Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great

One day, Mouse’s mother leaves to go shopping, and Mouse stays with the Tubmans. Sheila and Mouse practice yo-yoing for a while, then Mouse suggests inviting two girls named Sondra and Jane Van Arden to come play. The girls decide to play indoor hide-and-seek, but they want to play at Mouse’s house. Mouse’s mother locked up the house before she left, but Sondra tells Sheila “[t]here’s a special way to get into the Mouse House” (56). The girls try to climb through the milk door on the side of the house, but Sondra gets stuck. Jane and Mouse pull from the inside of the house while Sheila pushes. Eventually, they tie ropes around Sondra’s legs and pull, which finally dislodges her, but it also gives her rope burns. As the girls try to bandage Sondra’s legs, Sheila takes the lead and claims she is the only one who knows how to properly dress Sondra’s wounds. All the other girls are the “assistants.”

Finally, the girls start their game, and Sheila is chosen to be It. Sheila gets a “creepy feeling” (59) from being alone as she looks for the other girls. She finds Jane and Sondra, but none of them can find Mouse.