Carin stood up and collected her books from the deli table she'd been sharing with her best friend Janet and a few other girls from school. I'd better call home to be sure they're okay.

"Michael, it's me, Carin. Be a sweetie and take the meat out of the freezer. Put it in the microwave. Push the bottom button, then push the first button ten times. Then, press the big bar. That will make the meat defrost so I can cook it. Can you remember all that? Now, what are you going to do?"

"What meat?"

"Uh, pick the picture of what you'd like to eat the best."

"Okay."

"Tell me about the buttons."

"I put the meat in the microwave, push the top button, then push the bottom button. How many times did you say? I furgoted."

Carin repeated the defrost instructions, tapping her foot in irritation. "Is Michelle there? Well, let me talk to her."

Rolling her eyes, Carin repeated the defrost instructions for Michelle. I hope that between the two of them, something will happen.

"I'll be home in about 20 minutes."

Shaking her head, she hung up the pay phone and returned to her friends' table.

"Curse the Blond Bombers! Sometimes I wish I were an only child! I've got to run. See you guys tomorrow."

"Help me put this chair closer."

Long scrape marks appeared in the fresh wax on the kitchen tiles. Michael and Michelle clambered onto the chair, struggling with the latch and heavy lid on the freezer.

"Look, there's a fish. Do ya like fish?"

"No. They're all slimy. Here's a white package. I wonder what's in it?"

Taking it from her hand, Michael tore open the pack.

"Oh, ick," he said, wrinkling up his nose and letting the half-opened package drop onto the floor.

"Here's a smiling pig face. I feel happy. Let's eat that."

"No. Them long skinny things is hot dogs. I don't wanna eat a hot dog."

"Here's a turkey picture. Look how pretty the colors on it are!"

"Yeah, a turkey! I like turkey. Let's get it!"

"I can't lift it. Help me."

"Wait a minute. I'll climb inside and boost it up to you."

"Okay. A little higher. Oops!"

The frozen turkey thunked loudly on the red tiles.

"Now you broked it, Michael! Why didn't you take it when I pushed it up to you? I'm gonna tell mother on you!"

"It's not either broked! I didn't hurt it none."

Michelle crawled out of the freezer, climbed down the rungs of the chair backward, and cautiously rolled the turkey over.

"Nope. He's not bloodened, so he must be okay."

Micheal tried to pick up the turkey. He was unable to lift it. Michelle then tried, but she couldn't lift it, either. Angry, Michael kicked the bird. It skidded across the floor a few inches.

"Whoo, whoo!" shouted Michael, pushing the turkey ahead of him the same way he did with his toy train engine. "Whoo, whoo!"

Michelle giggled, dancing after him with mincing little steps, stopping at the bottom of the cabinet that held the microwave.

"I'll go get the chair."

Michelle pushed the chair in front of her, adding her wild whoo's to Michael's. With much effort, the two got the turkey onto the chair. From there, the counter top seemed to be as high as Mt. Everest. The effort required to get the bird there was stupendous. Michelle opened the door.

"Push it in."

"I am pushing. It won't go."

"I'll push, too."

Thump went the turkey onto the floor.

"It's too tall. It won't fit. Boy, are we ever gonna get it. Carin sounded mad when she called."

"I know, I know. We could put the turkey on the stove and turn the burner on. That would make him melt."

"No, we can't. Mama said she'd whop us good if she ever catched us playing with the stove."

"We wouldn't be playing. We'd be helping."

Faced with this bit of superior logic, Michelle relented. With both tugging, they were able to get the turkey onto the chair again. It then went for another bumpy, scratchy ride across the floor, leaving another set of tracks in the soft wax.

The bottom drawer of the stove was pulled out a few inches, so the chair could not be slid close to the stove. Neither child could lift the bird well enough to get it onto the top of the stove. Again the turkey hit the floor.

"I got a idea. I'll stand on the stove and pull while you push."

Holding the orange mesh loop at the top, Michael, feet braced on the front burners, tried to drag the bird up onto the stove while Michelle pushed. Both bird and boy toppled onto the floor, Michael on top.

"Aeiii!"

"I rememer. The sheets I took out of the dryer for mother were burny. Things get hot in the dryer. The dryer is big enough. The dryer door opens low to the floor."

"We can push the turkey from the chair into the dryer."

"Yeah!"

"But, things bang around in the dryer. Mom got mad at me when I put my ball in there, and it bumped the sides all the time. The turkey might break in the dryer."

