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Hey! There was Ivy, walking along the sidewalk! She was going home! She was about to walk right in front of Bean’s house! Bean could have called out, but she had gone to all that trouble, making an SOS flag. She didn’t want to waste it. She waved the flag gently back and forth.

Ivy didn’t notice.

Bean waved the flag up and down.

Ivy just walked along.

Bean jerked the flag in and out.

Ivy didn’t look up.

So Bean threw the pole at her.

It landed with a terrible crash at Ivy’s feet. Ivy squeaked and jumped backward. Then she looked up at the sky. “Wow,” she said. She bent down to touch the pole. “An alien.”

“It’s not an alien! It’s an SOS!” Bean said.

Now Ivy saw her. “Oh. Hi. Did you throw that at me? Are you mad at me?”

“No, I’m not mad. Don’t you see the flag part? It’s an SOS. See the letters?”

Ivy looked at the pole again. “Cool.” She came to stand under Bean’s window. “How come you need to be saved?”

“Because of Nancy,” Bean said. “My mom and dad let her babysit me.”

Ivy looked shocked. “She’s not a babysitter. She’s your sister.”

“And she’s getting twenty dollars for it!”

Ivy looked even more shocked. “That’s totally not fair.”

“That’s what I said. But nobody ever listens to me.”

Talking to Ivy, Bean began to see just how unfair it really was. Super-duper unfair.

“Did she lock you in your room?” Ivy asked.

“Well, no,” admitted Bean. “But she won’t let me go outside. I’m a prisoner in my own home.”

“Do you want some food?” asked Ivy. “You could pull it up in a basket.”

“No. I don’t want food. I want freedom,” said Bean dramatically. “I’m going to escape down a rope ladder.”

“Neat-o,” said Ivy. “Can I help?”

“Do you have any rope?” asked Bean.

“For sure! I’ll go get some!” Ivy whirled around, ready to run.

“Wait!” Bean said. “Listen. I’m going to have to sneak you in.” Of course, her mother had said that Ivy could come over, but it was much more fun to sneak. It seemed more like a real jail that way. “So come around to the back door when you’ve got the rope.”

“Okay! I’ll meow like a cat. That’s how you’ll know it’s me.” Ivy gave a little hop.

Bean nodded. “Okay. And then we’ll have to find a way to get past Nancy.”

Ivy was already running toward her house.

WHERE ARE YOU, MISS PEPPY-PANTS?

Bean was a spy. Pressing her back against the wall, she moved down the hall without making a sound. It was harder to be a spy on the stairs because the handrail poked her in the back. Still, she was pretty quiet.

When she got to the bottom of the stairs, she edged silently toward the living room and peeked around the door. But Nancy wasn’t there. Hmm. Maybe the kitchen. She slithered toward the door. Empty. Where was Nancy? Bean got a little bit of a funny feeling. What if Nancy was gone? “Nancy?” she said softly.

There was no answer.

“Nancy?” she said in a regular voice. Nothing. “Nancy?”

“I’m in here.” Nancy was in the bathroom. “Don’t come in.”

Bean went down the hall and stood outside the bathroom door. “What are you doing?” she asked.

“Nothing. None of your business. Don’t come in.” Nancy’s voice was tight. She didn’t sound like a camp counselor anymore.

“Are you going to throw up?” Bean asked sympathetically. She knew what that was like.

“No! Go away!” Nancy clicked the lock on the door.

What happened to Miss Peppy-Pants? wondered Bean. What was Nancy doing in there? Quietly Bean pressed her ear to the door. She could hear water running, but she could also hear other sounds. Click. Click. Rattle.

“Bean? Is that you?” said Nancy from inside the bathroom.

Bean didn’t say anything. She was perfectly quiet.

Click. Swish. Spray. The sound of a glass bottle being put down.

All of a sudden, Bean knew. This bathroom was where Bean’s mom kept her makeup. Nancy was not supposed to mess around with her mother’s makeup. Bean’s mother had told Nancy about a thousand times that she was too young to wear makeup. Nancy always said that everyone wore it. Then Bean’s mom said that if everyone put their head in the fire, that still