The rickety Pinto turned the corner and sputtered toward Jerry's house, backfiring loudly like a fireworks finale. From the front porch, Clivo and Jerry watched the car motor toward them, and Clivo swallowed. He wasn't sure he was ready for this.

"You ready for this?" Jerry asked.

"Would you be?" Clivo sighed.

Jerry gave him a sympathetic pat on the back. "Better you than me."

Clivo guffawed. "Thanks."

It was finally time for Clivo Wren to go home, though he wasn't looking forward to it. After his father died earlier in the summer, he'd moved in with Jerry, his best friend, and Jerry's parents in their spacious home in Old Colorado City. The place was comfortable and everyone did their best to help him feel at home. Jerry had kept playing his usual pranks, which made Clivo laugh, to help keep Clivo's mind off the fact that he had just become an orphan.

"You can keep staying with us, you know," Jerry said, glancing at Clivo. "And it's not just a pity party 'cause you've reached orphan status, either. I think having you around to mess with has been super fun."

Clivo winced as the car backfired again. "I think you want to keep me around 'cause it gives your mom someone else to smother."

Jerry flashed his wide smile. "That's part of it."

Clivo laughed. "I want to stay, trust me. But I don't want to hurt Aunt Pearl's feelings, since she's willing to be my guardian and all. Plus, school starts tomorrow."

"Your loss." Jerry shrugged.

Jerry Cooper had inherited most of his father's dark African American skin tone, even though Mrs. Cooper was as pale as a cave dweller. When Jerry was younger, the other moms at the playground had thought Mrs. Cooper was Jerry's nanny, which she used to her advantage with her son. Whenever Jerry started raising a ruckus, she'd say that if he didn't behave she could easily disown him because nobody believed he belonged to her anyway. Unfortunately, not even the threat of maternal abandonment caused Jerry to behave.

"Here she comes!" Mrs. Cooper exclaimed, waddling out the front door. She was short and shaped like a turnip, but had enough spunk in her to launch a rocket ship. "You ready for this, honey?"

"I'm ready," Clivo said, forcing a smile. He adjusted the bag on his shoulder and watched the Pinto get even closer, the glittery ANIMALS ON BOARD! sticker flashing on the front bumper like an evil smile.

Mr. Cooper followed Mrs. Cooper onto the porch. "Oops, oops, I almost missed the goodbyes! Wait for me, son, don't hightail it out of here just yet!"

Mr. Cooper looked just like Jerry, save for a potbelly, a receding hairline, and a pair of glasses that made his eyeballs look three times as big. So actually he looked nothing like Jerry, who spent half an hour in front of the mirror every morning making sure his hairdo could withstand the wind from a tornado.

"You ready for this, son?" Mr. Cooper asked, giving Clivo's shoulder a squeeze.

Clivo groaned inwardly. The last thing in the world he wanted was to get in that Pinto. "I'm ready, Mr. Cooper."

The Pinto came to a stop in front of them, the brakes squealing. Clivo winced.

His aunt tooted the horn and waved and smiled, but made no effort to get out of the vehicle.

"Good luck," Jerry said, saluting as if Clivo were going off to war.

"If you don't hear from me in three days, send help," Clivo replied, half-heartedly returning the gesture.

"You sure you don't want to borrow my football helmet?" Jerry asked, his face wrinkling with concern. "A little protection wouldn't hurt, you know."

"Actually, could I? It'd probably help."

"I was kidding! I don't need your head lice in my equipment."

Clivo sighed again and grabbed his bags slowly, as if they weighed a hundred pounds. He did kind of feel like he was going off to battle.

"Take care, son," Mr. Cooper said, giving Clivo a big hug.

"Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Cooper, for everything you've done for me over the past month. Living with you has been really great."

Mrs. Cooper wiped a tear from her eye and grabbed Clivo's dimpled cheeks. "The house will be empty without you here."

Jerry cleared his throat. "You know that I'll still be around, right, Ma?"

"Oh, you know I love you more than life itself. But your bro from another schmo tickles my heart, too."

"It's 'brother from another mother,' Ma! How hard is that to remember?" Jerry lectured.

Clivo reluctantly turned away from the place he had been calling home and walked as slowly as possible toward the Pinto, his feet dragging in protest. The car was a cheery yellow, but he knew what horrors were inside. He paused in front of the rear window and looked at his reflection. Nothing had changed in his appearance during the four weeks he had been with the Coopers. His brown hair was still a shaggy mess and his clothes were still woefully out of style. Aunt Pearl had been the one who always took him shopping when she came to visit, and she thought anything on the dollar rack at Palace of Pants was fashionable.

He looked at the worn beaded bracelet on his wrist, having almost forgotten he still wore it. It was a Tibetan Buddhist bracelet his dad had given him after one of his overseas archaeological digs. Clivo had begun wearing it shortly after the funeral, just to feel close to his dad again. He knew that didn't make sense, since they had never been that close to begin with. Still, he hadn't been able to bring himself to take it off. It reminded him that, at one point at least, he had had a family of his own.

Mr. Cooper coughed behind him. "I don't think the trunk opens itself, son."

Mrs. Cooper shushed her husband. "Give him a minute! He needs to process!" Clivo shook himself out of his thoughts, opened the Pinto's hatchback, and tossed in his bags.

"Hello, Clivo!" his aunt said from the front seat, her bright eyes looking at him in the mirror. "Watch out for my creatures. They insisted on coming to get you."

"Hi, Aunt Pearl!" Clivo said, shutting the hatch carefully.

He went to the passenger side of the car and braced himself before climbing in as quickly as possible, closing his eyes and holding his breath in preparation. Within moments of his taking a seat, a purring pair of long-haired cats slithered from his aunt's lap like a slo-mo Navy SEAL team on a mission and wrapped themselves tightly around Clivo's neck and shoulders.

"Argh!" Clivo exclaimed, desperately trying to get to his seat belt without inhaling a pound of fur.

From the front porch, Jerry shook his head in sympathy.

"Why didn't you offer him your football helmet?" Mrs. Cooper chided her son as they headed back inside the house. "He needed some protection!"

"I tried, Ma!"

* * *

Clivo and Aunt Pearl headed west into the Rockies from Old Colorado City and soon were winding their way up the familiar paved and then dirt roads, the hot August air getting cooler as they climbed in altitude. Aunt Pearl's tanned hands tapped rhythmically on the steering wheel, as if she were discreetly playing the bongos.

After his father's funeral, Clivo's aunt had agreed to give up her...