The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdsall

Author:Jeanne Birdsall
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
ISBN: 9780375849619
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2008-04-07T21:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

JANE DIDN’T BELIEVE in having tragic days. She’d never made Sabrina Starr have a tragic day, or Rainbow, either, except for the day when the priest almost cut out her heart. But the priest didn’t cut out her heart, and the rest of Rainbow’s day after that was just perfect, with everyone treating her like a great hero and Coyote finally realizing it was her that he adored.

So why was Jane having a tragic day? She’d been trying with all her might not to, but first there’d been watching Skye leave for Boston with Churchie, when it should have been Skye watching Jane leave for Boston, and it would have been if it hadn’t been for Rainbow and her noble attitude toward sacrifice. Jane believed now, though she hadn’t when she was writing the play, that Rainbow’s attitude might be too noble. She’d decided that she preferred Sabrina Starr’s slightly less noble outlook on life—and promised herself that the next time there was a Hound Draw for Order, she would listen to Sabrina Starr, not Rainbow.

Then after the dreaded leave-taking, there’d been the soccer game against the worst team in the league. What should have been an easy victory—even without Skye—had been a 1–0 loss. And who had missed two easy goals for Antonio’s Pizza? The same girl who’d felt so sorry for herself that she’d declined going out for pizza with the rest of the team after the game. Who was this sad soul?

“Jane Letitia Penderwick,” said Jane to her bedroom ceiling. “Now lying alone on her bed and wallowing in misery.”

She wondered what Skye was doing right at that moment. She and Churchie would already have arrived in Boston. Maybe they were eating lunch with Jeffrey at a glamorous restaurant. Maybe—Jane couldn’t help but hope—Jeffrey had been the littlest bit disappointed that it was Skye who had come to visit. She reached under her bed and pulled out a blue notebook and pen, and wrote:

“Jeffrey, Jeffrey, I’m so happy to be with you at last,” said Skye.

“Thank you.” Jeffrey turned away to hide his sorrow.

“But what is this? Aren’t you glad to see me?”

“Of course I am, dear Skye.” He turned back to her, his face ablaze with honesty. “But it is your beautiful and talented sister, Jane, whom I prefer.”

“Ha,” said Jane, scribbling violently over what she’d written. “Like anyone would say that about me.”

What should she do? She couldn’t just lie here all day. Was she desperate enough to clean? Even to her jaded eyes, her half of the room looked dreadful. Reluctantly, she got off her bed and wandered around, pushing stuff hither and yon. Each time she pushed, she found herself closer to her desk, where the book she’d been reading, The Exiles in Love, just happened to be lying open. I won’t look at it until I’ve straightened up, she told herself, but somehow, she looked at it anyway, and soon she was sinking to her bed, lost in the story, which all too quickly came to an end.

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