ont do something withouthelp from at least one of your siblings. And shes right, when have I ever done anythingwithout A.J. giving me a push, or Anna distracting the old lady down the street. But this time, I am innocent. I had nothing to do with the cookies this time. Firstoff, I hate gingerbread cookies, so I would never take any of them for anything. Plus, I wasover at Brads house most of the afternoon anyways. We were playing G.I. Joes andfighting with flaming balsa wood planes. So I have a pretty good alibi, and as I try toexplain to my mom that I was not involved, I get cut off.I dont want to hear any lip from any of you, she says with anger, wait till I finishwhat I have to say before you interrupt me. So as she carries on with her ranting, I lookinto the faces of all my brothers and my sister. When I look into Mike and Annas faces, Isee the same expression as I probably bear on my face, boredom and lack of interest. So Ican pretty much guarantee that neither of them were responsible for the last cookie.Then when my eyes pass A.J., I see a cold stare across the table. Following hisglare, I see Nick grinning away. His gaze meets mine, and then his smile disappears as hepretends to be as faultless as me. Then mom comes out with it, okay children, unless youall want to skip supper and go to your rooms for the night, tell me who took the last cookiewithout cleaning it out. Everyone sits there staring at each other. My stomach does notwant to skip a meal, but I cannot rat out my brother. After about 30 seconds, Anna opens her mouth, I didnt do it. This is immediatelyfollowed by everyone else screaming out, I didnt do it either, sounding like an out of syncchorus. Apparently, mom does not accept these responses, and my head hits the pillowbefore the sun goes down.Right NowHow does that phrase go? You cant teach an old dog new tricks. Well, it certainlyapplies here as my father is trying to install a brand new progra...
