Out of the Blue by Sarah Ellis Page B

of those square jackets with big shoulders. Her legs were skinny all the way up. She had short, smooth, dark brown hair and a wide mouth. She didn’t look like Mum. Maybe it was a mistake.
    Natalie was just leaning over to take off her boots when Bumper came bouncing up from downstairs. He had been in all day because of the rain and he was even more excited than usual to have a visitor. He joined the mob in the hall, and before anyone could grab him he jumped up on Natalie. She turned white and made a little strangled noise in her throat. And then she kicked Bumper. Megan froze on the stairs. Nobody else had seen the kick. They had been too close.
    â€œOff, Bumper,” said Dad in his dog-training voice that never worked. “Come on, boy.” He grabbed Bumper by the collar. “Sorry about that,” he said to Natalie.
    â€œIt’s okay,” said Natalie in a tight voice. “I should have mentioned it. I’m just . . . Well, I don’t take to dogs.”
    â€œNo, no,” said Mum, “I should have mentioned that we have one. Megan, would you take Bumper to the basement?”
    Megan dragged Bumper off, through the kitchen and toward the basement door. She held him tight at the top of the stairs. “She kicked you. I hate her.”
    She went down to the basement and threw Bumper his slimy tennis ball a couple of times.
    â€œMegan!” Mum called her from upstairs.
    Megan trudged back up. In the living room Betsy was sitting close to Natalie on the couch. “Did you have to have stitches?”
    One of Betsy’s life goals was to have stitches.
    â€œYes, and a rabies shot,” said Natalie.
    â€œNatalie’s telling us about the time she was bitten by a German shepherd,” said Mum. “It has made her nervous of dogs.”
    Megan stared at Natalie and said nothing. It doesn’t give her the right to kick them.
    There was a silence and Natalie jumped in. “I see you’re a Brownie, Betsy. I was a Brownie, too.”
    â€œYou were?” Mum pounced on the remark like Bumper jumping on his rawhide bone. “Where did you meet?”
    â€œSaint Jude’s Church Hall.”
    â€œThen did you go on to Guides?” Mum asked hungrily.
    â€œYes,” said Natalie, “the whole thing. Pathfinders, even Rangers. Are you a Pathfinder, Megan?”
    â€œNo. I don’t like groups with uniforms. Too much like the army.”
    Mum gave Megan the look. But Natalie just laughed. “I know what you mean. My falling-out with Rangers happened when they wouldn’t let me go on the peace march wearing my uniform. Too political, they said. So I quit in protest. But I did like it, especially for the friends.”
    â€œI guess that was really important for you, being an only child,” said Mum.
    â€œAnd the badges,” said Betsy. “Did you get badges?”
    â€œSome,” said Natalie. “Mummy probably has them somewhere. She keeps everything, Popsicle-stick art, all that stuff.”
    Mummy? What kind of grown-up still calls their Mum “Mummy”? thought Megan.
    Betsy tapped Natalie on the knee. “Hey! Do you know —” She began to sing:
    â€œWe are guides, all guides,
And in unexpected places,
You will meet our friendly faces,
And a helping hand besides. . . .”
    Natalie joined in,
    â€œAnd there’s not much danger,
Of finding you’re a stranger,
For Brownie, Guide, or Ranger,
We are guides, all guides.”
    Megan reached out and grabbed a huge handful of deluxe nuts. Mum wouldn’t notice. She was hypnotized, hypnotized by the dog kicker.
    Over dinner Natalie told them about a lecture on asteroids that she had attended the day before.
    â€œYou go to school on Saturdays?” asked Betsy.
    â€œNot usually, but there was a visiting geophysicist giving a special lecture that I didn’t want to miss. Asteroids aren’t my field, but they are fascinating. This fellow has a