A Handful of Time Read Online Free PDF Page B

something going wrong with her careful plans. She was dressed in her brother’s too-big clothes and looked resentful—as out of place in this cheerful family as Patricia had felt in the photograph in Toronto Life .
    â€œWe had such happy times,” sighed Aunt Ginnie. “That summer the boys were crazy about badminton. They had just finished the court at the back of the cottage, the one that’s all overgrown now. Sometimes they tried to teach me to play.”
    â€œWere you spoiled, Mummy?” asked Maggie.
    â€œI guess I was a little, Magpie—just like you! It’s way past your bedtime.”
    She and Maggie left the room and Patricia reluctantly replaced the photograph on the mantel. She didn’t understand why it had such a hold over her.
    â€œListen, Potty,” said Kelly. “We want to tell you something before Mum comes back.”
    Patricia waited fearfully.
    â€œYou’re different from us,” began Kelly slowly. She wasn’t looking at Patricia, but into the spitting fire. “Even though we’re related, you’re not the same. It seems to me that if you’re going to be with us every day, well … you don’t like playing with us, right?”
    Patricia wished it wasn’t true, but she nodded.
    â€œBut Mum says we have to include you—” said Trevor.
    â€œâ€”so we have a solution,” continued Kelly. “Every afternoon we’ll pretend to go out together. Then we’ll separate. You do what you want and so will we. We’ll meet back here for dinner and I guess you’ll have to stick with us in the evenings because Mum’s around more then. But at least we’ll all have our afternoons free and no one will get into trouble. Is it a deal?”
    She and Trevor looked almost pleadingly at Patricia. There wasn’t any choice. It was obvious they didn’t want to be with her, and she didn’t want to be with them either. But what was she going to do with herself every afternoon?
    â€œAll right,” she whispered. “It’s a deal.”
    â€œGreat! It’s really for the best, Potty,” Kelly sounded almost kind.
    â€œWhat did one tonsil say to the other?” Trevor asked his sister. They hooted with laughter at the answer.
    â€œThat’s what I like to hear,” said Aunt Ginnie as she came back into the living room. “Everybody having a good time together.”

5
    T he next day after lunch, Kelly scraped back her chair and said cheerfully, “Come on, Patricia. Let’s meet the others and start on our fort.”
    Aunt Ginnie smiled approvingly at her daughter. Patricia wondered what she would think if she could see them a few minutes later. The three cousins stopped walking once they reached the Donaldsons’ cottage next door.
    â€œAll right, Potty,” said Kelly, “when Mum rings the cowbell meet us here.”
    Patricia glanced at her watch. “What time?”
    â€œ I don’t know,” said Kelly scornfully. “I never wear a watch in the summer.”
    Patricia covered hers up protectively. Her father had given it to her three years ago and it always kept perfect time. She couldn’t imagine going through a day without it.
    â€œJust come when you hear the cowbell,” Kelly repeated impatiently. She and Trevor ran away and Patricia’s first solitary afternoon began.
    She spent it sitting by the canoe. At this end of the beach there were more pebbles than sand. Patricia piled them into hills, then listlessly knocked them down again. Late in the afternoon she heard the others swimming from Uncle Rod’s raft. She longed to cool off in the lake herself, but she was too frightened of bloodsuckers to go in alone.
    The second afternoon it was too hot to stay on the beach. Instead, Patricia explored behind the cottage. Nestled in the woods halfway down the driveway was a tiny guest cabin that the family called La Petite. She