Instead she was staring through the trees in the direction of the more vertical mansion next door, still visible through the just budding leaves. "Katie?" I asked tentatively, starting toward her. There was no way she hadn’t heard me but she just sat there, ignoring me with great concentration, her blocky body tense. "Hey…"

I got about as close to her as I dared and smiled despite myself – one of the things I admired about Katie was her extreme seriousness about everything, even having fun. "Katie?"

"What?" she said brusquely, still not looking at me.

"Hey, uh, are you all right?"

"Oh, yeah, Charlie," she said, finally turning, pinning me with those slitty Gary Cooper eyes. "I’m doing great."

She glared at me for a moment, then batted a bang of her hair that had been disloyal enough as to blow in front of her face with the wind.

"Uh-huh." I met her stare, still fighting that smile. "So what’s the matter?"

"I told you. Everything’s great. It’s wonderful. Now shut up and leave me alone." She pivoted back to resume her fierce contemplation of the trees.

"Katie…"

"Why are you still here?"

"Hey, come one, give me a break. I’ve got a right to come outside, too. That party is too lame, don’t ask me to go back in there."

"I don’t care where the hell you go."