Oh, they’re back! They’re back!!!
We hear a key in the door, so my brother and I race down the staircase to see what our long-absent companions might have brought us to make up for their recent neglect.
As I round that last corner though, and look up expectantly, I discover that the newcomer standing in the foyer isn’t someone who belongs here.
And she smells of DOGS!
I look toward my brother to see that he is already racing back up the stairs.
I follow, and even pass him, so great is my terror.
We hide under the bed.