Finding Fortune Read Online Free PDF Page A

pillow, and settled in. At least I had Little Women to keep me company. I knew it was weird. Allison and Kelly never would have wanted to read a book that was written in 1868 and said corny things like “The four young faces on which the firelight shone brightened at the cheerful words…” I turned to chapter 22—my favorite—so I could read about how Marmee and the March girls have the best Christmas ever when Father surprises them and returns home from the Civil War.

 
    FOUR
    I SHOT UP IN THE COT, breathing hard. The classroom was bleached with sun. It took me a minute to take it all in— Little Women placed neatly beside Dad’s picture on the chair, the blanket spread over my feet. Hildy must have come back to check on me and turn off the lights after I had fallen asleep. I swiped my hair out of my face and looked at my watch, still in a haze of disbelief. How could I have done it? Slept straight through till eight in the morning with all my worries about Mom and Rick, not to mention a skull lurking only a few feet away?
    I had shoved my feet into my sneakers and was fumbling with the laces when I heard a sharp rap on the door. Hildy swept into the room before I had time to answer. She looked a lot less scary in the daytime, probably because her wig was on straight this morning and she had switched to pink lipstick instead of bloodred. She was wearing an old velour tracksuit that reminded me of dirty peach fuzz, but it was still a big improvement over yesterday’s saggy sweater.
    â€œGood. You’re alive,” she said. “You had me wondering last night. When I came back to see how you were doing, the light was on, but you were out cold. Must have been exhausted.”
    â€œSorry about that,” I said. “I can’t believe I never woke up, especially after being so scared…”
    â€œScared?” Hildy’s penciled-on eyebrows flew up. “Scared of what, for Pete’s sake?”
    There was no use beating around the bush. I went straight to the cabinet and flung the door open. “That,” I said, and scooted out of the way so she could see.
    Hildy stepped closer, lifting her glasses from the chain around her neck and perching them on the end of her nose. She slowly leaned down to take a look. “Oh, lordy,” she breathed. “You poor thing. I forgot all about Bonny’s skull.” She straightened up with a dry little chuckle.
    â€œBonny?”
    â€œMr. Bonnycastle. He taught here way back when I was in school. Reading and composition mainly, but once in a while he would hold an art class for the seniors. He was a fine artist himself. I remember he nabbed that skull from cranky old Mr. Prescott, who taught the sciences. Then he set it up with the hourglass and the shells so he could teach us about drawing still-life pictures.”
    Hildy let her gaze roam wistfully around the room, then shook her head. “I should have pitched those things when I was clearing out this room a couple of months ago. But they brought back so many memories I couldn’t stand to throw them away.”
    â€œSo that’s another thing I was wondering about,” I said in a rush. I pointed at the mysterious word planted in the middle of the chalkboard. “What does that mean?”
    Hildy blinked. “Oh, that?” She frowned and fidgeted with the zipper of her jacket. “That was Garrett’s bright idea. He’s my handyman. He’s been checking all the rooms for any last repairs that need to be done. If there aren’t any, he writes no on the board and moves on.”
    I felt the knot in my throat loosen. Her explanations sounded so reasonable.
    â€œI should be getting downstairs,” Hildy said. She pushed up her sleeves. “I got a big surprise this morning. My son called at the crack of dawn to say he’s driving over from Des Moines today. He’s bringing my grandson Tucker with him.”
    I waited