The Secret of the Painted House by Marion Dane Bauer

Author:Marion Dane Bauer [Bauer, Dane Marion]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-0-307-49775-8
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2007-09-15T04:00:00+00:00

Then Emily understood. Of course! Pin had died in a fire. She must be afraid of fires. Even a little campfire scared her.

So Emily held her marshmallow over the tepee of sticks. She was already pretending the painted marshmallow was real. She could pretend there was a fire.

Pin did the same.

The silence was so heavy it made Emily’s ears hurt.

“Do you live here in the playhouse?” she asked finally.

Pin seemed surprised. “No, of course not! My dad’s house is over there.” She waved a hand in the direction Emily had come from.

A shiver ran beneath Emily’s skin.

“And your mother?” she asked. She kept her voice calm. She pretended this was a normal conversation.

“She’s here. She went away once. But she’s here now.” Pin said it fiercely. She seemed to think Emily might argue.

“Have you seen her?” Emily asked.

Pin shrugged. “She plays hide-and-seek. She loves hide-and-seek. Only”—her voice caught—“I can never find her.”

A sudden cramp brought Emily’s hand across her stomach. She looked around. What was that flash of red she had seen in the woods earlier?

Was Pin’s mother somewhere inside this picture? But why wouldn’t she let Pin see her?

Pin’s voice brought Emily back. “You’ll stay, won’t you?” It was half question, half demand.

Emily didn’t know how to answer. She pulled the marshmallow off her stick. And then she held it, amazed. The marshmallow had puffed and toasted to a light brown. And it had done that over an imaginary fire!

It was as if someone had painted it anew.

But Pin wasn’t paying any attention. “You’ve got to stay!” she said. It was an order this time.

“I—I can’t,” Emily stammered. She was still staring at the toasted marshmallow. “My mother … We just moved here, and you see … I … I have to help her.”

The moment she said it, she knew it was a mistake. She should have found another excuse.

She could have said, again, that her little brother was waiting. She could even have said that she had to go home to her father. That would have been okay. But she never should have mentioned her mother.

“Well.” Pin’s voice was hard. “I wouldn’t want to keep you from your mommy.”

Emily’s cheeks grew hot. She scrambled to her feet. She still held the marshmallow. It didn’t matter what Pin said. This girl couldn’t keep her here.

She turned to go. To her surprise, Pin was right in front of her. She had been sitting by the unlit fire. Now she stood in Emily’s path. How had she moved so fast?

Pin didn’t say anything. She just stood blocking Emily’s way. Her face looked fierce.

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