Mary Anne's Makeover (9780545767859) by Martin Ann M

Author:Martin, Ann M.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic
Published: 2014-06-10T16:00:00+00:00

The weather report had predicted heavy snow for Tuesday. They were right about the heavy part, but they were wrong about the snow. Freezing rain fell the whole day long. No matter how hard you tried, you couldn’t feel warm or dry — inside or out.

So there was Claudia, inside the Arnolds’ kitchen, cold and bored silly. Marilyn was practicing scales over and over, Carolyn was still working on her contraption, and the last drizzlings of the storm tapped against the windows.

After listening to the clanking downstairs, Claudia was getting curious. She went to the top of the basement stairs and shouted, “Do you want something to eat?”

“No!” Carolyn shouted back.

“I can bring it down.”

“No!”

“Can’t I just come down?”

“NO! I told you this is top secret!”

Claudia rolled her eyes. “But you let Mary Anne and Marilyn see it a few days ago.”

“I wasn’t working on the secret stuff back then! Please leave me alone!”

“All right.”

Claudia slunk back to the kitchen table. In her shoulder bag was a Nancy Drew book she’d just finished reading. With a sigh, she pulled it out and started reading it again.

By the end of the first chapter, Marilyn finished practicing. She bounced into the kitchen and said, “Let’s go see the time machine!”

“Noooooo!” Carolyn screamed from the basement.

“I think she means no,” Claudia said.

“What a party pooper,” Marilyn replied with a pout. “I know, let’s invite someone over!”

Good idea, Claudia thought. Stacey was sitting at the Braddocks’, just a couple of blocks away. “We could try Matt and Haley,” she said. “I don’t know if Stacey’ll want to take them out in this weather, though.”

“The rain’s almost stopped!” Marilyn squealed. “Call them up!”

It turned out that Stacey was happy to bring the kids over. In a few minutes she and the Braddocks appeared at the door, soggy but excited.

“Hi!” Haley and Stacey shouted.

“Hi!” Marilyn replied. “Come in!”

Matt beamed and made a motion with his hand. A small, low noise came from his mouth. (Matt has been deaf since birth. He goes to a special school in Stamford, and speaks with sign language. I haven’t caught on how to do that, but Jessi’s really good at it.)

They hung their coats in the closet and came into the kitchen.

“Don’t let them downstairs!” Carolyn’s voice floated upward.

“What?” Marilyn said in an exaggerated loud voice. “Let them come downstairs? Okay! Let’s go, guys!”

“No!” Carolyn shrieked. “Don’t! I said don’t!”

Marilyn giggled. “Come on,” she said to her friends. “Let’s play.”

The three of them ran into the rec room.

Stacey and Claudia went into the living room, flopped onto the sofa, and gabbed for awhile. (Claudia didn’t mention what they were gabbing about, and I didn’t ask, but I have a pretty good idea….)

Well, the topic must have been very interesting (harrumph), because they lost track of the kids.

“Claudia?” Stacey said. “Do you hear anything?”

Claud sat up. “No.”

“That’s what I was afraid of. What are they doing?” Stacey stood up and headed out of the living room.

She stopped when she heard scurrying footsteps outside.

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