The Probability of Miracles by Wendy Wunder

Author:Wendy Wunder [Wendy Wunder]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: David_James Mobilism.org
Publisher: PENGUIN group
Published: 2011-12-07T23:00:00+00:00

In the house, Alicia and Perry were playing Scrabble at the dining room table. The room was lit by an enormous moose-antler chandelier, which was in such bad taste, it was almost hip. Cam wondered what PETA would have to say about that. “Did they at least eat the moose?” Cam wondered out loud.

“What?” her mom asked.

“Never mind. That was cute, Perry. Thanks for stealing my towel,” Cam said as she stood behind Perry’s chair, examining her Scrabble tiles.

“Don’t mention it,” Perry said, still concentrating on the game.

Cam grabbed Alicia’s jacket from the back of her chair, wrapped it around herself, and stepped into Perry’s pink Uggs. She snagged a carrot stick before heading toward the stairs, where she could finally hole up and get warm.

“Ask her?” Perry said after placing xen next to her mother’s O.

“Good one,” Cam said when she saw the board. “Ask me what?”

“Perry wants to know if you heard about the flamingos.” Alicia was wearing her reading glasses, and she looked down her nose through them as she rearranged her tiles.

“Yeah. Down by the school. I saw them.”

“You saw them? So now don’t you believe this town is special?” Perry asked, her blue eyes round and insistent.

“Why?” Cam asked.

“Why? Because a whole flock of flamingos has come to roost here. In Maine, which is not their normal habitat,” said Alicia.

“And?”

“And that’s crazy and miraculous and may be a sign that we’re in the right place, since flamingos are often found in Florida,” her mom continued.

“That is so illogical. The flamingos have nothing to do with us. It’s a crazy global-warming fallout fiasco, like the bats disappearing from the caves in Pennsylvania or the bees getting lost because of cell phone interference. . . .”

“Cam . . .” Alicia said.

“Or the iguanas freezing to death because the weather’s been so erratic in Florida or the polar bears drowning. The flamingos ran out of food somewhere and went out in search of more. End of story.”

Cam heard her phone buzzing from the porch, where she had heaped her shorts. She took the phone out of her pocket and read the text from Elaine. I’m putting him down in the morning, it read. Get here early if you’d like to say good-bye.

Cam walked back into the house feeling defeated and a little betrayed. Why couldn’t Elaine just leave Bart alone? Weren’t these people all about letting nature take its course?

“Will you bring me over to the flamingos tomorrow, Cam?” Perry asked. “I want to take some pictures.”

“Nah. I already saw them, and I have someplace else I need to be,” Cam said.

Perry stiffened a bit in her chair. She slid one of her Scrabble tiles in a figure eight on the table, then used her thumb and forefinger to flick it onto the floor. “This was such a waste of time,” she said.

“What was a waste of time?” Cam asked, shivering.

“Coming here. You haven’t changed a bit.”

“What do you want from me?” Cam asked them. “I have to work tomorrow.

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