It's the thought that counts When the downstairs buzzer rang, Gabriela and Ruby were making yeast-free, sugar-free, organic whole-grain-and-wild-berry energy bars in the kitchen area of Vanessa and Ruby's small apartment, while Vanessa and Jordy helped Arlo tie the daffodils that he had stolen out of the local park onto the fishing net he'd found and dragged home. Supposedly, the daffodils represented hope, although Vanessa wasn't exactly sure what the fishing net itself was supposed to represent. The net was scratchy and was cutting up her hands, and Jordy was annoying her with the way he was suddenly all interested in her parents and their work. He'd even taken his shoes off when he came inside, just like they did, and he was wearing a beaded peace-sign necklace that he'd probably stolen out of a box of his mom's old things. Needless to say, the sound of the buzzer was a welcome signal to Vanessa to drop what she was doing andrun . ?I'll get it!? she shouted, stuffing a daffodil into Jordy's helpful hands. She hurried over to the intercom. ?Hello?? ?Postal service with a package, ma'am.? Vanessa buzzed the postman in. He reached the top of the stairs and handed over a box. It was addressed to her, and Dan's name and address were written in the upper left hand corner. She closed the door and sat down on the floor, tearing open the package with her teeth. Inside, wrapped in newspaper, was a bright pink plastic spaceship with three plastic little girls standing on top of it. The little girls had matching black pigtails and matching green plastic dresses. She turned the toy over and flicked the power switch to on, then set the toy down on the floor. A crazy Japanese dance song began to play as the girls on the spaceship whirled around and around and little plastic lights flashed on and off at their feet. It was tacky and horrible?superfantastically so. ?What on Mother Earth?? Gabriela exclaimed, coming over to look. ?Who would send you such a thing?? That wonderful boy you thought I might marry one day? ?I like it,? Vanessa declared. ?It's so bad, it's good.? Jordy walked over with a garland of daffodils draped around his neck. He frowned down at the thing like it was supposed to make sense. ?What is it?? ?It's just a thing,? Vanessa replied, the ideas for her next film already stacking up in her brain. ?Hey, could you come down here for a minute?? she asked, thinking of Jordy's nose. He bent down eagerly and she closed one eye, cupping her fingers around the other eye to form a camera-lens view of his astounding nose, the crazy pink spaceship toy whirling and flashing in the background. Sounds like an Oscar winner already. ?Stay right there.? Vanessa sprinted toward her room to retrieve her camera from the closet. If she was fast, her parents wouldn't even notice what she was doing. ?Hold it,? she whispered, holding the camera to her eye as she zoomed in on Jordy's nose, making sure to leave the peace-sign necklace and the daffodils out of the frame. ?Okay, got it.? She turned the camera off and tossed it into her black book bag by the door. From across the living room, her father was watching her curiously, the flashing lights from the toy setting his eyes aglow. She headed back into her room to gather some more supplies. From now on, she'd have to take the spaceship and the camera with her wherever she went, capturing whatever crazy thing she fancied, the spaceship being the only constant, forever in the background. ?Can I stand up now?? Jordy asked when she came back. He was still kneeling awkwardly in front of the spaceship, his eyes woozy from listening to its insane song over and over. Vanessa grabbed the toy and switched it off, tucking it and her extra batteries and lenses into her bag. ?Yeah, you can go,? she told him absently. Meaning she had no use for him anymore. ?Hey, where areyou going?? Ruby shouted at her from the kitchenette. Vanessa could already tell from Ruby's tone of voice that her sister knew exactly what she was up to. She laced up her Doc Martens and pulled the black windbreaker she'd bought at the army-navy store on over her head. ?Out,? she shouted back as she banged through the door, her father's eyes burning curious holes into her back as she went. The answer may be written on the bathroom wall Petite mignonette, sweet coquette I taste your cookies, your bread You fill my plate On his last day at work before school started again, Dan stood in front of the toilet in theRed Letter men's room reading and rereading the words he'd written on the scrap of paper that had disappeared from his desk a week ago. He'd found the other poem he'd written using that same last line?you fill my plate?and he'd intended to reword the line in this new poem. But it was his fleeting glimpse of Elise holding a baguette that had inspired the poem, and both his interest in her and his interest in finishing the poem had completely diminished. Did that have anything to do with a certain e-mail he might have received recently? The redundant line was not the main reason he couldn't stop staring at the words on the bathroom wall. The words he was staring at weren't even his. Whoever had copied his fragment of a poem onto the wall had written underneath it,Note to self: See above for how notto write . Okay, so what he'd written was sappy and girly and didn't make much sense. He'd be the first to admit that. But insulting someone's writing so deliberately was just downright ? mean and immature. It was like talking trash about your mother: Onlyyou were allowed to do it. ?Bastards,? Dan muttered under his breath as he flushed the toilet. He dug a black Sharpie out of his back pocket and began to scrawl next to his poem. Notes on how not to be an asshole: 1. Don't steal stuff from people's desks, especially when they don't know you well enough to think it's funny. 2. Never assume a poem is finished. In fact, never assume anything, because when you ASSuME, you make anassout of uand me. 3. Go fuck yourself, because no one else will. He stuffed the pen back into his pocket, washed his hands, and kicked open the door, almost trampling over Siegfried Castle. ?Kid,? Mr. Castle addressed him in his awkward German accent. ?I am haffing some calls about checks zat never arrived. But you mailed zem yourself last veek. Wusty just called to s............