Chapter 5: "You're under arrest..."

"Miss Lisa, yesterday, while the baby-sitter was at home, we watched TV and the man was talking about how it was so hot and he called them dog days. What are dog days?"

"Well, Jeremy, that's a long story. A long time ago, even before your grand-daddy was born, people weren't as smart as they are today, and in fact there were not many people like the three wise men in the Christmas stories. Now, you know that those wise men always used to look at the stars, don't you? Well, they used to imagine they saw all sorts of wonderful animals and people in those stars the way you see a picture when you join all the points in a drawing in your activity book."

"They saw bears and swans and all sorts of magical animals in the sky. One of the animals they saw was a big dog and the star that makes up the eye of that big dog has a name; they called it Sirius. Sirius is the brightest star in the sky, in fact it's so bright, they thought it used to warm up the sky the way the sun does during the day. This time of the year is when it gets really hot and it is also this time of the year that people can start to see Sirius in the night sky, so they thought that it was Sirius that was making it hot. They were wrong but it makes a nice story, doesn't it."

"Yes, Miss Lisa."

"Do you want to give me hand setting up the wading pools?"

"Yes, Miss Lisa."

"So, why don't you go put your clothes in your cubby and you can fill the pools when I put them outside." While Jeremy was filling the pools with the garden hose, Lisa was helping the other kids get ready for outside. Mandy, Caroline, Greg, Mikey and Trudy had all brought bathing suits and two of the girls had needed extra help with getting into them. Paula and Tommy had brought bathing suits as well but they snuck out to play before Lisa could get them to put em on. As she had expected, Jessica Crenshaw did not come to school that day.

That morning, instead of sandcastles, the kids, both boys and girls, got together and built an elaborate city with lots of roads and tunnels and bridges. By lunchtime, all the kids were playing in the sand. Lunch had been egg salad sandwiches and watermelon so Lisa suggested that the kids have a picnic outside. That way, when all had finished eating, it had been a simple matter of rinsing them all off with the garden hose before they made their way to their beds for their afternoon nap. Having the kids naked sure made it a breeze to keep them clean; in fact, it would have been even easier if she hadn't had to rinse the sand out of the swimsuits. While she was sitting in her office, sipping her coffee and updating the journal she kept of her charges' behavior, she thought back on the morning and had the impression that the kids were even happier and better behaved since Mark had started this whole business.