What a Pair! Read Online Free PDF Page B

from her seat.
    While Mom wiped up the mess with a dishtowel, Mattie turned to Mark and said, “Can’t you be more careful?”
    “Sorry,” Mark said. “Guess if you were right-handed like me, we wouldn’t be bumping arms.”
    Mattie grinned. “Or if you were left-handed like me, we wouldn’t be bumping arms.”
    “Mark can trade places with Calvin,” Mom said.
    “That won’t work,” Calvin spoke up,” ‘Cause I’m right-handed, too.”
    “You’re left-handed,” Dad said to Russell. “Why don’t you trade places with Mark?”
    “Okay.” Russell left his chair and exchanged seats with Mark.
    Mom handed Dad the platter of bacon. “While I’m up getting Mattie another glass of
melke
, would anyone else like some?”
    “I’d rather have orange juice,” Mark said.
    “Are you sure about that?” Mom asked. “The orange juice will taste sour after eating pancakes and sweet maple syrup.”
    “I’m sure it’ll be good.” Mark smacked his lips. “I really do like orange juice.”
    “Very well, then.” Mom went to the refrigerator and took out two pitchers—one with milk in it, and one full of orange juice. She poured Mark a glass of orange juice and handed it to him, just as he finished eating his pancake.
    Mark took a big drink and puckered his lips. “Yuck! This juice is really sour!” He set his glass down. “I’ve changed my mind. Can I have some melke now?”
    “Jah, you can, but not until you’ve finished your orange juice,” Dad said. “We don’t waste food or drink around here, and your mamm did warn you about the orange juice being sour.”
    Mark drank his juice down as fast as he could. He’d just finished the last of it, and was reaching for the pitcher of milk, when Ada knocked over her glass.
Splat
!—icy cold milk went all over Mark’s plate and ran onto his clothes.
    “This is not starting off to be a very good day,” Mark mumbled as he raced up the stairs to change his clothes. “Sure hope the rest of my day goes better!”

    C HAPTER 4    
Missing!
    As soon as Mattie finished helping Mom with the dishes, she hurried outside to pick some of the pretty white daisies growing under the fence along the edge of the alfalfa pasture. As she picked the flowers, she sang a little song she’d made up.
    “Daisy … daisy … pretty little daisy … your center is yellow … your petals are white. God made you, daisy, to look just right.”
    “Ah-hem! What do you think you’re doin’ with those posies?”
    Mattie dropped a flower and whirled around. Mark stood behind her staring into the basket of daisies she’d already picked, with one eyebrow raised and a smirk on his face.
    “Don’t sneak up on me like that, and they’re not posies—they’re daisies.”
    “Well, whatever they’re called, how come you’re pickin’ so many of them?” he questioned.
    “I’m going to decorate the fence.”
    “With the flowers?”
    “Of course with the flowers.”
    “I think that’s girl stuff, Mattie,” Mark said.
    “Maybe so, but I want everything to look pretty when Grandma and Grandpa Miller come for supper this evening. They’ll see the flowers when they come up the driveway with their horse and buggy.”
    Mark shrugged his shoulders. “Well, if you want to put posies on the fence, that’s up to you, but I’m goin’ fishin’ with Calvin and Russell. Do you wanna come with us?”
    “No thanks,” Mattie said as she wrapped the stem of a daisy around the fence post.
    After the boys left, Mattie continued to sing her little song as she added more colorful daisies to the fence. She’d just finished the last one, and was about to start putting flowers on the porch railing, when her best friend, Stella Schrock, rode in on her bicycle.
    “Whatcha doin’?” Stella asked after she’d parked her bike near the porch.
    “I decorated the fence with daisies, and now I’m going to put some on the porch railing,” Mattie said with a smile.
    “Can I help you