The Penderwicks at Point Mouette Read Online Free PDF

doing, she’ll be on the next bus to Maine.” Skye sank onto one of the cots. “I’ll have failed in everyone’s eyes.”
    Jane wanted to help. But short of staging a near tragedy so that Skye could dramatically rescue Batty, thereby boosting her self-confidence, there was nothing she could do. Unless they went back to the hypnosis idea. Jane thought that Skye had dismissed this too readily and was about to tell her so when they heard a phone ringing inside the house.
    Skye grabbed Jane’s arm. “That’s Rosalind, I know it is. Please don’t say anything about this.”
    “I won’t. But, Skye, you should try to sound happier if you don’t want her suspecting trouble.”
    Now Aunt Claire was calling for them to come inside.
    Skye pitched her voice higher. “Do I sound happier?”
    “No, just weird.”
    “That’s the best I can do. Let’s go talk to her.”
    But when they went into the living room, Aunt Claire had already hung up the phone and Batty was dancing around Hound.
    “There’s a very good surprise,” she said, hopping over Hound’s tail. “Guess!”
    “Ice cream for dinner,” said Skye, wondering if there was a flavor of ice cream that blew up children. “Wasn’t that Rosalind on the phone?”
    “Not ice cream and not Rosalind.” Batty danced in the other direction. “Guess again. Starts with a
G.
”
    “Giraffe, gnu, goldfish,” tried Jane. “Green beans, grass skirt, George Washington.”
    “Not even close.”
    “Batty, the surprise doesn’t start with a
G
,” said Aunt Claire. “Now everyone sit down so that you don’t fall over when I tell you what it is.”
    Neither Skye nor Jane could imagine a surprise good enough to fall over for. But they sat down at the table, because it seemed the quickest way to stop Batty from dancing. She was a loud dancer.
    “Good,” said Aunt Claire, sitting, too. “First I have to apologize for not telling you last night when I found out, but I was afraid she would change all over again. Heaven knows it’s happened enough times already.”
    The girls were used to Aunt Claire not making sense when she was excited or nervous, but usually their father was available to straighten her out. Skye took a deep breath—it was up to her now.
    “You were afraid who would change all over again?” she asked.
    “Starts with an
M
,” said Batty, jiggling in her chair.
    “Oh, my!” Jane jiggled a little, too. “I’m having an idea.”
    “I’m not,” said Skye crossly.
    Jane turned to Aunt Claire. “Did Batty mean
J
instead of
G
?”
    “She did indeed.”
    “Oh, Skye, don’t you see?
J
is for Jeffrey and
M
must be for Mrs. T-D. Did she change her mind again, Aunt Claire?”
    Skye was back on her feet, so full of hope she couldn’t stand it. “Is Jeffrey coming here after all? Don’t tease. Please just tell us.”
    She didn’t need an answer—Aunt Claire’s big smile was enough. And then there was lots of shrieking, and when Aunt Claire said that not only was Jeffrey coming but he would arrive any minute, Skye dashed outside into the late-afternoon sunshine, then stopped so abruptly that her sisters and Hound, who were also dashing, slammed into her.
    “Go ask Aunt Claire how he’s getting here,” Skye told Jane. “If his mother is driving—”
    Jane didn’t need to hear the rest of the sentence. She knew as well as Skye that the sight of actual Penderwicks could be enough to make Mrs. T-D turn around and drive all the way back to Arundel. But Aunt Claire had the right answer—Jeffrey was being delivered to them by a hired driver—and now there was nothing to keep the girls from running down Ocean Boulevard to meet him headlong.
    So they ran, Skye and Jane carrying Batty between them, with Hound following, barking at all the excitement. They ran and ran, and would have kept on running forever to be with Jeffrey, but way before that, a long black car appeared. Hound barked even more,Skye and Jane waved frantically, the car came to a