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"I know I brought Katie’s bike--hence the reason she can’t cohed "I’ve never been "

"Do you kno to ride a bike?"

"Of course I’m a foster child, not an invalid"

"Then you’ll be able to mountain bike Get dressed and meet me in the driveway"

"But … Mrs Carpenter’s house It’s a disaster I need to clean it"

"Do it this afternoon Hurry up and get dressed And in the future, lock the barn at night"

With that he turned and left

Mountain biking was like discovering a neorld, riding trails where hardly any hu lizards, chiper took me on a tree-shrouded trail that switchbacked up the side of a steep ood at --until it was tier said He stuck his shoes into the clipless pedals of his bike and was gone, yelping and hollering as he sped out of sight

Thirty minutes later, I finallyfroiant shaded boulder, shirt off, eyes closed, no helleaht about what he’d said the day before--that you can’t tell a person’s beliefs just by looking at thehtly different about Bridger, so?" he asked, cracking one eye to look at me

"That trail was so steep, if I squeezed the brakes on er laughed and sat up

"Did your friends arrive all right?"

"Who?" he asked, pulling his jersey back on

"The people you were finding a place to stay?"

"Oh Yeah, them They made it" He put his hel up Mrs C’s house?"

"You ht "Who do you think I rin

"You’d seriously help me clean her house?"

"You’re surprised Why?"

"I don’t know Because you’re rich And rich kids usually don’t help clean old ladies’ ravished houses"

"Oh, really? And howthis observation on?"

I bit rimaced "One?"

"Just because my dad makes lots of money doesn’t mean I don’t knoork The day I turned sixteen he et a job At his insistence I assee He believes the only way to learn to work is by working There’s a lot you don’t know aboutto insist on co the house with Bridger and Kat made it seem more like a pleasure than a chore Kat followednonstop about Europe, or tellingwith her hand- pair--and no accessories Bridger did all the hard work, like hauling the destroyed sofa out into the driveway and getting the cushion stuffing off the ceiling fan blades Kat, finding a way to be useful without actually having to clean anything, called a trash service to reer and I had piled up on the front porch

With the living roo machine and table where the destroyed sofa had been Then we took Mrs Carpenter’s double bed apart and brought it downstairs to the sewing roo on his heels like a lost puppy, came over every day And by the time Wednesday came, the house, er had even repaired and painted the front door

"Are you all right?" Bridger asked as I was fluffing the pillows on Mrs Carpenter’s love seat, the final touch before she ca table, looked up fro between Bridger andat his sister

"I’ the pillow into sub et a s to bless the house before Mrs C gets here"

I ran to the barn roo in to the frown that had been trying to dorabbed a se stick and feather

Back at the house I ree stick and feather to Bridger He lit the sage and began walking fro;

"Bless this house, these walls north, east, south, west,May this be a good place to live again,May peace enfold the inhabitants,May harroithin these walls,May it be a place of healing,May the sun, my mother’s ancestor, shine upon this house" After alked through every rooe stick on a plate and placed it on the dining rooazine