Mocha by Ellen Miles

Author:Ellen Miles [Miles, Ellen]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2013-08-16T04:00:00+00:00

When Charles awoke the next morning — Thanksgiving Day — he took a look out the window. Then he rolled over and snuggled down deep into the flannel-lined coziness of his sleeping bag, glad that he did not have anywhere to go. It was rainy and gray and cold outside. Charles didn’t see any ice on the window, though. Maybe it was just a yucky day. Maybe the storm warnings were wrong.

Anyway, the good news was that Uncle Stephen had promised to go back to the store for the lemons Charles and Becky had forgotten. According to him, Carolyn and Kim always stayed open at least until noon on holidays just for last-minute needs like this.

When Charles finally got up and headed into the living room, Mom was watching the weather channel. “I don’t know, Stevie,” she told her brother. “They’re still saying that temperatures are dropping and this rain will start to freeze. Why go out in weather like that unless you really have to?”

“I’ve got snow tires and four-wheel drive,” said Uncle Stephen as he shrugged into his jacket. “I’ll be fine.”

He petted Mocha and Buddy. “You two are in charge,” he told the puppies. “Make sure nobody gets into trouble while I’m gone.” He turned to Aunt Abigail. “Need anything else besides lemons?” he asked. “Last chance.”

Charles felt bad about forgetting the lemons, but he knew that Uncle Stephen enjoyed spending some time at the store most mornings, hanging out and chatting by the woodstove. The lemons were really just an excuse.

Aunt Abigail sat on the couch next to Mom. Both of them were peeling potatoes. She paused for a moment, thinking. “Nope,” she said. “I think we’re all set. And we really could live without the lemons, too.”

“Are you kidding? Your lemon tart is my favorite. There’s no way I’m missing out on that,” said Uncle Stephen. He headed out the door and Charles watched from the window as his car puttered down the driveway. As far as he could tell, the car wasn’t slipping or sliding, so there was no ice yet.

“Charles, how about giving us a hand?” his aunt asked. “It would be great if you could take these peeled potatoes into the kitchen and put them into the pot of cold water on the counter. Then you can bring us the bag of carrots right next to it.”

Charles looked around. Where were Becky, Stephanie, and Lizzie? Obviously, they’d all found better things to do — which left him stuck with being Aunt Abigail’s servant for the morning. Actually, he didn’t mind. He was used to helping out in the kitchen, and it was easy work.

Even though it was cold and gray outside, it was warm and snug inside. Mocha and Buddy snoozed near the living room woodstove and all the lamps were lit, casting a happy glow.

For the next hour or so, Charles was content to carry things back and forth, find things in the fridge, and search for things in the linen cabinet and the dish cupboard.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.