"We could tennis shoe it."

"What?"

"When Carin dried her tennis shoes, they didn't go bump because she putted them on somethin' and the insides didn't shake around."

"What somethin'?"

Peering into the shelf beside the dryer, Michelle produced a flat rack that was designed to sit inside the dryer drum. Opening the dryer door, Michelle put the ends of the rack in the holes. With much tugging, the bird soon sat upon the rack inside the dryer.

"We better take the junk off the outside. I'll get the scissors."

Jabbing the blunt-nosed scissors into the bird's wrapper by the loop, Michael cut the orange mesh off, leaving the plastic wrapper still on the turkey. Michelle helped him pull the mesh off the bird, which kept trying to slide back onto the floor. With a slam, the dryer door latched.

"Which button makes it go?"

"One of them up there," said Michelle, pointing to a line of buttons and dials at the top of the machine, far higher than either twin could reach.

Once again the chair left marks on the tile to yet another destination. Michael turned the big dial, but nothing happened. Michelle poked the fat button, but nothing happened. Michael tapped twice on the red button. The machine groaned, but stopped at once. Michael tapped four more times on the red button. Twice the machine groaned, but stopped. Michelle twisted the big dial some more, then hit the red button once more. The engine roared into life, but the normal clunking was missing.

"Is it going? Is anything happening inside?"

"I dunno."

"How do ya know when it's done?"

"Silly. The bell dings."

The twins wandered into the living room to play with their Legos, satisfied that they'd done their part.

As Carin turned toward the door, Janet touched her arm.

'Don't look now, but The Hunk just stood up and is heading this way. You can't leave now; you'll miss him. The kids were all right when you called, weren't they? Lucille will be glad to take care of him if you leave."

Slowly turning, Carin smiled into friendly blue eyes. She could feel the blood rush to her face.

"Hi, Gary."

"Hi. You're not leaving so early, are you? I was hoping we could talk a while. You're not meeting someone else, are you?"

"Nnno, but I..."

"Good. Why don't you come down to my booth, and I'll ply you with wet Coke and soggy French fries."

"Sssounds delightful," Carin croaked, staring over her shoulder at Janet, who nudged Mary, winked, and giggled.

Gary awkwardly took her arm and nervously guided her back toward his booth.

Panic welled up inside Carin. "No, Gary, I've really got to be going."

Looking up at Gary, she frowned. He's taking my words all wrong. He seems to be getting angry. He thinks I don't like him.

Rapidly, before she lost her nerve, she stumbled on, "I'm supposed to be home baby-sitting for my sin twiblings."

"Huh?"

Carin could feel red again creeping up her neck. "Twin siblings," she enunciated carefully, mimicing her mother's precise tone. Oh, no. Now I sound like a dope. He'll never talk to me again. Pasting an anemic smile on her face, Carin once again headed toward the door.

Janet met her in the aisle. "Don't be so square. If you walk out on him now, he'll probably never speak to you again," she hissed.

"If I don't get home, Mom will probably ground me for life, and it won't matter if I ever get asked to anything again ever."

"Come on; she'd understand how it is when your one big chance comes around. She was young once. Your mom always seemed pretty cool to me."

"No way is she gonna be mellow when she comes home from working overtime and dinner's not started and the twins have torn the house apart."

"What you need to do is hire yourself a baby-sitter so your twin siblings don't ruin your social life, what little there is of it!"

"That's it! You could go over to my house, put supper on, and be sure the kids aren't into any mischief. Oh, Janet, be a real friend!"

'Me? Me? What do you expect me to do to entertain a pair of stupid four-year-olds? I don't even know how to talk to them!"

"I'll call them and explain that you are coming over to play with them. They won't be any trouble. They'll think it is fun. You're someone different."

Turning, she smiled. "It's okay, Gary, I can stay. I've got to make a phone call, first, though."

"That's okay. Do you need any change?"

Carin again went to the pay phone.

"Michael? This is Carin. How would you like my friend Janet to come over to play with you? No, I'm not coming home just yet. Did you put some meat in to defrost?"

"Yep."

"Is it done?"

"I dunno. What is defrossed meat like?"

"It gets all soft and mushy."

"Wait a minute. I'll go see."

"No, Michael, that's all right. If you started it, Janet can take care of it. She'll be there in twenty minutes.

"That's the buzzer! The dryer is done! Is the turkey all fixed?"

"I dunno. I'll look."

