A little while later, Aunt Martha returned from shopping.
"That's strange," she said, noticing the dirty rug.
"Children? Are you home?" she called out.
"In here!" came a voice from the kitchen.
With a shopping bag in one arm and Lamb in the other, Aunt Martha walked toward the voice.
Bobby was eating his second peanut butter sandwich when Aunt Martha entered the kitchen.
"Oh, my!" she gasped, dropping the bag and almost dropping Lamb too.
"Who are you?" she shouted at Bobby.
Bobby looked up from his sandwich.
"It's me, Aunt Martha," he said.
But of course Aunt Martha did not recognize the boy sitting in her kitchen.
Aunt Martha hurried to put Lamb down, and Cy walked in, fresh from his shower.
"Hey, I'll have a sandwich now," he said to his brother.
"What? Another one?" Aunt Martha exclaimed.
Alarmed, she grabbed a broom.
"Aunt Martha," Cy tried to explain.
"I'm not your aunt!" she shouted.
"And how do you know my name?"
She waved the broom in their faces.
Upstairs, Panther was staring at the beautiful girl in the mirror.
"Panther, should I wear my pink blouse or my blue one?"
Jane called from the next room.
"I don't know. Pick your favorite," Panther replied carelessly.
Panther had grown up believing that she wasn't pretty.
"I would be so much happier if I was beautiful," she had always thought.
She turned her face to the side, still examining her reflection.
"Now I am beautiful," she said, as if to convince herself.
But who was the "self" looking back at her?
Jane walked in, interrupting Panther's thoughts.
"Let's go down.
I hear Aunt Martha," she said.
Panther looked at her sister.
"Oh!" she said with a startled breath.
"What is it?" asked Jane, looking around.
Panther shook her head.
"Nothing, it's just . . ."
"What?" asked Jane.
"I didn't recognize you," Panther replied, embarrassed.
Back in the kitchen, Cy and Bobby were in big trouble.
"We're telling you the truth," Cy pleaded.
"I'm Cy and that's Bobby!"
Aunt Martha was not going to let herself be fooled.
"Do you think I'm stupid?" she said.
"You are not Cy, and you are not Bobby!"
Just then, Panther and Jane stepped into the kitchen.
"Aunt Martha! What are you doing?" they cried.
For a second, Aunt Martha was stunned.
"How many more of you are there?" she shouted.
Aunt Martha's angry voice made Lamb cry.
Panther ran over to comfort her baby brother.
"It's okay, Lamb. Your sister is here," she said.
She tried to pick him up, but Lamb only screamed more loudly.
"What's the matter? It's me!"
Panther said in a trembling voice.
But Lamb's wide eyes said that he did not know her at all.
"You stay away from that baby!"
Aunt Martha said and swatted Panther with the broom.
"Lamb?" Panther would not give up.
"It's your sister."
Lamb howled again.
"I've had enough," Aunt Martha screamed.
"Get out! All of you!
Get out of my house!"
She lifted the broom and began swinging it around like a baseball bat.
The Barth children ran out, upset.
Not only Aunt Martha, but even baby Lamb did not recognize them anymore.
"I can't believe Lamb didn't know me," cried Panther.
"Well, I hope you're happy," Cy said hotly.
"You wanted to be beautiful."
"I don't blame Lamb," Bobby gasped.
"Even I don't know you.
I don't know myself."