Miracleville Read Online Free PDF

get this weird feeling he’s looking inside me. He smiles, and when he does, his face softens and he looks even more handsome. I can’t decide if I should smile back. Can he see I’m blushing?
    Then, just like that, the moment is over and I’m following Mom back to our pew. My hands and feet feel tingly. I was so busy thinking about the handsome priest I forgot to think about our Savior. The Host has melted on my tongue without my even noticing it. All that’s left is a papery taste.

    â€œYou shouldn’t have taken off like that,” I say, wagging my finger at Colette after we file out of the basilica. “You missed Communion. And I bet you didn’t even have to pee. I bet you were busy flirting.”
    Colette puts her hands on her hips. “Can I ask you something? Why are you always trying to ruin my fun?”
    â€œWho says Sunday Mass is supposed to be fun?”
    Of course, Colette has an answer to that. “If it was fun, more people would come.”
    I take a deep breath. “It’s just not right to miss Communion,” I tell her.
    â€œI’m not like you. I’m not obsessed with what’s right. Besides, the last thing I want—the very last thing—is to take a stale wafer from some decrepit old priest.” Colette has started to rock from one foot to the other.
    â€œAnd would you quit doing that?” I tell her. “You’re making me dizzy.”
    â€œQuit what?”
    â€œThe rocking!” I try not to shout, but my voice comes out louder than I want it to. People are turning to look at us.
    Colette is still rocking, like a swing that keeps going even when no one’s on it. “I can’t help it,” she says in a small voice that only makes me feel angrier with her.

Five
    M aybe I was too hard on Colette. I shouldn’t have bawled her out in public. She can’t help the rocking. It’s a symptom of her adhd. So I decide to make it up to her by asking Mom if it’s okay to invite Maxim and his grandmother to our picnic.
    â€œIt’s a lovely idea,” Mom says. “I’ve always liked Tante Hélène. It isn’t right that people in town call her crazy. She’s just a free spirit.”
    Mom’s taking her own car to the canyon. She wants to stop in first at Saintly Souvenirs to check on Clara Bergeron, who works in the shop on Sundays. “You know how nervous Clara gets. I’ll just pop by and make sure things are under control.”
    When Colette hears that Maxim and his grandmother are coming and that it was all my idea, she is too excited to accuse me of acting saintly. She rushes upstairs, disappearing into her side of our closet. The hangers start clattering, and soon there’s a mountain of clothes on her bed. “Too warm. Too fancy for a hike,” she says, tossing more clothes onto the pile. Finally she settles on a pair of khaki short-shorts and a tank top with a skull and crossbones on it.
    When Colette puts on her matching skull and crossbones earrings, I decide to put on my earrings with the gold crosses. One of us has to look respectable.
    The Ste-Anne Canyon is east of town on the 138. We take Dad’s van, stopping to get Maxim and his grandmother. Iza is coming too, but she’s taking the Mini Cooper she got when she turned sixteen. Iza’s dad is the richest person in Ste-Anne-de-Beaupré. He owns most of the buildings on Avenue Royale, and his company is also behind a new condo complex on the edge of the cliff.
    â€œWill you ask Iza if she’ll give Maxim and me a ride home in the convertible? Please!” Colette asked, jumping up and down next to me while I was on the phone with Iza. And because I wanted to make things up to Colette, I asked Iza, who said yes. Colette was so excited, she danced around our room.
    Tante Hélène is watering her dandelions when we drive up. She’s wearing a floppy faded sunhat and a flowery apron