The Blood Ballad Read Online Free PDF Page A

Chuck’s, went home, scarfed my dinner, and went to bed. I let Rudy take care of the nighttime routine on this night, since I had to get up at like four in the morning. The next twenty-four hours were going to be the longest twenty-four hours of my life.

Three
    I held an extra-big cup of hot cocoa in my left hand as my right hand scratched my tummy in the dark. I yawned as Eleanore pulled up in her big station wagon. Everybody participating in the birding Olympics was meeting at the commuter parking lot just on the edge of the south part of town. I waved, blithely thinking that she’d be happy that I was on time for this stupid meditation. I was mistaken.
    â€œCaffeine! How do you intend to meditate if you’re hopped up on caffeine?”
    â€œGeez, Eleanore, it’s not like I’m taking speed,” I said defensively.
    Before I could say anything more, Eleanore moved in front of the headlights on her station wagon. She was dressed entirely, from head to toe, in camouflage. Her face was painted various shades of green and tan. And somehow Eleanore had managed to find a lady’s wide-brimmed hat in camouflage colors. She had a big feather of some sort sticking out of the back of it. Upon closer scrutiny, I noticed that she’d even painted her fingernails alternately with green and tan. Well, when Eleanore decided to blend, she could blend.
    I, on the other hand, was wearing long underwear, a pair of jeans, Doc Martens, a Rams sweatshirt, and a big fuzzy blue hat that Rachel had knitted for me in her crafts class at school. I don’t own any camouflage clothes. I don’t own any khaki, unless you count my shorts, and it wasn’t warm enough for those. But I thought at least the hat was the same color as the sky.
    Eleanore glared at me, looking from my shoes to the floppy ball on the end of my hat. “If you ruin my chances of winning the first ever New Kassel Birding Olympics, I will hunt you down.”
    â€œHunt me down? Eleanore, you know my address.”
    â€œI mean it, Torie. You may ruin everything, but you’re not ruining this!”
    â€œOh yeah? Well, I was just about to say the same thing about you. So if you don’t win, sweep in front of your own door!”
    â€œBut I am not the one—” She raised her hands and stopped midsentence. “We must meditate.”
    She spread a blanket on the gravel and sat down.
    â€œOkeydokey,” I said. I gulped as much of my hot chocolate as I could and sat down across from her.
    â€œAnkles folded. Fingertips touching the thumb. Relax. Breathe.”
    â€œRight.” I did as she instructed and wondered when in the world Eleanore had started meditating. It sure as heck had made no difference in her outward personality, so it was either something brand-new or there was no hope for Eleanore ever being anything other than Eleanore. I couldn’t help but wonder if it was okay to think about Eleanore during meditation.
    â€œOpen the back of your throat,” she said.
    â€œI thought I had.”
    â€œNo, no, no. You’ve got it all wrong.”
    â€œThe back of my throat is open!” I argued.
    â€œNo it’s not.”
    â€œIf it wasn’t open, I’d be dead, you idiot!”
    â€œYou have to sound like Darth Vader when you’re breathing.”
    â€œYou do? Are you sure?” I asked.
    â€œYes.”
    â€œAll right,” I said.
    So we sat there facing each other, sounding like Darth Vader, although I thought we sounded like we had head colds. Even though there was a blanket beneath me, the rocks were grinding into my butt cheeks, and it was nippy outside—about forty degrees. So pretty soon my teeth were chattering and my butt was numb and Eleanore was attracting all sorts of attention with her breathing, but it wasn’t from the birds.
    â€œImagine you have wings,” she said in some far-off, dreamy voice.
    I didn’t want to imagine that I had wings,