Universal Alien Read Online Free PDF Page A

rest of my favorite things.”
    â€œDaddy! Mommy! Get up! Get up!” Max shouted as he jumped onto the bed with us. He might have been our second child, but he tended to lead. “We took a vote and everyone wants to go to the zoo today!”
    Charlie clambered up. “Not quite everyone. Uncle Peter says we need to wear lots of sunscreen even though it’s cold outside. Grandpa Sol says we just need to wear hats.” He reached down and helped his little sister up. “What do you think, Daddy?”
    â€œI think you’ll want to do what your mother says,” Charles replied as he put Jamie onto his lap. “What do you think, Jamie-Kat?” Everyone felt Jamie looked exactly like me. Couldn’t argue, but I knew I’d smiled a lot more at her age. Maybe we just didn’t smile enough at her.
    Jamie didn’t answer, just leaned her head into his chest.
    Max burrowed in between us, back against the pillows. Max was a real blend of the two of us—my eyes, chin and body structure, Charles’ everything else. Per his father, and mine, he had all my personality, though.
    Charlie sat between us, facing us, legs crossed. He looked just like Charles to me—same eyes, wiry build, facial structure, and personality—which was a nice stroke of luck, since he was named for his father. I recognized his Serious Face expression—I’d seen it on his father’s face since we were both thirteen. “Jamie doesn’t want to go.”
    â€œDid she say that?” I tried not to sound hopeful.
    He shook his head. “But I can tell.”
    â€œMe too,” Max said. “She wants to stay home.”
    I chucked Jamie under her chin. “I know you want to watch your mirrors, Jamie-Kat. But the animals will miss you if you don’t go see them.”
    She shook her head. “Bad things are going to happen.”
    Jamie rarely spoke. But the few times she did, she spoke perfectly, as if she was a much older child. However, she never spoke to share fun, happy, or loving things. It was always to tell us something bad was going to happen. So far as we could tell, she’d only been right a couple of times. But those times had been devastating.
    Charles hugged her. “Bad things happen all the time. But they’re not going to happen to us today.”
    Before he could say anything else, Jamie sat up straight, then clambered off the bed and trotted out of the room. I tried not to notice that Jamie hadn’t waited for or asked for a kiss from either one of us. That she’d let Charles hold her this morning was good enough.
    The rest of us looked at each other. “I love her, but she’s weird, Mommy,” Max said finally.
    Charlie shot a disapproving look at his younger brother. “She’s our sister, no matter what. Besides, it’s probably just that Uncle James is back.” It probably was. Somehow, Jamie always knew when James was near.
    Max shrugged. “I know.” He hugged me. “It’s okay, Mommy.”
    Charlie crawled over and hugged me, too. “Yeah, it’ll be okay, Mommy. I promise.”
    â€œWow, I guess I’m not doing a good job of not showing the two of you that I’m worried about your sister.”
    Charles hugged all of us. “We’re all worried. But we’ll fix her, or keep her safe, or do whatever we have to to keep our family safe and make it all right, right?”
    â€œRight,” the rest of us said in unison. Then the boys both laughed and shouted, “Jinx!” And, as kids will, kept on shouting jinx at each other as they got off the bed and left our room.
    â€œReady for a shower?” Charles asked me. I nodded and he laughed. “I won’t pinch you if you break the jinx.”
    â€œAwww, you spoilsport.” Sighed. “I didn’t mean to let the boys know how worried I am. I just wish Jamie was . . .”
    Charles put his arm around my