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"That's a nice way to greet your new neighbor," he said, continuing to pet Cleo, who sat contentedly, his tongue out, his eves on me. Later I would tell Mommy that Cleo trusted him, and that was the reason I didn't just ask him to leave our property and stop talking to him.

"New neighbor? What do you mean?"

"My dad bought Mr. Baer's property," he said. "We moved in yesterday. You people didn't know?"

"We people don't butt into other people's business." I said sharply. "Or walk around on other people's land. either."

He continued to pet Cleo and look up at me, ignoring my tone.

"Nice dog," he said. "I had to give mine up before we moved."

"Why?"

"Something wrong with her hip. She was a beautiful Labrador,"

"So where did you leave her?"

With the vet." He stood up and looked away. "He put her down." He turned back to me. "Put her to sleep for good, I didn't want to hang around and watch it. so I left her. How long have you lived here?"

"All my life. This is our family propeity, and it has No Trespassing' sins everywhere," I s

aid with heavy emphasis on the "no,"

He nodded.

"Yeah. I saw. What, do you get a lot of hunters marching through or something?"

"No. Most people don't disobey the signs."

"How old are you?" he asked, still ignoring my attitude toward him. Was he stupid or just stubborn? I wondered.

"Why?"

"Just asking to see if we'll be in the same class this September." he said with a shrug. "You go to the public school, don't you?"

"No. As a matter of fact, if you have to know, I don't attend public school"

"Oh, a parochial school?"

"No."

"What then, some ritzy private school?" he asked. grimacing.

"You're looking at it," I said, nodding back at the house.

"Huh?" He looked over my shoulder as if he thought he did miss something, "That's your house. right?"

"Yes. My mother is a teacher. I'm in home school.''

"Home school?" He twisted his nose.

I had always avoided looking too long or directly at anyone because I didn't want to invite them to do the same to me. but I couldn't help but study his face closer. He had turquoise eyes, striking, under very light eyebrows. Down his cheeks were sprinkled very tiny freckles. His mouth was firm, strong with very bright full lips, and there was a slight cleft in his chin, more like a dimple, as if his Maker had just tapped the tip of His finger there while he was being molded.

"Yes, home school. I do better than I would at public school where they spend less and less time on real education," I said, reciting one of Mommy's mantras about the state of education in America. "I'm tested yearly, and I always score in the top three percentile."

"No kidding?Im lucky to pass. especially English. I'm not too bad at math and usually do all right in science. I hate social studies. Boring," he sang.

"Nat for me," I said.