Sammy Keyes and the Sisters of Mercy by Wendelin Van Draanen

Author:Wendelin Van Draanen [Draanen, Wendelin Van]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-54540-4
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2011-08-24T04:00:00+00:00

The whole time we were walking Holly only said about two words. I think she was thinking about her sleeping bag, and how in the world she was ever going to replace it. I know she wasn’t thinking about spending the night at the Pup Parlor, because as I push on the buzzer, she looks through the window and says, “You want me to sleep in a kennel?”

I laugh. “It’s not a kennel. It’s a place where they groom dogs. But look—there are rooms upstairs.”

She steps back and looks up while I lean on the buzzer some more, thinking, “C’mon, Vera … c’mon!” because if she’s not there, I don’t know what I’m going to do.

Now, I would’ve told Holly about how nice Meg and Vera are and how they’re always taking in stray dogs so of course they’ll take her in, only I’m not sure. I can just hear Meg saying, Sammy, a stray girl is not a stray dog! and then what?

So my brain’s busy scrambling around for a backup plan when Vera comes pattering down the stairs in her bathrobe and slippers. She squints at me through the glass. “Sammy! What brings you here at this hour?” She looks us up and down and asks, “Is it an emergency?”

“Kind of. Can we come in?”

She tightens her robe and says, “Sure. Would you like to come up? It’s a bit chilly down here.”

I say, “Thanks,” because it is cold, especially in soggy clothes.

When we get upstairs, Meg calls, “Who was it, Ma?” then turns around from a sink full of dishes and says, “Sammy?” like she can’t quite believe I’m there again.

“Hi, Meg. Do you have a minute? There’s something I have to talk to you guys about.” She doesn’t budge from her sink of suds so I look straight at her and say, “It’s important.”

Vera takes us into the living room, and the whole time she’s sizing up Holly. When we’re all sitting in chairs, Vera disappears a minute and then comes back with a floor heater. She doesn’t say a word, she just plugs it in and puts it at Holly’s feet.

Holly leans over it, rubbing her hands together. “Thanks.”

Vera and Meg both look at me like, “Well?” so I take a deep breath and say, “This is Holly. She’s a friend of mine and she needs a place to stay. I was thinking maybe you could work something out where she works in the shop and you give her room and board.” Then, before they can jump up and say no, I say real fast, “You’ve had that HELP WANTED sign up forever …”

They don’t say, Sure, let me tell you. They don’t say anything. They just check Holly over. Then Meg says, “But she’s a minor. There’s laws against doin’ that!”

I say, “Look, she doesn’t have anywhere else to go. She’s been living out at the riverbed in a refrigerator box, but tonight this man with tattoos came and ripped up her sleeping bag and destroyed her box.

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