Dawn's Book by Ann M. Martin

Author:Ann M. Martin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2016-12-14T05:00:00+00:00

Granny, Mom, and I returned to our hotel rooms to dress for dinner. While Mom and I were alone in our rooms, she telephoned the restaurant to be sure our table was set up just the way we wanted it.

Granny looked beautiful in her new dress. I had a feeling she guessed that we were planning a surprise. As we were leaving our hotel we met Dad and Jeff coming in. They’d decided to freshen up and change for the special dinner, too.

“Where’s Dad?” my mother asked.

“He didn’t want to bother coming back to the hotel,” my father answered.

“He’s walking,” Jeff added. “He likes hills. He’s going to meet us at the restaurant.”

“Charlie has always loved wandering around alone in strange cities,” Granny said.

I was disappointed that Pop-Pop wasn’t going to dress up for his anniversary dinner. When I whispered that to my mom, she reminded me that Pop-Pop didn’t know it was a special dinner.

We waited for Jeff and my dad to dress and then we took a cab to the Hyatt Regency Hotel. We arrived there at seven-thirty on the dot. “Charlie’s probably waiting for us,” Granny said as we walked into the hotel lobby. “One thing I can say for him, he’s punctual.”

But Pop-Pop wasn’t waiting for us. Mom went up to the restaurant in case he was waiting for us there. The rest of us sat on a couch and a couple of chairs with a view of the front entrance to the hotel. When Mom returned Pop-Pop wasn’t with her.

Jeff, Mom, Dad, and I talked about what we’d done during the afternoon. But Granny didn’t say anything. She concentrated on watching the front doors for Pop-Pop. During the next ten minutes they opened several times. But no Pop-Pop.

Finally Granny said something. “How many oysters did he eat?” she asked my dad.

“Two dozen. But so did I.”

“Two dozen!” Granny repeated. “Mercy. He must have gotten sick. And all by himself in a strange city.” Her eyes filled with tears.

My mother told Granny that she was sure Pop-Pop was okay. That he probably was distracted by some interesting tourist attraction. Or maybe he was a little lost. “But he’ll show up here sooner or later,” she assured Granny. “Pop knows how to take care of himself.”

“You don’t understand,” Granny said. “When your father and I travel we often split up. As we did today. Then we meet for dinner. Also as we did today. But not once in fifty years of marriage has Charlie Porter been late for one of those meetings. In fact, he’s always at the restaurant when I arrive. He doesn’t want me to worry.”

“Maybe he went to the wrong restaurant,” I said. I looked through our trusty travel guide to see if there was another restaurant called Equinox, or anything that sounded like it. There wasn’t. Meanwhile Mom phoned our hotel to see if Pop-Pop was there or had been. He hadn’t.

At 7:50 I heard Granny whisper to my mother, “At eight o’clock we’ll call the police and check the hospitals.

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