House Arrest Read Online Free PDF Page A

courtroom.
    Pippa banished the D.A. from her thoughts and listened to Jeremy talk about the homeless guy they met that morning hanging around the library, his frizzy white beard decorated with dribbles of green stuff. He had told the twins a story about Saturn while they waited for the bus.
    “He said Saturn was named after Cronus, this god who wanted to be king,” Jeremy said. “But his daddy wouldn’t give up the throne, so Cronus cut off his daddy’s privates.”
    Timothy burst into giggles and goosed Jeremy in his privates and they wrestled on the bench, sending Newark dashing from the room and spilling Timothy’s soymilk.
    Pippa mopped it up, then grinned at the twins. “That sounds like Lettuce Man. He scrounges for discarded salads in the dumpsters behind the downtown restaurants.” Pippa remembered him from the days before Francie found her. Lettuce Man liked to hang out with the street kids, shoving wilted greens into his mouth and telling dirty stories to make them laugh. Timothy said that he and Jeremy bought Lettuce Man a bus token so they could hear the end of the story about how Cronus worried that his kids would overthrow him.
    “Cronus swallowed his kids when they were born,” Jeremy said. “Whole.”
    “Then he barfed them up,” Timothy added.
    “Morning, everyone,” Francie called from the hallway. She pulled her terrycloth bathrobe snug around her shoulders and stopped to turn up the thermostat before entering the kitchen. With her blue eyes and hair like carrot curls tangled over her white robe, Francie looked just like the drawing of the princess in Abby’s book.
    “It’s afternoon.” Jeremy pointed to the clock on the wall.
    “Why don’t you get dressed,” Marshall asked, “instead of cranking up the furnace and sending dollar bills up the chimney?”
    “Give it a break.” Francie sat down next to Timothy on the bench and both cats jumped onto her lap. Francie kissed Timothy’s cheek and pouted when he wiped it off with the back of his fist. Then she kissed her pointer finger and reached over to touch first the tip of Jeremy’s nose and then Marshall’s stubbly cheek. Pippa thought Francie hesitated slightly before blowing a kiss to Pippa at the stove.
    “Work okay last night?” Marshall asked. It looked like he was staring deep into the vee of Francie’s bathrobe, where her skin was even whiter than her face. No one in the family ever wanted to talk about who was sleeping together behind flimsy curtains. No one owns anyone in this family, Tian taught, but Pippa was curious anyway. Francie used to be with Tian, that much was clear from looking at the twins. Pippa carried soup bowls to the table for the boys and then for Marshall.
    “Work wasn’t bad.” Francie reached for a slice of apple. “The E.R. was wild, but the switchboard was quiet. Good thing, since the supervisor called out sick and it was just me.”
    “I didn’t hear you come in,” Marshall said.
    “It was late.” Francie accepted the steaming bowl from Pippa, cradling it with both hands. Bast jumped onto the table and sniffed.
    “How can you eat lentils for breakfast?” Timothy asked.
    “That’s life when you work nights, sweetie.” Francie turned to Pippa. “Did that nurse come this morning?”
    Pippa emptied the last ladle of soup into her bowl. “Yeah.”
    “What was she like?”
    “Not awful.” Pippa pictured Emily’s nose that seem to change course in the middle. “Not as bad as I expected.”
    “What about your ankle device? You figured out how to get it off?”
    “How can I do that?” Pippa set down her spoon. “They’ll slap me in jail.”
    Timothy slid down under the table, pulling his brother along. They tugged at the strap around Pippa’s ankle. Timothy popped up with a serious expression. “We can figure this out. Marshall’s been helping us take things apart and put them back together.”
    “That monitor is a whole different ballgame than clocks and toaster ovens,”