Ten Ways to Make My Sister Disappear Read Online Free PDF Page B

gets caught up in a dream of dancing across that icy slickness, her feet never touching the snow, never feeling the cold. Oh, how graceful she is! All up and down Baylor Street people pour out of their houses to watch her and take her picture. She dances away from the window, dances around the room, between the beds, raising her arms, bending and dipping and —
    â€œWhat are you doing ?” Dakota says.
    Sprig stops abruptly. Great. Now Dakota will channel Krystee and say something mean like the whole house is shaking , or first time I ever saw a dog dance . Instead, Dakota grabs Sprig’s hands and dances around the room with her. “Faster, faster,” Dakota orders, and they whirl and stamp and gallop together until they collapse on Dakota’s bed, laughing and out of breath.
    The next morning, Sprig and Dakota are making their lunches at the table when Mom puts down her coffee cup and says, “Girls, last night you were sleeping when your father called. It was almost one o’clock. I was sound asleep myself!”
    â€œWhy’d he call so late?” Sprig says.
    â€œI was going to stay up,” Dakota says, “but I got too tired.”
    â€œHe was in a meeting that ran really, really late,” Mom says. “Some important decisions were being made, and that’s what I need to talk to you both about.”
    Sprig freezes, holding the mustard knife in mid-air. She doesn’t like the sound of that word need . Or the one that came before — decisions .
    â€œYour father’s going to be in a lot of meetings in the next few days.” Mom glances at her watch.
    â€œWhat kind of meetings?” Dakota asks.
    â€œWe’ll talk about all this in more detail later, but the long and the short of it is that, fairly soon, your father will be going —”
    â€œMom,” Sprig interrupts. A blob of mustard falls to the table. “Mom, we need bread and —”
    â€œSprig, let me finish what I’m saying, please.”
    Maybe Sprig doesn’t want Mom to finish. Maybe her somersaulting stomach doesn’t want to hear what Mom is about to say. “Lettuce too. I can go to the store after school if you —”
    â€œ Sprig .” Mom takes her arm. “Listen to me, honey. You need to hear this. Your dad will be going to Afghanistan soon.”
    â€œAfghanistan,” Sprig repeats. So it is bad news.
    â€œWe’re not sure of the date yet,” Mom says, “but he’ll probably be leaving within the next week or so. He’ll want to talk to both of you about it, of course, and —”
    â€œWhy is he going there?” Sprig says. “Afghanistan is so far away!”
    â€œWell, yes,” Mom says. “But he’ll be doing what he always does, consulting about buildings, in this case, schools. That’s a really good thing, and he’s excited to be part of this project.”
    â€œMom, what if something happens to him?” Sprig’s voice comes out small.
    â€œNothing’s going to happen to Dad,” Dakota snaps. “Don’t be stupid.”
    Sprig crushes her sandwich into a baggie. Mustard is smeared all over. “People are getting hurt over there. Even killed. Like Iraq! I saw it on the news.”
    â€œYour father’s going to Kabul, that’s the capital. The U.N. is there to protect people. He won’t be going into the danger area.” Mom glances at her watch again. “Look, we’ll talk about this a lot more, but right now I have to get going, and you girls hustle too, or you’ll miss your bus.” She kisses Sprig on the head. “Try not to worry, honey.”
    Sprig nods. She listens as Mom leaves the house. She listens to the sound of the car crunching down the driveway. “Come on ,” Dakota says. “Why are you just standing there?” She stuffs Sprig’s lunch into her backpack and hands it to her. “Hey,” she says,