Another Day as Emily Read Online Free PDF

can’t believe it! You were
    almost crushed to death!
    By a Christmas tree!”
     
    A zillion people
    drive past Mrs. Bagwell’s
    famous fallen evergreen.
     
    Some try to take photos.
    Some succeed.
    Some she chases off
    with her flyswatter.

    The parade goes fine
    except when
    Uncle Sam on stilts
    topples over into the crowd
    and sprains his ankle.
     
    Oh, and when Paco the Parrot
    squawks a stream of
    bad words.

     
    It’s an odd sort of day.
    Alison blames it on the storm.
    “Something’s in the air,” she says.
    “I can smell it.”
    I give her a look. “I can smell it too.
    You’re wearing too much perfume.”
THE FOURTH OF JULY
    Parker wears his cape
    and his medal from the mayor
    to church.
    Pastor McCleary actually mentions
    Parker in his sermon.
    All day Parker flashes the medal
    in our faces.
    He even goes into my room
    to show off
    to Ottilie.
     
    At the fireworks
    Parker struts around our blanket
    flashing his medal,
    flapping his cape.
    Twice Mom tells him
    to “please sit down.”
    But there’s such a smile
    in her voice
    he totally ignores her.
    I really don’t know
    how much more
    of this little hero stuff
    I can take.

GUESS
    On Tuesday
    on the way to Tween Time
    Alison is all bubbly with
    guess-whos
    and guess-whats.
     
    “Guess who
really
stole
    Mrs. Bagwell’s ring?”
     
    “Guess what Mrs. Bagwell
    is doing
now
?”
     
    “Guess what you and I
    are going to do this Friday?”
     
    I hold my hand up. “Whoa!
    One guess at a time, please.”
WHO REALLY STOLE THE RING
    “A crow!” Alison tells me.
    She jabs her finger at me and repeats:
    “A crow!”
    I think Alison is getting goofy.
    “Crows steal jewelry?”
    “Yes!” she says. “The tree guy
    found the ring in a crow’s nest
    when he was sawing off the branches
    of Mrs. Bagwell’s tree.
    There it was all shiny—
    couldn’t miss it.”
    “And he gave it to Mrs. Bagwell?” I ask.
    Alison grins. “Honesty is alive and well
    in good old Ridgley.”
    “But how—?”
    “Seems Mrs. Bagwell was wearing
    the ring last spring.
    She took it off to pick up a clump
    of muddy leaves.
    She set it on her patio table.
    A crow must have spied it.”
     
    Of course at the bottom
    of it all,
    I couldn’t care less about
    crow, nest, or ring.
    “What about poor Gilbert?” I ask.
    Alison grins again.
    “I’m coming to that.”

ALISON COMES TO THAT
    “Well,” she says, “Mrs. Bagwell was
    so embarrassed about accusing Gilbert
    that she drove right over
    to his home and apologized.”
    “Really?” I say.
    “Really!
    And she told Gilbert
    to go to Ernie’s Bike Shop
    and choose
any
bike he likes.”
    I shake my head.
    “Are we talking about
    our
Mrs. Bagwell?”
    “You bet,” says Alison. “And
    my dad heard she is going to
    put an ad in the
Ridgley Post
    that her misplaced ring
    has been found.”
    “Sounds like Mrs. Bagwell
    is a changed woman,” I say.
    Alison snorts. “Not totally.
    Earlier, I saw her chasing
    the Kims’ cat with her fly swatter.”
WHAT ABOUT FRIDAY?
    When we get to the library,
    Ms. Mott waves us through the door.
    There’s no time to ask Alison
    about what she’s planning for us
    on Friday.
    Just as well.
    It’s probably something
    I’m going to hate.
    Like getting our nails done.
    (Alison’s cousin Tara
    likes to practice on us.)
    Or making bracelets
    with Alison’s bead kit.
    Or Alison trying to teach me
    her latest hip-hop routine.
FAMOUS PEOPLE FROM THE 1800S
    Pictures are tacked up
    all around the Bennett Room,
    pictures of famous people
    from the 1800s.
    Ms. Mott points to each one:
    Abraham Lincoln—president of the United States.
    Florence Nightingale—nurse.
    Sarah Bernhardt—actress.
    Edgar Allan Poe—author.
    Harriet Tubman—”conductor” of the Underground Railroad.
    Emily Dickinson—poet.
    Chief Joseph—chief of the Nez Perce Nation.
    Annie Oakley—star of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show.
    Frederick Douglass—leader in the abolitionist movement.

    Ms. Mott instructs