North of Nowhere Read Online Free PDF

minutes. Gran wouldn’t even notice how long I’d been gone. And if she did, I could always say the bag split and I had to scrabble around picking up all the trash or something.
    Before I could talk myself out of it, I was running back to the beach.
    Dee wasn’t there — and neither was the boat. I’d missed them. I’d have to wait till the next day. Grandad had told me about the Sunday market, but we’d never been here when it was on before.
    I consoled myself with the thought that we could probably go along, and with the hope that, by this time tomorrow, Grandad might have turned up and I might have found a new friend.
    Surely something good had to happen at
some
point this week — didn’t it?

For once, I was up and dressed before Mom called me. She knocked softly and poked her head around the door.
    “Good grief,” she said, looking at her watch. “Has my watch stopped? Or am I still asleep and dreaming?”
    Yes, ha-ha, Mom. Very funny.
    “It’s a nice day and I thought I’d get up early and walk the dog,” I replied.
    Mom glanced at the window. Rain ran down the glass in long, wiggly streaks.
    “OK, maybe it’s not a nice day. But I thought I’d get up anyway. It’s not a crime, is it?”
    “I suppose, strictly speaking, it wouldn’t be classified as an
actual
crime,” she said. “But I’m fairly certain it would be listed under Highly Unusual Activity.” Then she smiled and held out her hand. “Come on, Mia, love. Let’s go and get some breakfast before you go out.”
    And because she called me Mia, I decided to forgive her sarcasm.
    I scarfed down my breakfast as fast as politeness and the risk of indigestion would allow, and then I took my plate to the sink and grabbed Flake’s leash from the back door. “Can I take Flake out now?” I asked.
    “That would be lovely,” Gran replied, with another of her tight smiles. Actually, this one was even tighter than the ones she’d managed to squeeze out so far. She still hadn’t heard anything from Grandad.
    It had been two days now.
    I kept telling myself there must be a totally logical explanation for his disappearance. He couldn’t have left her. He wouldn’t have just gone like that. Not without explaining. He wouldn’t leave her, and I
knew
he wouldn’t leave me.
    I didn’t want to think about it. It made my stomach tighten up and growl painfully when I did, so instead I concentrated as hard as I could on putting Flake’s leash on and grabbing a ball from his box of toys.
    “See you soon,” I called over my shoulder. I shut the door behind me and turned to Flake. “OK, boy, shall we go to the harbor and see if Dee’s boat’s there? We’re going to make a new friend today!”
    Flake flapped his tail excitedly on the ground. You’d really only have to look at Flake or throw a tiny piece of debris across a beach to make his day. Shame it wasn’t so easy for humans.
    I threw the ball a few times for Flake. Each time he brought it back to me, he’d drop the ball, then turn and snuggle into my legs for a cuddle.
    “Flake, you are definitely the best thing about this place,” I whispered into his fur as I squeezed him tightly and kissed his head. Then I put his leash on and crossed to the other side of the harbor, where the fish auction was held.
    But when we arrived at the auction hall, the doors were closed. I tried to push them open, but there was a bar across them with a padlock dangling from it.
    I walked all around the building, looking for another way in. There wasn’t one.
    Around the back, there was a man in a canvas jacket and rain boots, sitting on a wooden container untangling a knotted-up mass of green rope. He looked up as Flake and I appeared in front of him.
    “All right there? Need some help?” he asked.
    “I — um, I was looking for the auction,” I said awkwardly. “I thought it was today.”
    “Auction’s Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.”
    “But the one that’s part of the Sunday market. Isn’t