The 100-Year-Old Secret by Tracy Barrett Page A

one foot balanced on a soccer ball.
    â€œCome on,” Andrew said. “I have a lot to teach you and not much time.”
    Andrew, surprisingly, was a patient teacher, and after an hour or so Xander started feeling the stirrings of confidence as he managed to dodge around the older boy and score a goal in the imaginary net behind him.
    â€œGood job!” Andrew said, raising his hand for a high five.
    Xander slapped the older boy's hand and threw himself onto the grass, panting. “Who are we playing next week?” he asked.
    â€œThe Knuckers again,” Andrew said and laughed as Xander groaned loudly. “This is our chance to get even,” he added. “You'd better practice.”
    Xander walked a few yards away to pick up the jersey he had tossed aside during practice. I wonder why he's being so nice? he thought.
    â€œReady to leave?” Xena asked, coming up alongside him. “How did it go with Andrew?” she said in a low voice.
    â€œNot bad,” Xander said. “Maybe since he's helping me he doesn't feel like the Watsons are so unimportant.”
    While Xander ran back into the locker room, Xena dug into her backpack to check for Tube fare. As she opened her wallet, a few papers fluttered away. The wind picked them up. “My pictures!” she cried.
    Andrew, who was chatting with some guys nearby, heard her, turned around, and grabbed two pictures as they sailed past.
    â€œYour dog?” he asked as he handed her a photo of Sukey, their basset hound.
    Xena nodded. “Our cousins are taking care of her until we go home.”
    â€œWho's this cute little girl?” he asked, holding up another.
    â€œLittle girl?” Xena was puzzled. She looked at the snapshot Andrew was holding.
    â€œOh, that's Xander!” she said. “He played a daisy in his preschool play.” In the photo, a chubby-faced Xander stood with a circle of white petals around his head. “I'm a daisy, I'm born in the spring, I burst from the ground when the birdies sing,” she recited in a high-pitched baby voice.
    â€œHey, cut it out!” Xander came back to the field just in time to hear his sister recite the last lines of his part. He made a grab at the picture, but Andrew held it above his head.
    â€œYou want this?” Andrew asked, lowering it a little. “Be a nice little flower girl and maybe I'll give it to you.”
    Xander leaped at it again and this time he got it. And he'd been thinking that Andrew might not be so bad after all! But Xander's first impression had been right—the guy was a jerk. Xander started to tear up the picture.
    â€œHey, that's mine! I need it to remind me of when you were a nice little kid and not a pain.” Xena tried to snatch it from his fingers, but Xander pulled it away.
    He looked at it again, then slipped the photo into his back pocket. It was humiliating. No way would it ever see the light of day again. Xander would make sure of that.
    On the way home Xena said, “I'm sorry about showing Andrew the picture,” she said. “I didn't know you were still mad about that daisy costume.”
    No answer. He just stared at the floor for the rest of the ride.
    â€œAt least he said you were a cute little girl,” she pointed out as they reached the front steps of their building. Still no answer. She unlocked the door and let herself in. She turned to close it again but Xander wouldn't move. “What are you doing?”
    Xander stood frozen on the doorstep. His mouth hung open and his eyes looked dazed.
    â€œXander!” Xena was worried. “What is it?”
    He blinked as though waking up.
    â€œI have it, Xena!”
    â€œYou have what?”
    â€œI think I know who the girl in the purple hat was!”

C HAPTER 14

    X ena reached out and pulled him in, then slammed the door shut against the evening chill.
    â€œWhat are you talking about?” she asked.
    â€œWe need to make a list,”