Switcharound by Lois Lowry Read Free Book Online Page B

bank until 5:30 every evening, and she was always exhausted by then.
    And she didn't have much money for groceries. Sometimes, in the supermarket, she would pick up a package of chicken breasts and look at it longingly for a minute. But then she would say, "I just can't afford two ninety-nine a pound for chicken breasts, Caroline." Caroline would nod understanding^, and her mother would put the chicken breasts back. She would reach for the chicken
livers,
which cost ninety-nine cents a pound. Caroline would sigh and plan to eat a peanut butter sandwich for dinner.
    Now, in Des Moines, right before her very eyes as she fed the babies their supper, Caroline watched Lillian take two packages of chicken breasts out of the refrigerator and unwrap them.
    "What do you think, Caroline?" Lillian asked. "Shall we grill these outside tonight? I could make a barbecue sauce."
    Caroline nodded appreciatively as she spooned some of a disgusting apricot and tapioca mixture into Ivy's mouth.
    Ivy stuck out her tongue, made a sound that was something like "Bpheeewwww," and grinned as the apricots and tapioca flew into the air toward Caroline.
    J.P. looked up from his notebook, where he was working on the baseball team statistics. "I taught her to do that," he said, "while you were out in the yard with Poochie this afternoon. The twins woke up from their naps, and I went in and played with them for a while. I was trying to teach them to whistle."
    "Thanks a
lot
" Caroline said sarcastically as she wiped the apricots and tapioca off her own face.
    "She couldn't get the hang of it," J.P. explained. "She can only do that "Bpheeewwww."
    "You have to have top teeth to whistle," Poochie announced, looking up from the TV cartoons. "They don't have any top teeth."
    "
Wrong,
" said J.P. "That's what I thought, too. So I was conducting this experiment. And look." He stood up and came over to the highchairs.
    Caroline spooned some apricots and tapioca into Holly, and held her hands firmly so that she wouldn't smear the food on her face.
    "Hey, Holl," J.P. said, leaning over the highchair. "Give a little whistle." He whistled at her, and then stood back.
    Holly puckered up and whistled. A splat of apricots and tapioca landed on Caroline's shoulder.
    "See?" said J.P. "Holly can whistle. But Ivy can't. And they both have the same teeth—just on the bottom—so it isn't the teeth. I'm trying to figure out what makes the difference."
    "Bpheeewwww," said Ivy, and more food flew.
    "
Here,
" said Caroline angrily and handed her brother both bowls of baby food. "You find them so fascinating—you feed them."

    The chicken breasts were terrific. The family ate outside on the picnic table in the yard, and there were more than enough barbecued chicken breasts to go around; and there was a mountain of salad, with blue cheese dressing—Caroline's favorite—and there was strawberry ice cream for dessert.
    The babies' playpen had been moved outside, and Holly and Ivy gurgled and kicked happily.
    "Can I practice batting again, before I have my bath?" Poochie asked, with his mouth full of ice cream.
    "Sure, fella," Herbie Tate boomed. "Coach here'll hold a little b.p. after dinner, won'tcha, Coach?" He thumped J.P. on the shoulder.
    J.P. winced. "B.p.?" he asked, looking puzzled.
    "Batting practice," Caroline translated. Sometimes J.P., for all his IQ, was so
thick.
    Her brother groaned. "Do I have to?"
    "I'll do it," Caroline suggested. "I was helping Poochie this afternoon," she explained to her father.
    Herbie Tate was swinging an imaginary baseball bat and hitting imaginary home runs over the roof of the garage. He wasn't paying any attention to anything else. "Gotta go," he said after he had watched the final invisible ball disappear into a neighbor's tree. "Gotta lot of paperwork to do down at the store."
    He kissed Lillian. "Great dinner, Diamond Lil," he said.
    He shot each baby with his imaginary pistols. "Blam. Blam. Love ya," he said. They