Ramona Quimby 07 - Ramona Forever by Beverly Cleary

Author:Beverly Cleary [Cleary, Beverly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-12-04T11:23:26+00:00

Aunt Bea laughed and said to Ramona,

“Hobart and I have renewed our high school friendship.”

“Does he still spit?” Ramona asked under her breath, hoping her mother wouldn’t hear.

“Not on the carpet,” answered Uncle Hobart under his breath.

Mrs. Quimby had heard. “Ramona, do you want to go to your room?”

“No.” Ramona sulked. Aunt Bea would be sorry if the family moved off to the land of sheep. Where would she go for Thanksgiving and Christmas? Her imagination spun a sad picture of Aunt Bea alone in her apartment, eating a frozen chicken pie.

When dinner was served, Ramona was seated across from Uncle Hobart.While the adults talked and laughed, she stared at her plate until a lull came in the conversation, when she asked as politely as she could under the circumstances,“Mr. Kemp, I expect you’ll be going back to Saudi Arabia soon.” He smiled a very nice smile. “What’s the matter, Ramona? Are you trying to get rid of me?”

Ramona looked down at her plate.

108

“As a matter of fact, I’m not going to Saudi Arabia at all,” Uncle Hobart informed Ramona. “I’m going to Alaska.”

At least he was going someplace.

“That’s why I grew a beard,” he explained.

“Alaska is cold in winter and full of mos-quitoes in summer.”

“Oh,” said Ramona.

“Of course, women can’t grow beards, so they scratch a lot in summer,” said Uncle Hobart.

Ramona refused to laugh.

When dessert had been eaten by everyone except Mrs. Quimby, who was careful about calories, and the adults were drinking coffee, Ramona was about to ask to be excused when Uncle Hobart spoke directly to her.

“Ramona,” he said, “how would you like to have me for an uncle?”

Ramona felt her face grow red. She was surprised and puzzled by his question. She 109

wanted to say, No, thank you. Of course, grown-ups would think her rude, so she said, “You’re already Howie and Willa Jean’s uncle.”

“I would like to have a couple of ready-made nieces,” said Uncle Hobart.

Ramona had not caught on. “But how could you be our uncle?” she asked.

“Nothing to it,” said Uncle Hobart. “All I have to do is marry your Aunt Beatrice.” Ramona sank back in her chair and thought, How dumb can I get? Aunt Bea was trying to hide her laughter, which did not make Ramona feel any better.

“You mean—” began Beezus.

Aunt Bea burst out laughing.“Hobart and I are getting married in two weeks, before we leave for Alaska. There is oil in Alaska, too, you know.”

Ramona frowned at Uncle Hobart. Why didn’t he come right out and say he and Aunt 110

Bea were going to marry? Her parents were smiling. They already knew and hadn’t said a word.Traitors! Ramona felt as if her world were falling apart—Aunt Bea in Alaska, the Quimbys among strangers, sagebrush, and sheep.

“But Aunt Bea, what will you do in Alaska?” asked Beezus.

“Fish through the ice,” said Uncle Hobart.

“Build us an igloo.”

“Don’t listen to him,” said Aunt Bea. “I plan to teach. I sent off an application and received a telegram accepting me.” Suddenly Ramona saw the solution to all her family’s problems.

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.