Jane scowled and kicked at the door, her eyes narrowed into frustrated little slits. “It’s just not right,” she grumbled. “No fair at all. Why do I have to be stuck in here with the little kids while the grownups have fun?”

“I’m older than you; I’m the one who should be complaining,” Sean spoke up, looking up from his book. “I guess it’s so the adults can talk about, you know, adult stuff.” He went back to reading.

“Like what? Kissing and gross stuff like that?” Leah asked.

“And they probably curse, too,” Lisa added.

“Like, what? They say ‘shut up’ and ‘darn’ and stuff like that?” Leah asked.

“Yeah, something like that,” Jane muttered, rolling her eyes.

“Well, that’s silly,” Nathan remarked.

“Guys, you’re missing the big picture, here,” Eva spoke up.

“Big picture?” Artemis asked.

“Yeah. Think about it. We have a really big room, all to ourselves. We can have fun in here without the grownups being in the way. I mean, there’s lots of stuff we can do in here,” Eva replied.

“Like what?” Jane asked.

“We can play house,” Leah suggested.

“That’s stupid,” Jane scoffed.

“Well, then, we could play school,” Eva suggested.

“I’d rather play house,” Jane quickly responded. She looked over at Sean. “You feel like playing house?”

Sean looked up from his book. “Yeah, sure,” he replied.

“Really?” Artemis asked.

“Sure,” Sean said again. “As long as I get to be House.”

“What?” Leah asked, bewildered.

“House. You know, the doctor on… oh, never mind,” Sean sighed, setting his book aside. “Yeah, sure, I’ll play.”

“Okay, so Sean’s the doctor,” Artemis noted. “Not sure if we’ll need one, but we’ll figure something out.”


“I’ll be the husband,” Nathan spoke up.

“Fine, and I’ll be the wife,” Artemis replied.

“But, I wanted to be the wife,” Lisa whined.

“I called it first,” Artemis responded.

The two girls glared at each other. Sean sighed and rolled his eyes. “Look,” he said. “I’ll flip a coin. Whoever wins gets to be the wife. Okay?”

“Yeah,” Artemis said.

“Sure,” Lisa agreed.

“Fine,” Sean replied. “Call it in the air!” He flipped the coin.

“Heads!” Lisa called out.

Sean caught the coin and looked at it. “It’s tails,” he announced. “Artemis gets to be the wife.”

“That’s not fair!” Lisa complained, scowling at Artemis.

“Well, you can be something else. Their daughter, maybe?” Sean suggested.

“NO!” Artemis and Lisa cried out simultaneously.

“Well, you think of someone you can be,” Sean replied.

“I’ll be the daughter,” Leah volunteered.

“Well, you already are kind of the baby in here anyway,” Jane remarked.

“I’m not a baby! What do you plan on being?” Leah shot back.

Jane tossed her hair back. “I will be the glamorous and rich movie star,” she replied.

“Why would we need a movie star to play house?” Eva asked.

“Hey, they had one on that old show… you know, Gilligan’s Island. If they could do it, we could, too,” Jane shot back.


“Fine, fine,” Sean sighed. “Jane’s the movie star. Lisa, you decided yet?”

“Yeah, I’m going to be the neighbor who Nathan is having an affair with,” Lisa replied.

Jane and Sean stared at Lisa, mouths agape. “Lisa, do you even know what that means?” Sean finally asked.

“It means he goes out to dinner with me and spends more time with me than with his wife,” Lisa responded. “Right? I mean, I heard one of the grownups say people think Jane and Eva and Leah’s dad is having an affair with Ms. Lia, but all they did is go out to dinner and talk, according to Ms. Lia. Isn’t that what an affair is?”

Jane rolled her eyes a little. “Something like that,” she muttered.

“I don’t think that’s part of playing house,” Artemis complained.

“It is in those shows that a lot of the grownups like to watch. Soap operas,” Lisa shot back.

“What about you, Eva?” Leah asked.

Eva shrugged. “I’ll just be whatever part needs to be filled in. Nurse, teacher, babysitter, whatever.”

“Fine,” Sean said. “Let’s start!”