The Lost Things Club by J. S. Puller

Author:J. S. Puller [Puller, J. S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2021-08-17T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

We added pink dryer sheet feathers to Francis. Two elegant plumes on top of his head and more down the length of his neck. And used lint to extend his beak, running an orange ribbon around the back of it to give it that flamingo ombré, from orange to black. Someone had left a plastic comb in their pocket, sending it through a washing machine. We pulled off the long, black teeth, curling them with our fingers and gluing them over Francis’s eyes one at a time, giving him thick, luxurious lashes.

Sir Staples received buckteeth, made out of two pieces of gum. To soften the look of his quills, we wrapped loose pieces of yarn in black and brown and gray around the pens. It made him fuller and fuzzier. More like something you’d want to cuddle. Less like an office-supply store had exploded.

I donated my blond hair extensions to Queenie. Michelle carefully looped them under her crown.

Michelle’s mom came in around noon, the sound of the door opening startling us all, especially TJ. But Michelle’s mom was no less startled to see so many kids hanging out with Michelle.

“Hi, Mama,” Michelle said.

“What’s all this?” she asked.

“Just hanging out with my friends.”

“Your friends?” Michelle’s mom grinned. “That’s wonderful. About time you brought some friends around!”

“Is Jamal here?”

Her mom shook her head. “You know I can’t get that boy to come out of his room. I don’t know what I’m going to do about him.”

Michelle’s shoulders sagged. But she didn’t say anything.

“Listen, I need to drive Willy to his basketball thing in Skokie, so I just came back to grab my purse. Are you kids hungry?”

We were. And she offered to order a pizza. Unfortunately, we couldn’t agree on a topping.

Violet wanted green peppers and olives.

Michelle wanted pineapple and spinach.

I wanted sausage and onion.

TJ wanted pepperoni.

We settled on plain cheese.

And, as luck would have it, we decided that the plastic table, the one used to keep the top of the delivery box from touching the cheese, would be perfect for the inside of Queenie’s crown, which had started to collapse in on itself. The white spokes of it towered over the silver teeth of the crown. Michelle found a couple of brightly colored beads and glued them to the tops. They looked like precious jewels.

“You’re so good at seeing how things can work together,” Violet said. It was a rare compliment.

Michelle shrugged. “When we were little, I had to keep Jamal entertained. It’s all about adapting. You’d be amazed how just a ring of keys can keep a toddler happy for hours.”

By the time we were ready, the table was covered with Michelle’s boxes and socks. It was messy, but I wanted it that way. I wanted a jumble of confused shapes and colors. A swimming sea of lost things, so mixed and matched that it was hard to tell where one thing ended and the next one began. All part of the bigger picture forming in my mind. “Go to the other side of the table,” I told them, once we were sure the glue on the puppets was dry.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.