Maggie & Abby's Neverending Pillow Fort by Will Taylor

Author:Will Taylor
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2018-02-01T05:00:00+00:00

I smiled to myself. It wasn’t much to show for an afternoon’s work, but that was fine by me. I hadn’t been trying all that hard. The rain was hammering against the windowpanes, the cabin was warm and cozy, and I was just enjoying hanging out with Abby, making plans.

“Okay, so hey,” said Abby, running a finger down the list. “These are good, but I see problems with some of them.”

“Like what?”

“Like does either of us know how to cook a surprise romantic dinner?”

“Maybe?” I said. I wasn’t exactly a top chef, but I was used to eating by myself and could throw together a meal if I had to.

“Well, I definitely can’t,” said Abby. “And my dad loves cooking, and he’s particular about his kitchen. Everything has to be in a certain place or he gets really frustrated. You know how he never lets us put the dishes away when we help wash them? He’d probably be in there with us the whole time, fussing.”

“So not really such a good deed, then?”

“Probably not,” said Abby. She crossed off the first idea. “Next problem: Can you think of anything we could do, today, that would actually help Joe with his research?”

I thought. We could carry his equipment, maybe, or steer the boat, or organize his recordings, but he could do any of that himself once his foot was better. And if bringing him greens and doing our best to fix his ankle didn’t turn out to be enough, I was pretty certain none of that other stuff would be either.

“Um, no.”

One by one we crossed off everything on the list, until Uncle Joe woke up with a snort and we had to stop with the fort talk. Pretty soon it was time to say good-bye, and I made Uncle Joe promise to stay off his foot and not go out researching for a while. He agreed, but as Abby and I slipped into the fort, I couldn’t shake a nagging prickle of worry about leaving him up there, injured and housebound and alone.

Luckily there were other things to think about as we got back to Seattle.

“Did it work, did it work?” asked Abby. “Did we pass the test?”

“Look for a silver envelope,” I said, peering around.

But there was no sign of a silver envelope in Fort McForterson or in Fort Comfy.

“Cucumber casserole!” said Abby. “I was sure that would be enough.”

“Sorry,” I said. “It was a nice try, though, and at least we made Uncle Joe happy.” And me, actually. That was the best afternoon I’d had in a long time.

We ate dinner at Abby’s again that night—black bean burgers and coleslaw—and after a push-up contest between Tamal and the twins, and a pileup in the living room for the next superhero movie in the series, Abby and I headed for bed.

I was curled in my usual spot, drowsily dreaming up an arctic-themed sky-versus-ocean game for us to play, when Abby sat bolt upright in the darkness.

“Oh, no!” she said. “We forgot to clean your house!”

I groaned and threw my arms over my face.

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