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“And no-shit weeks,” Susan added with a laugh

Madelaine turned to Susan It was the first time she’d ever heard the woman swear, and it surprised her “What do you mean?”

“Torowing up Sometie, and they were each so different It took et the upper hand But in the end, I started doingabsolutely no crap from the kids I didn’t yell or scream; I just quietly, flatly let them know that I was the boss Usually a as all it took After that, they were so tired of bucking the rules, they just toed the line” She grinned “A good no-shit ould keep them on track for six ain”

“Really?” Madelaine said

“Of course, I was often talking to a teenage boy with blue hair But you’ve got to fight the big battles and let the little ones go”

Madelaine set the chart back in its sleeve and sot rounds to make See you tomorrow”

S to herself, she walked out of the room

No-shit weeks It had a certain appeal

Lina sat in the passenger seat of the cushy Volvo, her ar well

She cast a surreptitious glance at her mother Madelaine sat as she always did, erect, chin up, eyes on the road, her hands at the invisible ten and two positions on the steering wheel

Lina had tried every trick in her arsenal this et to ride her bike to school—she’d screaed her, stomped out of the kitchen and slammed her bedroom door She’d refused to eat breakfast and refused to pack a lunch Heck, she’d even cried

None of it had worked

It was as if an alien had invaded her mother’s body Suddenly Madelaine was Dr Hillyard all the time Cold, detached, sure of herself Not like her mother at all

Lina didn’t knohat to make of it, how to act It scared her, this turnaround on herthe household, on knowing horap her wier with ease All she’d ever had to do was cry—heck, just tear up—and Moive her the world Lina had always been able to stay out too late, come home whenever she wanted, eat whatever she wanted A tear here or there at the right moment, and Mom turned to jelly

Until yesterday