The Problim Children by Natalie Lloyd

Author:Natalie Lloyd
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2017-11-28T00:00:00+00:00

Over the next few hours, the mansion transformed. Sal and Wendell climbed up the outside to put sunglasses and party hats on the gargoyles watching from the Porch of Certain Death. Thea helped Frida inside; she couldn’t stand watching the boys do something so dangerous. Her heart was drowning in fear, and she tried to push that feeling toward Wendell—so he’d feel it too and climb down.

But Wendell climbed anyway. When did he stop caring what she thought?

Once the gargoyles were decorated, Wendell rappelled down and read aloud to Sal’s garden. The fog ballooned into the shapes of hearts and stars and floating crowns. Using a bow and arrow, Mona sent streamers around the roof. Sundae climbed the trees in the backyard, distributing tiny party hats she’d made for the bluebirds.

Sundae and Mona had wrapped one of Sal’s twiggy plants around the upstairs rails. They found tiny fairy lights in an old trunk and wove them through the branches. Sundae made paper lanterns and hung them from the front porch. And Thea dusted off Grandpa Problim’s wonderful record collection. Frida slid into the room dancing. She grabbed Thea’s hand and spun around until they were dizzy with laughter. They didn’t realize how late it was until they heard the doorbell ding. And then make a loud zapping sound with someone yelling, “OUCH!”

Mona chuckled softly.

The animatronic squirrel had stayed close to the Problims since it had shown up in the library. As Sundae walked toward the door, she scooped up the squirrel and looked deep into his sparkly, mechanical eyes. “We definitely need to keep you safe somewhere.”

Toot offered to take care of him. And he puffed a #4719 to prove it.

“I can always depend on you, Tooty-kins,” she said, passing the squirrel to her baby brother. Sundae patted his fancy tweed hat, which he’d worn to match the bow tie stuck to his onesie with Velcro. The squirrel snuggled its cold, metal face against Toot’s chest. The baby giggled. Sundae sat them both on the purple sofa beside the record player. “Everything ready?” she asked.

They all nodded.

“I’ll keep the grown-ups here in the parlor,” Sundae said as she scampered toward the door. “I have a slideshow on creating cushioned habitats for elderly owls that I want to share ahead of the party. Then we’ll have a cake smash, a sing-along, and a water slide relay!”

“The spider woman isn’t coming, is she?” Sal said, pulling small scissors from his sleeve to trim his plant. “Ms. O’Pinion? I don’t trust her.”

Sundae shook her head. “I . . . didn’t send her an invitation. I felt guilty about it, honestly. I think she’s probably a terrible person, since she wants to split us up and send us to the far corners of the earth. But even villains deserve cake!”

Thea hugged her arms across her chest. Because her wild heart was beating a watch-out, watch-out kind of rhythm. She looked to Wendell; surely he felt the same way. But he wasn’t responding. “Ms. O’Pinion will probably come anyway,” Thea said.

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