Shelly and Superman

James telephoned from Connor's house across the street. "Mommmm! Shelly is missing!" Shelly is the hermit crab of Allie (short for Alexander), who is Connor's five-year-old brother. I heard other boys shrieking in the background. "James, calm down. All of you have to look carefully for Shelly...without stepping on her." He slammed the phone down. Five minutes later, he called again to report that someone had found Shelly, who was hiding (or sleeping?) in one of Superman's spare shells. Superman is Connor's hermit crab. Apparently, hermit crabs go indiscriminantly from shell to shell. Who knew? Yet another potential disaster averted.

One of our neighbors lost a limb recently. I was shocked to hear that, but James told me not to worry because it would grow back.

Twenty minutes later, a pile of boys ran in the pouring rain from Connor's house to our house and repeatedly rang the doorbell. Cat barked and ran downstairs. I opened the front door, and James remarked informatively, "Mom, we're here" and then "To the basement!" Numerous rain soaked children stampeded past me and descended, slamming the door behind them.