Barefoot Pirate Read Online Free PDF Page A

what—if
anything—she should take along. In all the magic stories she’d read, the lucky
kids who got to go always disappeared at once. Well, here she was, with hours
to plan for—and she couldn’t think of much that she’d want from this world.
That she had, anyway.
    Instead, her mind went straight to daydreams and plans about
what she’d do once she got there. First thing, of course, was to rescue that
Prince, because that was what they were being brought for. Then...learn some
magic, and change herself from being ugly. Then she’d get a roomful of gorgeous
dresses to wear with her beautiful new face. And then she’d make a huge castle,
all for herself, her rich belongings, and her pets, for she’d have a million of
them. Any stray she saw would be instantly adopted, and she’d never again have
to ask anyone’s permission.
    Or did they have dogs and cats? Nan didn’t know, but if she
had magic, she could always bring some from Earth. She’d eat what she wanted,
when she wanted, and travel where she wanted, and no one ever, ever, EVER would
tell her what to do, ever again.
    And she would only come back if she had lots and lots of
power. She’d only come back if she could get revenge. She enjoyed thinking
about REALLY being able to sweep down on the Evanses, and the Wheelwrights,
who’d been ten times worse, and all the other places she’d been forced to stay
after her mother left her in a park when she was just a year old, and
disappeared. Making thunderstorms and hurricanes happen inside their
houses—taking all their belongings so they’d have to be poor and hungry,
and see how they liked it. All those old, familiar thoughts sped through her
mind, making her shiver with delight. I’ll really be able to do it !
    Picturing the results scared her a little. Is that breaking
my promise? No, she told herself. She’d just be teaching them a lesson. That,
and warning them just what might happen if they picked on any kid again. Yeah.
Thinking of it that way made it feel pretty good. She’d be protecting some
future kid forced to stay with them...
    Thinking things like that got her painlessly through the
rest of the day.
    o0o
    “Gonna come to basketball practice tomorrow?” the voice cut
through the incredible noise on the bus, and invaded Joe’s thoughts.
    He looked up into the familiar, tanned face of Terry Cowan, his
best friend.
    Ex best friend, Joe thought silently.
    “Wake up, Robles,” Terry said, poking him. “Whadya do, stay
up all night watching those dumb pirate movies on TV last night?”
    Joe fought back the old embarrassment and said, “You used to
watch them, too.”
    Terry snorted. “Yeah. When I was nine, and didn’t know any
better. Listen, we need someone who’s fast on the court, and I know your mom
finally let you off the hook with those trumpet lessons. Look, you’re really
good, so, why don’t you join the team?”
    Joe studied Terry for a moment. Familiar face—turned into a
stranger. Joe still couldn’t believe how much Terry had changed. They used to
do everything together, riding all over town on their bikes just having fun,
video games, drawing pictures of superheroes, and planning how to fight mega-villains
with the powers they’d get after finding mysterious artifacts.
    Until one day Terry suddenly said all that stuff was
babyish, stupid, and why didn’t they try out for b-ball that summer?
    Joe stared at Terry. Words about the book, the magic, flowed
through his brain, to die before they were spoken. Three years ago, Terry would
have listened.
    Joe shook his head. No use thinking of that.
    Terry wrinkled his forehead. “Hey. Why do you look like
that? You sick or something?”
    “Nah. Tired, that’s all,” Joe said. Not real, he’d said.
It’s not real, it’s babyish. If I told him about the book now, he’d probably
say the same thing.
    “Well, what about basketball practice?” Terry persisted.
“Will you come?”
    Joe shrugged. He didn’t care about