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said.
    â€œThat’s great.”
    â€œI can practice my shooting.”
    He really needed to practice his shooting. He could make an occasional shot — which was a lotbetter than he could do three days ago — but it was still only an occasional shot. His shooting was so poor that we’d built almost all our plays around the idea that he wouldn’t be putting up any shots.
    â€œMy mother said she’d even let me dribble the ball in the house in the kitchen.”
    â€œWhatever you do, don’t try that here,” I warned him. “My mother would kill you.”
    â€œI’ll try to remember.” He paused. “I have my new shoes, and I’ll have a hoop, and I’ve got a ball. All I’ll need is somebody to play basketball with.”
    â€œThat would be good.”
    â€œHow about you?”
    â€œHow about me what? I’ve got lots of people to play with.”
    â€œI meant, would you like to come out and spend some time at my place?”
    â€œYou live on the other side of the country, it’s not like I can ride my bike over before dinner,” I said.
    â€œI know. My mother said it would be okay with her if you came back with us and spent some time.”
    â€œIn the forest?”
    â€œIn our house in the forest. It’s really different than here, but beautiful.”
    â€œI’m sure it is.”
    â€œThere’s a stream not far from the house where we can go swimming and fishing, and we can go hiking, and there’s a patch were we can pick fresh berries … and you don’t have to worry because I know how to keep an eye open for the bears and —”
    â€œYou have bears?”
    â€œMostly black bears, but we have grizzlies around sometimes too.”
    â€œI read something about how you should always wear a little bell when you’re hiking in bear country because it scares them away. Is that true?” I asked.
    â€œYep. The bears hear the bell and go away. They’re more afraid of you than you are of them,” Ned said.
    â€œDo you wear a bell?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œWhy not?” I asked.
    â€œIt scares away the bears, but it attracts the mountain lions because they want to see what’s making the noise.”
    â€œMountain lions! You have mountain lions?”
    â€œNot a lot, but some. But you don’t have to worry, I can take care of you … the way you’ve taken care of me.”
    â€œYou know, Ned, I don’t even know if my mother and father would let me go.”
    â€œBut if they did?” Ned asked.
    â€œI guess that maybe I’d think about it,” I said. While part of me really didn’t want to go, and another part was actually afraid to go, a big part of me thought that maybe it might be fun. Ned wasn’t such a bad guy.
    â€œI think what we better do is go to sleep,” I said. “Tomorrow is a big day and we have to be ready.”
    â€œI’m ready. At least as ready as I can be, I guess.”
    â€œGood, then let’s go to sleep.”
    I turned back toward the wall and tried to snuggle down into my sheets. I thought about what it would be like to be away from my family for a while, staying with Ned and his family, living out in the middle of the forest. It certainly wasn’t the life I wanted to live. But maybe it would be fun for a week.
    â€œNick?” Ned called out.
    I rolled over.
    â€œDo you want to go out and shoot some baskets?”
    I looked at the clock. It was almost midnight and judging from the quiet in the house everybody else was already asleep.
    â€œDo you?” he asked. “It would help me sleep.”
    I sat up. “Just for a little while.”

Chapter Eleven

    â€œI can’t get over all the traffic,” Debbie commented.
    â€œThis is nothing,” my father said.
    He and Ned’s mother were driving me, Kia, Mark and Ned to the tournament. My mother hadn’t come down — she