Best Kept Secret by Ann M. Martin

Author:Ann M. Martin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2014-09-10T04:00:00+00:00

“Sadie, it’s snowing again!” exclaimed Francie. It seemed to have snowed a million times so far that winter — and nearly every snow had fallen on a weekend day or a vacation day so that school had been canceled only twice, to Francie’s dismay. Still, snow was snow. And it was even better with Sadie around. “Come on,” said Francie. She shrugged into a sweater and ran into the hallway, followed by Sadie.

They hurtled down the stairs to the closet in the front hall and Francie pulled out her mittens, boots, and coat. She was searching for a scarf when her mother called from the kitchen, “Don’t you want breakfast?”

“Can I have it later? Please?” Francie called back. “Sadie and I want to play in the snow while it’s fresh. Before there are even any footprints in it.”

“Okay, but I’m making waffles.”

“Really?” Francie paused in her search. Then she looked at Sadie, who was standing on her hind legs at the front door, watching the snow fall. “We’ll be back in half an hour, I promise.”

When Francie was as bundled up as possible, she opened the door and Sadie bounded into the yard ahead of her. The snow was piled as high as the bottom step of the front porch, and still falling thickly.

“Don’t go in the street!” Francie shouted, even though Sadie was struggling through the snow, leaping high but moving forward by inches. Now that she was responsible for another living creature, Francie saw doggie danger everywhere — speeding cars, dognappers (although she wasn’t sure what a dognapper looked like), chocolate bars, onions.

She glanced up and down Vandeventer Avenue. Her neighborhood was as quiet as an empty room (and apparently, free of danger). The plows hadn’t come down her street yet and she couldn’t hear traffic anywhere, not even in town. Across Vandeventer, lights were on in the Newcomers’ house, but no one had been outside yet. Next door, she saw footprints in the Foxes’ front yard, but they belonged to Hank, who, Francie suspected, had been let out just long enough to pee before he hightailed it back inside his warm, dry home.

Francie bent down to scoop up snow. She packed it into a ball and tossed it to Sadie, who jumped for it and caught it in her mouth, but looked surprised and wounded when it fell apart.

“Let’s build a snowman,” said Francie. She worked quickly, making three balls and rolling them around the yard until she decided their sizes were right. Sadie leaped up and down at her side. “We’ll dress him later,” Francie announced when the snowman was completed. “I’m freezing. Let’s go get breakfast.”

Inside, she found her mother presiding over the waffle iron. “Where’s Matthew?” Francie asked.

“Upstairs, working.”

“He’s been working an awful lot lately,” she commented. “He’s never here.”

Francie ate three waffles before her mother disappeared into her own studio. She turned to Sadie. “You know what this is a good day for? It’s a good day for making snowmen and Valentines.”

Francie set out paper and markers and glitter and sat at the kitchen table.

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