I catch up with Pam and Luke at the staircase, which they're quietly descending. There's a faint smell of...freshly mown grass. It makes me think of warm summer days, my favourite.

Luke stops abruptly and I almost stumble into him. Pam spins around at the bottom of the stairs.

"Oh, sorry! I was about to go to the basement but realized we should go here first." She points to the right, away from the front door up ahead, with sun blazing through the glass, lighting up the path to the living room to our left and the kitchen behind us. We follow her into the small hallway tucked off to the side here.

"This area is closed off from the rest of the house. It just has the laundry room and..." She flicks on a light switch.

Luke leans into the doorway. "Ah, the bathroom. We meet again."

Pam flicks off the light switch. "I forgot you came here already. Alright, well." She gestures towards the kitchen. I take the lead this time, walking us past the stairwell and pausing at the basement door, just before the entry to the kitchen. Our moms are still sitting at the table, talking enthusiastically.

Again I can smell freshly mown grass, and realize it's coming from Luke. I turn, not surprised to see he and Pam smack dab in front of me.

"The final stop on our tour—the basement."

I turn on the light switch and there's a series of boom-booms as three pairs of feet hit the stairs on our way down.

"Which animals were you saying?" Pam asks, her voice echoing in this part of the basement.

"Oh, yeah, sorry. Mostly squirrels and birds—sometimes really big ones, like hawks."

Pam interjects, "Cool!"

I perk up. "Do you hear them sing a lot?" I love the sound of birds singing.

"Yeah, a lot," Luke answers. "And their songs change throughout the day. When the sun rises, they—"

"Woh, you get up that early?" Pam hops off the last step onto the carpet next to me and Luke, who nods.

I laugh. "You weren't kidding when you said you get up early!" I picture being outside when the sun is rising, peeking over the tops of the trees. "I can see how that could be worth it." Though the part of me that loves sleeping in would certainly put up a fight.

I flick on the basement switches, revealing rows of pot lights. "Welcome to the basement, which is where Pam and I usually hang out."

Pam launches herself onto the couch and sits back in the corner. "Though we've been making a comeback and are trying to get Mom to let us play upstairs."

"But, this is incredible." He points to the entertainment centre facing the couch, and I remember how excited we were when we first got it. After circling Ikea for twenty minutes and arguing for another thirty, we finally spotted this one and we both fell in love.

He crouches to inspect the bottom shelves. "You've got every movie known to humankind."

"Something like that," I joke.

"We raided every Chumleigh's," Pam pipes up, revealing our secret.

Luke angles his crouch to look over his shoulder. "Chumleigh's?"

I sink onto the couch next to Pam. "It's a video game slash movie store. They're mostly in cities outside of the GTA, like Ottawa, Peterborough and—"

"Kingston!" Pam and I yell at the same time.

"Kingston is our favourite," I add. "Have you ever been there?"

Luke rises to his full height. "No—is it nice?"

Pam and I nod enthusiastically. "It's got everything—food, shops, a waterfront, historical attractions, nature."

"Everything," Pam echoes.

"What do you mean by 'nature'?" Luke asks.

I pull my legs up to my chest, wrapping my arms around my knees. "If you drive out a bit from the downtown, you get to farms and fields. It's really nice." I realize whom I'm talking to. "Though, uh, you probably see that a lot..."

We all start laughing. "Still, I'm glad you mentioned it. I'm glad to know they have that there." Luke starts walking along the perimeter of the room, following the wall to the doors that stem to the left of the staircase.

"Those are storage rooms," Pam explains, clearly not planning to leave her cozy corner of the couch. And I don't blame her—I am starting to feel pooped from cleaning, touring and now digesting.

I twist around and lean my elbows on the back of the couch. "The one closer to the stairs leads to our mom's office."

Pam adds, "And the doors on the other side of the stairs, near the lights, lead to the furnace room and the bathroom."

Luke heads back towards us. "Your mom is a writer, right?"

I twist back around and nestle into the thick back of the couch. "Yeah, that's why she gets an office—and sometimes she writes in the sunroom, too."

"Sunroom?"

I smile. The sunroom is my favourite room in the entire house—or the entire world. Except for my bedroom, of course.

"We didn't give you a full tour," I realize. "There are patio doors in the family room—the area with the couches next to the table where we had lunch—and they open onto the sunroom."

