A Whole Lot of Lucky Read Online Free PDF Page B

screaming. Mom and Dad start laughing, then I start crying. Mom pulls me over to the couch and tries to nestle me, but power surges through my body. I pop up and do everything all over again, then yell, “I’ve got to call Amanda!”
    I sprint to the phone, but Dad hooks me with his arm. “Hey, girlie,” he says. “It’s after midnight!”
    â€œBut, Dad!”
    Mom rises from the couch. I slip my arms from Dad and windmill around the room. Mom ducks out of my way. “Dad’s right, honey—it’s too late to call someone’s house. Besides”—she’s talking to Dad now—“we might want to think about this before we start spreading the news.”
    â€œWhat’s there to think about?” I break intocelebration again, dancing, pumping, running. It takes me a minute to realize I’m celebrating alone. Mom sets up the coffee machine, then joins Dad at the kitchen table, where they have their Serious Talks.
    Let them talk. Let them drink coffee! We just won the lottery! “We’re millionaires!” I shout and throw my arms high in victory.
    Running upstairs to my room, I stop at Libby’s door and tiptoe to her crib. She will not remember this night. She will not remember the night that changed her whole entire life before she even lived it. She will not remember, but I will tell her.
    I stroke the top of her head, then her cheeks and her little eyebrows. “We’re rich,” I whisper, following the curve of her ear with my fingertips. She is softer than air. When we hire a nanny, I will make sure the nanny is soft, too. Maybe she could sing, like Mary Poppins.
    Once in my room, I flop onto my bed with a notebook and a pencil. “Things I Need,” I write at the top. Things I need come flying in from all corners of the room and I write fast to keep up:
    1. New bicycle
    2. Cell phone
    3. New clothes (from where Megan and Drew shop)
    4. Full-length mirror
    5. TV for my room
    6. DVD player for my TV
    I glance around for the best place to put my new TV.
    7. TV stand
    Then I take a hard look at my room. The bottom left drawer of my dresser gets stuck so hard, the only stuff I keep in it are things I never use. A coaster under one leg keeps my nightstand level. My headboard doesn’t match.
    8. New furniture for my room
    Oh! Oh!
    9. Computer
    I sit back and think about this. A computer stays in the room. You can’t take it downstairs or to your friend’s house. I cross out
computer.

    Yes, a laptop is better, because I could sit outside with it and do homework. But then again, laptops don’t have as much memory as computers and what if it’s raining outside?
    I draw a line through
laptop
and stare out my window. My cheery red maple holds its pointy leaves in themoonlight, sending sharp shadows across my room. Soon, it will lose its red leaves and sprout green ones.
    Laptop or computer. I can’t make up my mind.
    Wait! Wait!
    9. Computer
    10. Laptop
    See how easy being rich is?
    * * *
    â€œRemember,” Mom says as we walk from the car to the church the next day, “don’t tell anyone about You Know What.”
    She acts like we’ve won a head full of lice rather than a buttload of money.
    One of Mom’s church friends passes us, hurrying because she’s in the choir. “Don’t forget to stop at the pantry today,” she says. “New bread from Tochino’s.”
    â€œWe probably don’t need it,” I say. We don’t need the free day-old bread the restaurants donate to the church, even if it is Tochino’s Garlicky Toast, which normally I take as many loaves as I can and Mom makes me put them all back except for one.
    â€œThanks, Lisa,” Mom says. “We’ll check it out.” After Miss Lisa passes, Mom slides closer to me.
“What
did I tell you?”
    â€œI didn’t say anything about You Know What.”
    â€œHailee—”
    Dad