It wasn’t that she was particularly brave, and she wasn’t dumb enough to give into a dare. Not even a double dog dare.

But it was summer. Tanya and Melanie went to camp for two whole weeks, and there was only boys left . She hung out with them for a few days, but she got so bored. All they wanted to do was go down to the creek and wade, then salt the leeches on their legs to watch them shrivel up. Yesterday Mike stole his mom’s cigarettes and they all went behind the Churchill’s shed to try them out. Donny threw up, and that’s when Kendall decided she needed to do something different.

From behind the shed, she could see the red brick chimney. When she climbed on the fence, she could see the blue paint. When she got right on top of Churchill’s shed, the boys took off, worried that Mrs. Churchill would glance up from Days of our Lives, but Kendall could see the knocker mounted on the wall under the porch roof.

“I think I’m going to knock on the blue house tomorrow.”