Fish Heads

Be careful what you wish for ...

Louis had exhausted the long list of babysitters his parents had compiled. At first, it was easy to get someone to come to the house. There were plenty of high school-aged kids in the neighborhood eager to make a buck, and the Millers paid their sitters well. But they lived in a small town, and word spread quickly. Louis was a likable kid, but he was a challenge.

Even Louis had to admit the validity of such a claim. There was that time he set fire to the playhouse, and his mom would never let him forget the morning he boarded a bus and crossed the state line just to see if they'd actually let a seven-year-old do that sort of thing. He never set out to cause trouble, he was just so easily bored, and most teenage girls were much more interested in social media than hanging out with a little kid. He needed adventure. He needed excitement. Heck, he'd even take a good old-fashioned game of chess, but he had yet to find a teen interested in entertainment that wasn't found on a phone.

And then one night, Jillian came to sit for him.