Walls within Walls by Maureen Sherry

Author:Maureen Sherry
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2010-08-21T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 24

It was a crisp, beautiful Saturday morning in late October, a few weeks after their conversation with Eloise. The children hadn’t seen her again, nor had they made any progress on finding the treasure without her. Brid, Patrick, and CJ sat at the breakfast table, while their dad flitted past them, putting papers in bags, taking papers out of bags, and occasionally letting a swear word fly.

“What’s up with Dad?” CJ asked. He eyed his bowl of cereal with curiosity rather than hunger. It was a mix of whole-grained this and that, resembling tree bark. Their mom was on a big-time healthy-eating kick, and sometimes meals were a little too interesting.

“He has to go to the office today, and he hates working on Saturdays.” Brid always had the pulse of the family firmly in her grasp.

Mr. Smithfork had two new projects at work. The first was the launch of the DigiSpy robotic toy, and the second was the opening of a new manufacturing plant in China. Their dad had explained to them that his investors wanted bigger profits, so he was being forced to move his factory from Brooklyn to China, where workers were paid less. He would be traveling to China in a couple of days, and that was making him grumpy.

Their mom stood with her back to CJ and Brid as she added green stuff to their eggs. She had heard that plankton was full of vitamins, so mixing the stuff into their eggs was a new nutritional tactic of hers. As she yelled, “Breakfast!” Bruce Smithfork bolted for the door, pretending to be late. CJ wished he could do the same.

“See you tonight!” their dad called.

“I’ll save you some eggs, Dad,” Brid said.

“You can save him my eggs, too,” Pat moaned. “Bet he’s going to get a doughnut at work, the lucky guy.”

Anne ignored them. “Carron and I are off to yoga class this morning,” she said cheerfully, sliding green gloop onto their plates. Upon hearing the word yoga, Carron slipped off her seat and bent over to touch the floor, demonstrating her downward-dog stance.

“Very nice, Carron,” their mom cooed.

Saturday and Sunday were Maricel’s days off, so CJ and Brid were looking forward to being left alone. Even Charlize, the homework helper, refused to come in on weekends. Anne Smithfork cleared her throat, the way she always did when she was about to say something the children didn’t want to hear.

“So, children,” she said. “I know you both believe you are old enough to stay home alone, but we will be out for several hours today, and Patrick doesn’t want to come with me. I have hired a caregiver, and I want no complaining from either of you.”

CJ’s heart sank.

“Now, this woman is very nice, and if I hear stories of disrespectful behavior from either of you, there shall be a deep and severe punishment.”

Brid and CJ smirked at each other. Their mother was terrible at punishments. She could never remember what the rules were supposed

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