Kristy and the Missing Child by Ann M. Martin

Author:Ann M. Martin [M. Martin, Ann]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2014-12-26T16:00:00+00:00

“JA-AKE!” I called.

“Hey, Jake!” yelled David Michael.

“Where are you, Jake?” shouted Stacey.

We walked along, stopping to call in different directions. Everyone was yelling for Jake — everyone, that is, but Matt Braddock. He couldn’t call because he can’t really speak; he’s deaf, as I mentioned before. But I could see that he was looking as hard as he could. He peered into every backyard, searched the shadows beneath every bush, and checked out every garage we passed. He saw me watching him and he grinned at me. He signed a long sentence, and his sister Haley translated for me.

“He says that since he can’t use his ears or his voice to help find Jake, he’s trying his best to use his eyes and his brain.”

“You’re doing a great job,” I replied, and when Haley translated for him, he looked at me, shrugged, and signed again.

“Not good enough until we find Jake,” Haley interpreted. I sighed and nodded.

We kept on walking and looking and calling, but I was beginning to feel that the search-party idea had been ridiculous. After all, Jake could be anywhere. Anywhere in Stoneybrook or even anywhere in the world! How could a bunch of kids and their baby-sitters hope to locate one little boy who could be anywhere?

“Don’t worry, Kristy,” said Stacey. She’d been walking beside me, and she must have seen my frown. “I know Jake will turn up soon.”

“Yeah,” said Charlotte, who was, as usual, sticking close to Stacey. Those two have a really special relationship — it’s not just that Stacey is Charlotte’s favorite sitter, or that Charlotte is Stacey’s favorite kid — it’s almost like they’re sisters. “I know you’d find me if I were lost,” she went on, looking up at Stacey. “Wouldn’t you?”

“Of course,” said Stacey, who knows that Charlotte sometimes needs a lot of reassurance. “I’d find you in a minute. I mean, in a nanosecond.”

“A what?” I asked. Charlotte looked confused, too.

“A nanosecond,” said Stacey. “It’s a really, really small amount of time. A billionth of a second. We learned about it in math class the other day.” She was smiling happily. Stacey just loves math. I don’t hate it, but I can’t relate to loving it.

“A nanosecond,” I said. “Well, you learn something new every day.”

“Very profound, Kristy,” said Stacey, giggling. Then she slapped her hand over her mouth. “What am I doing?” she said. “How can I be laughing when Jake is missing?”

“It’s okay,” I said. “I mean, I know it’s terrible that he’s missing, but it doesn’t mean the whole world has to come to a stop. We have to keep on doing our normal stuff — talking, and laughing, and going to school.”

“Now you’re really getting profound,” said Stacey. “But you’re right. I just wish we could do our normal stuff and find Jake.”

Charlotte had been looking back and forth from me to Stacey as we talked. “I want to be profound,” she said suddenly. “What is profound, anyway?”

Stacey and I cracked up, and then stopped laughing when we saw that Charlotte looked hurt.

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