Snowbound (9780545632621) by Martin Ann M

Author:Martin, Ann M.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic
Published: 2013-07-31T04:00:00+00:00

No parent ever showed up that night. Not one.

The phone rang off the hook, though.

People kept calling and calling. “We just can’t make it,” they’d say. “The storm took us by surprise. I don’t know what to do.”

The teachers told them not to worry. “All the children are here,” they’d say. “And we’re happy to stay with them. There’s food in the kitchen. We’ll be fine until tomorrow.”

I can’t say that I’d been hoping for an adventure, but I seemed to have found one. Personally, I thought Quint’s visit would be enough of an adventure. But now I was going to be staying at school, sleeping on my coat and eating Lipton’s Cup-O-Noodles soup.

I would be warm, dry, and full — which was more than I could say about Quint. I didn’t even know where he was.

“Worrying doesn’t help anything,” Mama always says.

But the more I thought about Quint, the more worries I invented.

What was he doing? Freezing at the train station? Looking around frantically for my father? Maybe he had phoned my house — if he’d brought our number with him, and if he had the proper amount of change. That would be the smart thing to do. In fact, it was what I should do.

I was not the only person who wanted to use the phone in the school office, however. I joined a line of about eight kids who were waiting to make calls. The little girl in front of me, who was about seven years old, was crying quietly. So quietly, in fact, that the teachers hadn’t noticed she was crying. Their hands were full taking care of the children who were crying noisily.

“Hey, what’s the matter?” I asked the girl. She shook her head. A large tear trickled down her cheek. “Are you Holly?” I asked, groping for the name I thought I remembered Mme Noelle using earlier.

“Yes,” Holly said, and sniffled. “You’re Jessi, right?”

“Right. How come you’re crying?”

Holly’s lower lip trembled. “Because I don’t want to spend the night here. I want my mommy and daddy. And Christopher. And Tattoo. He’s our collie dog. And Caboose, my baby doll.”

“Your doll’s name is Caboose?”

“Yes. And I always sleep with Caboose. Every night.”

“But we are going to have a sleepover adventure here at school.”

“I don’t want to sleep here. I never slept here before.”

“Pretend it’s a hotel.”

“I never slept in a hotel, either.”

“Have you ever slept away from home?” I asked.

“No,” said Holly with a sob.

Uh-oh. This was not a great situation. I took Holly’s hand and squeezed it. Then I held onto it. “I’ll stay with you until you talk to your parents, okay? You can pretend I’m your …” Hmm. Her what?

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