Kids Is A 4-Letter Word Read Free Page A

got a bucket and there’s a big tree in our neighbor’s backyard!”
    “Whoa,” Jo said, catching the boy as he started to run from the room. “We’ll save that for another day. Right now, we’re in a hurry.” She leaned into the tub and turned on the faucet, adjusting the water temperature.
    Jamie obliged by stripping off his shorts and underwear, then winding them up and zinging them past her head into the bedroom. Completely comfortable with his nakedness, he jumped into the tub and squealed with glee when Jo turned on the shower.
    “Where’s the soap?” Jo asked, opening the vanity drawer but coming up empty.
    Jamie’s face fell. “We gotta use soap?”
    “Definitely.”
    “It’s under my bed,” he grumbled.
    Jo sighed and returned to the bedroom. She lifted the corner of the covers falling over the edge of the first bed and reachedunderneath, terror bolting through her when her hand touched something warm and furry. Jo fell back, screaming as a creature lunged at her from the darkness.
    “What’s wrong?” Jamie yelled, running into the room, dripping wet.
    “A rat!” Jo shrieked, jumping out of her heels and onto a chair, peering all around for the rabid creature.
    Jamie giggled. “It’s just Tinker, my hamster. She got loose.” He bent over and scooped up the fuzzy brown animal. “Thanks for finding her, Jo.”
    Jo’s shoulders went limp. “Anytime.” She climbed down from the chair and reclaimed her shoes, then gingerly stuck her hand back into the darkness. She sighed in relief when her hand closed around a bar of dust-covered soap. Victorious, she ordered Jamie back to the shower. She returned to the bathroom and finally managed to undress Billy, then shrank back from the horrible odor as she peeled away the heavy diaper. Jo gagged twice, fighting for control of her rolling stomach.
    “Peee-yuuuuu!” Jamie yelled from the shower.
    “Pee-yu.” Billy giggled, his hands immediately finding the smelly mess.
    “No!” Jo yelled, grabbing his wrists. “I don’t believe this,” she muttered. Holding his hands high with her one hand, she stuffed toilet paper in her nostrils to ward off the fetid smell, then washed Billy’s hands in the sink.
    “Are you finished, Jamie?” she asked.
    “I’m Peter!” he roared.
    “Are you finished?”
    “Yeah,” he said, emerging to stand on the bath mat Jo had spread on the floor.
    One glance at his still-paint-streaked body and Jo jerked her thumb toward the tub. “Back in, mister, and lather up.” She stood Billy in the shower and ordered Jamie to look after him while she went in search of a scrub brush. Claire helped her find one in the utility room. “I need you to find a washclothand take care of Billy,” Jo said, rolling up her sleeves and heading back to the bathroom. “I’ll handle Jamie.”
    “How much?” Claire asked, rooted to the spot.
    Jo turned back. “How much what?”
    “How much are you gonna pay me?”
    Jo’s jaw dropped. “Pay you? You’re kidding, right?”
    Claire pursed her lips and shook her head slowly.
    Glancing at her watch, Jo decided to postpone the lecture that came to her lips. “One dollar.”
    “Two dollars,” Claire said stubbornly, her expression never changing.
    Jo crossed her arms. The little chiseler! “A buck fifty.”
    After another adjustment to her glasses, Claire said, “One dollar and seventy-five cents.”
    “Okay,” Jo agreed tiredly, taking a step toward the bathroom.
    “Cash in advance,” Claire said, primly holding out her little hand.
    Jo stopped, sighed and reached for her purse. “I see we have a budding lawyer in the family,” she declared as she counted coins. “Now, let’s get your brothers washed up.”
    Jamie was blasting out an ear-splitting rendition of “I’ll Never Grow Up,” and Billy was sitting in the front of the tub, safely out of reach of the cleansing spray, seemingly fascinated with the water swirling down the drain. He giggled and hiccuped, and Jo