The Mystery of the Third Lucretia Read Online Free PDF Page A

she looked. But I had to admit, even a male chauvinist pig like Allen the Meep would be proud of a daughter who looked as pretty as Lucas did.
    â€œNow Kari, honey,” Camellia said, “if there’s somethin’ here that you like specially, you just go ahead and wear it. I’m sure Punkin won’t mind. And Gillian, if there’s somethin’ here that’s just not raht”—she meant right—“we’ll take it back. I left all the tags on.
    â€œAnd Lucas, honey, I don’t want any argument.” She used the name Lucas, so we all knew she was serious. “I want to see pictures of you in London, in these clothes. We can’t have you runnin’ around a cosmopolitan city lookin’ vulguh .”
    So much for leaving most of the clothes behind.
    â€œThanks for coming and bringing Lucas’s things, Camellia,” my mom said. “They’re all really lovely. And Lucas does look just—incredibly pretty.”
    Lucas blushed.
    â€œMah pleashuh, shugah,” Camellia said. “Bah-bah.”
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    When she’d gone, Lucas said, “I’ve got to put in my contacts.” She almost ran to her overnight case in the bedroom. When her contacts were in, she went to the full-length mirror in my mom’s room. All three of us stood around looking at her reflection.
    â€œYou are a lovely young woman, Lucas,” Mom said.
    â€œWhah, fiddle-dee-dee, y’all are gonna turn a girl’s head,” Lucas answered, imitating her mother, but now her eyes were sparkling just like Camellia’s had, and her cheeks would have been pink even without the blusher.
    At last we went back into the living room and just stared at the stuff. We were all quiet for a minute. Then Lucas said, “What the meep are we going to do?”
    Well, we decided to take back everything Lucas hated and the things Mom said were impractical for travel. We saved the clothes that Mom said weren’t warm enough for London in April. We’d take them on a summer trip.
    Lucas and I are about the same size, so she said, how about if she and I both picked the clothes we were going to wear from the things we had left? That way more clothes could go over with us without taking up any extra space. So we both took things like a jacket, jeans, khakis, tops, sweaters, and comfortable shoes.
    I took a black skirt and a crinkly white blouse that had long sleeves and French cuffs, and some shiny black shoes with straps—Camellia had called them “mary janes.” I loved the whole outfit, and it looked good with my black hair. Lucas, of course, took the dress she was wearing, which looked spectacular on her, along with the matching shoes and the necklace.
    Mom said we could fold up the saris flat. She said that one day when we were in London, the two of us could get dressed up in them and paint the lines around our eyes, take a picture, and get out of our costumes.
    Well, there were only a few clothes left: a black blazer, the leather outfit, two sweaters, and a pair of soft leather walking shoes.
    â€œThey’re all wonderful clothes,” Mom said, and sighed, “but I think they look a little too old for you. We’d better take them back, too.”
    I was bursting with an idea. It really wasn’t right that I should say it, because they were Lucas’s clothes, not mine. But I couldn’t help myself.
    â€œLucas,” I said, “how about if you’d let Mom take them? We could maybe get them in bigger sizes, and they’d all look good on her. And that could be her wardrobe. We can take pictures of you in them sitting down, and your mom will never know.”
    Well, that’s what we did. I think it was the coolest travel wardrobe Mom ever had. Maybe the coolest wardrobe she ever had, period.
    We decided we’d take the big suitcase back and exchange it for a little one like Mom and I had, plus a small shoulder-type bag for each of us.