The instant Michael popped the door open, the dryer stopped. Sticking his hand inside, he could feel the warmer air.

"Yup," he pronounced, slamming the door.

"You gotta test meat to see if it's done, or not. You never tested it!"

"Did to!"

"Did not!"

"It's still hard."

"That's not right. It's gotta get all squishy."

"Maybe it's not working 'cuz it isn't all bumping inside."

Michael yanked on the white rack until it jerked free, then again slammed the door. Three more stabs at the red button and another good twist of the big dial again caused the machine to rumble into life.

"Let's go float the Lego boat!"

"Yeah!"

"Michael, honey, it's me again. Would you do something else for me? I forgot to tell Janet. Can you take the sheets out of the washing machine and put them in the dryer? Mom will need to put them on her bed before she can go to sleep tonight. Do you know what to push to make the dryer run?"

"Sure. I'm real good at that!"

"If you have any trouble, just tell Janet."

Gary, now smiling, slipped his hand into hers and again led her toward his booth.

"There's the buzzer again!"

"Oh, look! The plasic is all wrinkled and runny."

"Uh, oh! We better take it off and hide it."

"Where?"

"Under the bed in Carin's room. Mommy always says she never cleans under there. She'll never see it!"

"Okay."

"We got to put the wet sheets in to dry."

"Before the bird is all soft?"

"Maybe the sheets will soften the noise. There's enough room in there for them."

"Okay."

More scratches marked the chair's path to yet another part of the kitchen. The washer lid was easy to lift compared to the freezer. The sheets didn't get drug on the floor too badly, either. Only two or three footprints marred their whiteness by the time they were safely stowed in the dryer. More twistings of the big dial and punchings on the red button put the dryer into a ready spin.

The twins headed for the living room. As Michael walked past his mother's knitting, he pulled one long needle from the sack.

"Let's play swords."

Michelle, not to be outdone, pulled the other needle from the sack, carefully slid the stitches off the end, and turned to face Michael, sword upraised in the best dueling tradition.

"Put yer dukes up!"

Ding, dong.

"Should we answer the door?"

"We're not s'pozed to let anyone in when Mom's not here."

"But Janet is s'pozed ta be comin'."

Ding, dong.

"It's me, Janet. Open up! What are you two up to?"

Slowly, the door opened, and two cherubic faces, topped by tow-heads, peered out at Janet, looking her up and down carefully.

"Hi, I'm Janet. What are your names?"

Janet's smile grew shaky as she surveyed the Lego-strewn carpet.

"I'm Michael."

"Don't point that thing at me," Janet directed, tipping the end of the knitting needle away from her midsection.

"I'm Michelle."

Janet shut the front door, then looked around more carefully. The cushions from the couch lay in a heap in front of the blaring TV. Horrendous thumpings came from the kitchen and strange gurglings from the bath.

"Turn that TV down. I don't like having to shout."

Reluctantly, Michelle headed toward the TV.

"Is that water running in the bathroom?"

"Yeah," said Michael with enthusiasm. "Wanna go see my Lego boat float?"

Taking Janet's hand, he headed her down the hall. Before she reached the door, she felt the carpet squish under her feet.

There floated a bright red Lego boat, serene amidst the lapping waves that overflowed the sink from two spigots spewing forth their entire capacity.

Janet dashed in and shut the water off.

"Bring me some towels!"

Covering the floor with the entire allotment of clean towels from the linen closet, Janet sopped up as much excess water as she could.

"What a racket. Is something dying in the kitchen, or what?"

Heading toward the kitchen, Janet stared in horror as she realized that the freezer lid was standing wide open. A partially unwrapped package of hamburger meat lay leaking blood onto the floor. Inside, she stared at a mashed pie crust and the broken pieces of taco shells. Poking a tentative finger at the various packages, she found several that were getting decidedly soggy. Decisively, she slammed the lid shut.

The sound of pounding still came from the dryer.

"What is that thumping noise?"

"We're defrossing the meat."

"What meat?"

"The turkey."

Janet advanced on the dryer, turning the dial to "off" as she carefully opened the door.

"Is it all soft and squishy yet?"

"Yep. It's done," said Michael, beaming.

Blowing the bangs off her forehead with a puff of air from her lips, Janet descended on the telephone. Dialing the deli, Janet got Carin on the line.

"I think you'd better come on home right away," Janet said tersely.

"What's the trouble?"

"Well, for starters, they've air fluffed a turkey and some sheets for supper."

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