The Other Child Read Online Free PDF

everything you needed?”
    “Yes. And those women in the store got everything they needed, too.”
    “Huh?” Mike turned to look at her quizzically.
    “Oh . . . nothing.” Karen gave him a small grin. “I’m just not used to small towns, that’s all. But I’ll learn soon enough.”
     
     
    “This one?” Leslie was talking to herself as she stuck her head into one of the bedrooms and made a face. It was much too big and boxlike to suit her. She had planned to pick a room close to her mother and Mike, but they just weren’t right. Now she was at the end of the hallway and there was only one room left.
    Leslie’s face lit up as she opened the door. Perfect! There were two windows, one facing the rear, overlooking the greenhouse, and the other directly over the rose garden. The room was sunny and not too big, with a nice-sized closet on an inside wall. It was the room she had always wanted and it was hers.
    Leslie stood in the center of the room and listened. She could hear the wind blowing outside the window, but that was the only sound in this whole huge house. She knew she could be happy here in this room, even though she’d be alone at this end of the hallway. She was a big girl now and she didn’t have to sleep right next to her mom and Mike. This room was tailor-made for her.
    A soft rustling sound made Leslie stop and hold her breath. It sounded like someone walking right below her in the rose garden. She tiptoed to the window and looked out. Maybe Mom and Mike were home already.
    “No one,” she whispered, frowning slightly. The rose garden was a wild tangle of green below her, weeds and roses intertwined from years of untended growth. She must have imagined the noise.
    Leslie shivered and hugged her arms around her body. She was beginning to feel a little strange now, all alone in the house. They ought to be back from the store pretty soon. She hoped so.
    She turned from the window and sighed. Somehow she didn’t want to put her things away right this minute. She wanted to do something else, but she wasn’t quite sure what it was. The tower room? Yes—that’s what she wanted to do. She would go up in the cupola and look out over their new town. It would be all right to go up there if she was careful. Mom hadn’t told her not to. That was almost as good as permission.
    The sunlight streamed through the high windows and dust particles hung in the golden light as Leslie crossed the wooden floor of the third story. The draped furniture was kind of scary in a way. She was glad it was daylight. The shrouded shapes might look frightening in the dark. The thought made her hurry a little faster up the steep stairs and she was panting as she opened the door to the cupola.
    “I’m here!” Leslie announced, feeling silly at the thought of her own, make-believe fright. She stood in the very center of the small, square room and looked around her, thinking there was something about the size of this room that pleased her. It was almost like a dollhouse, perfect for her but really too small for her mother or Mike. It was a personal place, her own little corner in this mammoth house.
    A smile came to her face as she drank it all in. The view was a complete circle, she could see the white church steeple she had noticed on the first day and the streets crossed in perfect squares of dark asphalt below. From her high vantage point she could see every roof in town: red, blue, yellow, and brown lids on tiny toy houses. The river sparkled to the east and the highway outside of town was a thin gray ribbon in the distance. Here she was above the trees and they looked like puffy green clouds below her.
    A flash of light caught her eye and Leslie looked down into the rose garden. She had seen something sparkle there, but now it was gone. In its place was a shadow.
    Leslie’s heart began to race and she blinked hard. The shadow looked almost like a boy standing small and dark beneath her. She heard the leaves rustle and the