"Now that requires VIP access," Pam points out.

I nod. "Kind of true."

"Caitlin is so protective of that room, and Mom is even more protective."

Luke nods and settles onto the couch, which is thankfully big enough to fit five, so we're all seated comfortably. He rests his elbow on the back of the couch and his chin in his hand. "So if I earn my place, maybe I'll get a chance to see it before we leave?"

Pam and I look at each other. "Yeah," we decide.

"If you promise not to eat in there or bring in any colourful drinks," I add seriously.

Luke holds his hands up in a surrender position. "On my honour."

I narrow my eyes, noticing that somehow Pam and I have been joking with Luke for the past hour. A week ago I didn't even know he existed—since I have no memory of our babyhood playdates. "I don't really know what that's worth."

Pam shoots up. "Ooh! Oh oh, let's play Nintendo!"

I sit up too. "Yes, please, let's play Nintendo!" Pam and I can play Nintendo for hours, and we love having a third person to play with. Usually it's Josh, Pam's boyfriend.

Luke shrugs. "Sure. I always want to give video games a try but I never have time."

I try not to stare. What twenty year old doesn't have time to play video games? I guess one who lives on a farm...

Pam jumps off the couch, turns on the TV and the system, and starts distributing the controllers.

"So, you haven't played MarioKart 64 much? Or GoldenEye?" she asks, handing Luke the grey controller.

Luke holds the controller in both hands—correctly, at least. "No—I mean, maybe once, a long time ago. We don't have a system at home."

Pam sits back beside me and nudges me gleefully. What we love more than playing with a third person—playing with a third person who sucks.

"Definitely GoldenEye then," I tell Pam, getting up to put the game in the system. GoldenEye is hilarious when someone is confused. And I would know—for two years, the only way I could avoid losing badly to Pam was by running like crazy. I've improved a lot since then.

"GoldenEye?" Luke repeats, sitting so properly that you might think he's going to a tea party. Oh man, this is going to be good.

After four rounds of GoldenEye, I start to feel bad for Luke, who's squinting at the screen and struggling to do more than walk through more than two rooms before he gets caught.

"How about we try MarioKart?" I suggest as Luke's character walks right up to me, and I resist the urge to make him lose again.

"I just found a way out of this room!" Luke protests, his brow furrowing. "Actually, no, that was a shadow."

Pam is laughing hysterically, and the only thing keeping me from joining her is how bad I feel that Luke's struggling this much. I turn off the system, pop in MarioKart and plop back on the couch.

"This is easier. It will be just be the three of us racing."

"And we take turns picking a track," Pam adds, "so you can pick easy ones on your turns."

"Pam," I mutter, though I'm trying not to laugh.

Luke's smiling. "I see how it is. And thank you for the tip—I think I'll do just that."

This time I do burst out laughing. "Okay, here we go." I quickly select Peach—pink? Hello—and Pam grabs Mario. Luke selects Yoshi, who is easily the most adorable character on the board, which means I'm going to feel twice as bad beating him.

It turns out Luke is also not that great at Mario Kart, though he is better at this than the other game—he's actually able to drive on the roads and is picking up the tracks a lot faster than I did when I first played years ago.

After six rounds, all of which result in Luke being in third place while Pam and I take turns beating each other, Luke scoots to the edge of the couch and leans forward, eyes focused on the screen. "At some point, I will have my moment."

Just then Pam launches a red shell that sends Luke's character toppling over the side of the road and into the water, meriting rescue by Lakitu.

Pam bursts into a fit of giggles and I can't help joining her.

"Okay, hopefully that wasn't it," Luke jokes.

Pam's controller slides off the couch onto the floor as she clutches her stomach, breathless with laughter. "'I will have my—my moment,'" she repeats, laughing even harder.

I put my controller down, not planning to beat Pam when she isn't actually playing. I want to repeat what she's said but I'm laughing too hard to say anything.

"Alright, keep laughing," Luke threatens, though a smile is tugging at the corner of his mouth. He gains control of his character on the screen, sending Yoshi soaring successfully over the bridge and onto the other side of the water, close to Peach's castle. "While you're laughing, I'll just be winning the game."

At that moment, he takes a sharp turn, which even Pam and I struggle with, and ends up once again in the water. Now all three of us are laughing.

"Pam!" Mom's voice calls from somewhere that sounds so far away. "Josh is here!"