunned. They were going to involve three more people? But she just sat down at the table and listened.

"First, I went to school with a guy named Cyrus Bernard who is now a Superintendent in the Louisiana State Police," said Miss Gaby. She saw the look on Michael and DJ's faces, "Hey, not all law enforcement in Louisiana is backwoods. Cyrus may be a redneck but he has been in law enforcement for almost forty years and he is also one of the smartest men I know. And I know he would be a lot of help. I want to call him and ask him to come over here today so he can help us figure out just what to do."

"Okay, so who else?" asked Michael.

"We need to do something about these kid's school. Solange, are you still in high school?" asked Miss Gaby.

"This is supposed to be my senior year. I was being home schooled by a nun from my school because I had to be at the ballet every afternoon. Sister Anne was home schooling Amanda too; well, she home schooled her for two days until I screwed up and put Amanda and me in a position to be kidnapped," said Solange.

Michael put his hand over Solange's hand. Solange looked at him and started to say something but then she changed her mind.

"Well, I can tell by looking that Amanda, Thibodeaux, and Peter should still be in school so I want to call another of my grade school friends, Bernadette Lambert. She is the superintendent of schools for Natchitoches parish," said Miss Gaby.

"What's a parish?" asked Peter.

"It's what we call a county in Louisiana," said Miss Gaby.

"Oh," said Peter.

"I will ask Bernadette to give us the books and curriculum for all of your grades and I will help you stay on grade level so when you go back home, you can convince your schools that you are ready to move on to the next grade. I am sure when the administrators at your schools know what happened to you, they will want to help. But you still will need to keep up next year and Solange needs to convince them that she qualifies to graduate," said Miss Gaby.

"Thank you," said Amanda. "I would hate to be held back a year because of what those terrorists did. It's bad enough that we had to run, but to be embarrassed...," Amanda's voice trailed off. She did not want to give Michael and DJ another chance to laugh at her.

"I'm not worried about that happening," said Peter.

"Well, thanks for sharing that," said Amanda. But then she thought about it and was glad that Peter felt comfortable enough to be snarky about how brilliant he was, so she smiled at him.

"So who is the third person?" asked Solange.

"One of my friends from work, Arnie Gillespie. Arnie is the head of the College of Fine Arts at the University of Texas. I want to call him and ask him to give us a cover story about how all of you were involved in the Summer Youth Arts program at the school and I was one of your mentors and I have taken you to Los Angeles for pilot season. This is a pretty thin cover story, but it would be enough to fool some local cop who wondered why a bunch of kids are traveling across the country during the school year. We could tell them this yarn about the University of Texas summer arts program and pilot season," said Miss Gaby.

"Wow, said Amanda."You really did think this through."

"So, what do you think?" asked Miss Gaby.

"Should we have a posse meeting?" asked Peter.

"No, I think all of us should talk about it," said Amanda.

"This Cyrus guy, the one that is with the Louisiana State Police, are you sure you can trust him?" asked Michael.

"I have known Cyrus Bernard all my life and I know he can help you. You know, all the good brains aren't in New York," said Miss Gaby.

Michael actually looked embarrassed. "So call him." Michael looked around the room, "Don't you agree?"

"Yes, call him," said Amanda and then everyone else chimed in.

"And I like your other ideas, I think you should call them all," said Amanda.

"So there we have it. Gaby, do you still have your skeet shooting set-up. I want to take my girl outside and see how she is shooting. I can buy some clay pigeons while I am in town," said Grandpa Wally.

"I can set it up out in the field if you and Amanda will stand in the trees so you won't be visible. But if you are going to be shooting, I need to call the neighbors and let them know I have company so they won't call the cops," said Miss Gaby. "I assume you have your shotgun with you."

"I have a couple. Also, do you have a torso target anywhere around? I have a couple of handguns with me too so Amanda can practice target shooting," said Grandpa Wally. "When Amanda is older, I want to take her to Scotland to shoot grouse. Hell, she might even qualify for the Olympics someday. "

"My Dad had a target and it is still in the garage," said Miss Gaby.

"It really is a good thing my mother isn't here," said Amanda.

"Hey, I taught her how to shoot when she was a little girl," said Grandpa Wally.

"I know, but she moved to New York and then to Connecticut and she is totally anti-gun and I guess I am too," said Amanda.

"But you still like to shoot, don't you. And don't you think sometimes people need a gun so they can shoot snakes and other varmints?" asked Grandpa Wally.

"Well, yes. But still, don't tell my Mom," replied Amanda.

"Mum's the word. Hey that was funny," said Grandpa Wally but he quit laughing when he saw the look on Amanda's face.

"I'd like to practice too, if you don't mind and I have my own gun," said Michael.

Solange just rolled her eyes and said, "If you don't mind, Miss Gaby, I would like to take my boys into your living room to watch TV while these guys play Wild Wild West."

"You don't approve of guns?" asked Miss Gaby.

"No I don't, but I sure did wish I had one last night," said Solange.

"I don't have cable but there is an old VCR and it still works. There are a lot of VCR tapes. They were my parents, but there should be something in there you would like," said Miss Gaby.

"Does anyone need anything else from town?" asked Amanda's grandfather.

"No, I think I got everything else. They just need clothes," said Miss Gaby.

"And tennis balls," said Amanda.

Grandpa Wally looked at the questioning look on Gaby's face and said, "Never mind."

Grandpa Wally left.

"If you will tell me where the skeet shooting set and the torso target are, I can set them up," said Michael.

"I think we had better wait for Wally. I don't think anyone can see this house, it's on ten acres, but I would rather be safe," said Miss Gaby.

"Okay, DJ and I will keep working on a way to get him back to New York City," said Michael. "Hey, DJ, give Miss Gaby that extra burn phone so she can use it to make her phone calls to her three friends without there being a record."

Amanda wandered into the living room where Solange and the boys were sprawled on the couch and chairs. Solange had put X Men on the VCR. Who knew Miss Gaby's parents like to watch X Men?

"What do you think about going to Los Angeles?" Amanda asked no one in particular.

"It is probably just as good as any other place, and it is about as far away from New York and New Orleans as we can get," said Solange.

"I would like to see Los Angeles," said Thibodeaux. "There is a pretty big market for hip-hop clothing."

"A market you won't get to see this visit," said Solange.

"What do you think about Miss Gaby's friends getting involved?" asked Amanda.

"I think right now, we should just watch the movie. I don't know about you, but I would like someone else to fix this right now," said Solange.

"Me too," replied Amanda.

And so they watched the movie.