On Her Own by Donna Jo Napoli

Author:Donna Jo Napoli
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin

“No one would take that nasty giraffe. She just fell. She’s probably on the ground somewhere.”

“She’s not. I looked.”

“Look again.” Sam turned his back and walked toward the goalposts. He glanced over his shoulder. “And don’t bother me. I’ll help you when I’m through.”

Elena walked back slowly through the park, looking everywhere one more time. No Kathy. She could see the jungle gym now, and the bush beyond it. She could see that the empty top branches swayed in the wind.

She stopped at the little kids’ slide and sat on the lowest step of the ladder with her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands. Walking around the park wasn’t doing any good. Kathy wasn’t on the ground. She just wasn’t.

Elena felt something on her shoulder. It wasn’t quick like a shove. It was soft and warm, like an encouraging pat. What a funny sensation. She reached across and rubbed the back of her shoulder.

Where was Kathy? If she wasn’t on the ground, maybe she was somewhere higher. Maybe she got blown from one bush to another.

How could Elena see into all the bushes?

She stood up. The jungle gym was pretty high. So was the little kids’ slide. But the big kids’ slide was even higher. In fact, it was so high that little Kathy was afraid of it. So Elena had never gone down it before.

If Elena went to the top of the big kids’ slide, she could see out over most of the park. She might see Kathy that way.

Elena walked slowly toward the slide.

A couple of big boys came running along the path, throwing a basketball back and forth. They left the ball on the ground, scampered up the ladder of the big kids’ slide, and zoomed down the slide. Then they went up the ladder again. But this time they waddled down the slide on their feet, knees bent and hands holding on to the sides. They laughed and ran off toward the basketball courts, bouncing the ball between them.

Elena stood at the base of the slide. She held on to the rails of the ladder and looked around. The noise of the boys was far away by now, but she still felt jittery. If they came back while she was trying to climb the ladder, they might rush her so that she got nervous and fell. Or they might try to pass her and knock her off the ladder by accident.

Kathy was right. The big kids’ slide was dangerous.

Elena dropped her hands from the rails. Nothing was working out today. Big tears rolled down her cheeks.

Oh. It was raining purple. Elena looked up. Flower petals fell gently on her face. Then the petal-rain stopped, just like that. But her head and shoulders were totally covered with petals. Lilac petals. How strange. It was almost as though the bush were reminding her of how lonely and scared Kathy must be right now.

Elena put her hands back on the ladder rails. She climbed up halfway.

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