Clarissa McHugh was standing on the Halsey’s front porch in her Sunday clothes—a plaid skirt and ivory sweater, a matching ribbon in her hair—though it was a Friday afternoon. She had a large canvas bag around her shoulder. The floorboards creaked beneath her patent leather shoes. She inhaled sharply, pressed her lips together, and tried to form the smile she had practiced in her bedroom mirror. Finally, she rang the bell.

“Well, you must be Clarissa.”

Frank Halsey had opened the door.

“Please, come on in. Forgive us, we’re still in a bit of a— Ginny? Dear? Can you?—”

He turned around, tying his tie, as Virginia Halsey marched down the hallway. “Clarissa, yes, come in, come in. Oh, don’t you look nice. We just can’t thank you enough, why—” One of the Halsey twins tore around the corner, bumping into her. “We’re very grateful,” she said.

Virginia closed the door behind Clarissa, who was now standing in a room strewn with boxes waiting to be unpacked. The other twin came chasing after the first, letting out a wild yell.

“Boys!” Frank barked.

Virginia led Clarissa through a maze of boxes to the dining table, where she had left a scrap of paper with the phone number of the office party venue. “Let’s see. There are a couple Swanson dinners in the freezer. What else?” She tapped her fingers. “We’ll be back by nine. Ten, latest!”

Clarissa tried to hold her smile. “Aren’t you the sweetest—” Then came the crash of the garage door opening and Frank firing up the station wagon. “We’re off! Aden, Avery, behave yourselves for Miss McHugh!”

Clarissa McHugh, who hadn’t spoken a word, watched the car drive away in silence. It was a mild December day. Outside dusk was already nearing. She could see around the bend of the cul-de-sac to her house next door. Christmas lights lined the roofs, red and green and white.

It was a strange feeling, her first babysitting job, after just such a brief meeting with Mrs. Halsey only days ago, in front of the moving truck, the twins zooming around the yard. And yet, she had been trained, she reasoned, her mother hadn’t objected. Her YMCA manual was with her even, in a binder in her canvas bag.

Coming out of her brief reverie, Clarissa noted the missing weight of that canvas bag around her shoulder. She was brought out of it more forcefully by the sound of the twins rummaging through her bag at the front door.

“Twister!”

Clarissa walked over. “All right, let’s have a game of Twister!” She helped clear some space and unfold the mat and started calling out moves. When both twins jammed their right hands on the same red, refusing to budge, Aden wrapped his left arm around Avery, let out another yell, and they rolled off the mat, taking out Clarissa at her knees. From the floor she could see just out the window again to her home, which seemed far away.