Give and Take Read Online Free PDF Page B

walls were covered with winding ivy wallpaper and framed pictures of different flowers. In one corner, there were some smaller framed photos of birds lined up in three rows of four across.
    “Who are they ?” Madison asked.
    “My children,” Mrs. Romano replied. “I’ve had twelve different birds in my life. Each one has his or her picture up on this wall.”
    “Wow,” Madison said, taking a closer look. “That’s nice.”
    Mrs. Romano smiled. “You’re just saying that to be nice yourself. You think I’m a little weird, don’t you? There was another kid who volunteered here. He thought I was weird. Called me the bird lady. I got a kick out of that.”
    “No,” Madison said nervously. “I don’t think you’re weird. I don’t think that at all.”
    In this case, Madison figured it was okay to lie—a little. She didn’t want Mrs. Romano to feel bad after they’d just met.
    For the next hour, Mrs. Romano showed Madison ten different kinds of birds that lived just outside her big bay window. The room overlooked the rolling lawn outside The Estates. Mrs. Romano said she would sit there all morning and watch the birds eating, flying, and playing.
    “I always wished I could fly,” Mrs. Romano said. “Wouldn’t that be great?”
    Madison nodded. “It’s almost time to go,” she said. “I guess we have to say good-bye.”
    “I’ll walk you back to the lobby,” Mrs. Romano said. “I had a good afternoon. Didn’t expect to. But you’re sweet.”
    “I had a good time, too,” Madison said. “And I’m not just saying that to make you feel better. I really did.”
    “Well, as a matter of fact, I do feel better. Next time you come, I want you to tell me all about yourself, okay?”
    Madison nodded. “Okay.”
    When she arrived back in the main lobby of The Estates, Mr. Lynch gathered all the volunteers into the room for a meeting. He wanted a report from all the kids about their visits. Madison was surprised to find that everyone had had a positive experience. Even Egg, who said Smokey yelled at him for no reason a few times, enjoyed himself. It was better than anyone had expected. Nurse Ana was pleased, too.
    “Mrs. Wood was so funny,” Ivy said. “She and I tried on costume jewelry and other stuff all afternoon. She has like forty pairs of shoes in her closet!”
    Madison smiled. “Wow, that’s really interesting. I wonder if she wears them all.”
    “So what did you do?” Ivy asked Madison. “Was your lady stuck-up? She looked kind of boring.”
    “We looked at birds,” Madison said. “I mean, it sounds boring, but Mrs. Romano made it fun. Even though she was complaining a little. She was nice. She reminded me of my own grandmother.”
    “I wish my Grams was half as nice as Mrs. Wood,” Ivy said. “Can you believe her name? MY lady was the coolest.”
    “Yeah, and Holly is a good name for Christmas, too,” Madison joked.
    Ivy rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. So, when are you coming back here?”
    “I guess next week,” Madison replied.
    “Yeah, me too,” Ivy said.
    Señora Diaz called everyone together for the minibus, and Ivy raced ahead.
    Probably going to get the seat next to Hart, Madison thought, hanging back a little bit. Once the enemy, always the enemy?
    In her heart, she secretly wished that maybe she and Ivy could make time for some real understanding between each other. Of course, that would take some kind of holiday miracle, and Madison needed to reserve miracles for something more important, like Mom and Dad. She’d need a miracle to get them to stop fighting.
    When Madison arrived home, Mom was on the phone, so she couldn’t tell her about The Estates right away. Mom pointed to a note on the kitchen table: Aimee called about tomorrow. Call back.
    Madison crumpled up the note and headed upstairs to change out of her clothes and pick out an outfit for the next day. She, Aimee, and Fiona were going to the hockey game together and that was a place to see and be seen.