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to take it personally. "I thought you wanted to be left alone," she said.
    "I did. But I guess I don't anymore."
    "Good. What do you want to do?"
    "I don't know. You're the baby-sitter. You're supposed to find things for me to do."
    "I'd be happy to, but you have to tell me what you like. How about board games?"
    "Yuck."
    "Do you like art?"
    "Double yuck!"
    "Well, you must like something."
    Tiffany didn't answer. She looked sort of hurt and distracted.
    Mary Anne sighed. "Tiffany, is something bothering you?"
    Tiffany's head slumped forward. Her hair fell in front of her face. "I guess," she muttered.
    "You look sad," Mary Anne said.
    For a long moment Tiffany said nothing. When she finally did speak, her voice was practically a whisper. "I can't do art. I can't do board games. I can't do anything."
    "Sure you can," Mary Anne reassured her. "Kristy mentioned you had a yo-yo — "
    "It was Kristy's yo-yo," Tiffany replied. "And I couldn't even do that. I just watched. I'm so uncoordinated."
    Mary Anne reached out to her. "I'm sure you're not."
    Tiffany lurched up and walked to the window. "I am. Uncoordinated and stupid. I don't know how to swim, I'm not good in school, I can't speak any languages — "
    "Those are all things your sisters do."
    "I know!"
    "Well, sisters are different from each other — different interests, different abilities. Just like other people. There's nothing wrong with that."
    "Yeah, except my sisters have all the interests and abilities, and I don't have any. Shannon's a genius. She knows everything. She has so many awards, she can't even find some of them! All the teachers talk about her. It's 'Shannon this' and 'Shannon that.' Then they expect me to be the same way, and they always get so disappointed. And now Maria's
    bringing home all these dumb trophies. I'm like a freak in this family. I never win awards."
    Mary Anne's heart went out to Tiffany. "You sound like you feel pretty lonely."
    Tiffany's lower lip quivered. Her eyes filled. "You know, Maria and I used to do stuff together all the time. I guess because Shannon's so much older, and always so busy. So we kind of stuck together. But now Maria's just as bad."
    Mary Anne thought for a moment. Tiffany needed something to take her mind off her sisters. "You know what?" she said finally. "You need a hobby."
    "Huh?"
    "An interest of your own. Something your sisters don't necessarily do. I mean, Shannon has school, Maria has swimming — and now we have to find something for Tiffany."
    Tiffany looked doubtful. "Like what?"
    "That's for you to decide. I can help you make a list." Mary Anne pulled a notebook and pen out of her shoulder bag. "Say anything that pops into your mind."
    "What are the most popular hobbies?"
    "I guess drawing, painting, music, dance. ..."
    Tiffany hopped onto the couch. "Okay. Those are good. Also, I have a friend who has about a million plants and flowers. And an-
    other who collects stamps. And Wendy Kasser plays the piano."
    "Whoa, slow down." Mary Anne carefully wrote down the three suggestions, then offered, "There's also tennis and bird-watching."
    "Surfing!"
    "Uh, maybe not this time of year. How about snow sculptures?"
    The ideas kept coming. When the list grew to both sides of the page, they stopped. Tiffany held it up excitedly and said, "I'm going to start trying some right now!"
    She ran through the kitchen and down to the basement. Mary Anne heard her clanking around for a few minutes.
    Tiffany came upstairs with an old tennis racket, a book on photography, a blank photo album, a jigsaw puzzle, and a ratty old piano instruction book called Teaching Little Fingers to Play. She plopped everything on the living room floor.
    "Wow!" Mary Anne said. She could hardly believe the change.
    "I know I'll find a hobby I can beat Shannon and Maria with," Tiffany squealed. "And there's so much more stuff down there. Mary Anne, this was the best idea."
    She ran out of the living room again.
    Mary Anne settled back and pulled