It was Sunday morning and Freddy and Nora Jane were on the patio reading the Sunday newspapers and watching Zandia, who was brandishing a plastic sword in the air. He was standing on a ladder by the fence that separated the houses and pretending to poke them with the sword to punish them for ignoring him. Because Nora Jane had saved Zandia’s life he thought he had a claim on her. He thought she was a mean, bad girl to sit there reading the newspapers when he didn’t have a thing to do. “I’m killing you,” he called out in his annoying, high-pitched voice. “You are Nora Jane Captain Hook. I’m swording you.” “You think I should go get him?” Nora Jane asked Freddy. “Clyda said his mother was coming this afternoon. Can you stand him for a while?” “Sure. Why not? Did that man call about the new pool cover?” “He’s coming Monday afternoon. Betty will let him in if I’m not here.”
