Meena Lost and Found by Karla Manternach

Author:Karla Manternach [Manternach, Karla]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Published: 2021-10-12T00:00:00+00:00

11

I wheel my milk jugs back home in the rain. I steer around the earthworms, but I don’t stop to pick any up this time.

They’ll just have to fend for themselves.

The big blue tarp is lumpier than ever after I stuff the bag of jugs underneath.

At dinner, Dad sets a mini pizza in front of me. It’s topped with Rainbow Pops, but I don’t even smile when I see them. I just pick them off while Sofía’s voice screeches in my head like the wagon: We’re moving back to California.

I can’t make myself say her words out loud. I clutch them like pennies I’m afraid to lose. I’m still gripping them that night when it stops raining, and I trudge out to the garden. And later, when I lie in bed, my chest squeezes around them so tightly that I can hardly breathe.

Mom says things always look brighter in the morning, though. I wake up on Monday bursting with new job ideas for Sofía’s dad. I grab my necklace and race to my workshop.

A stench hits me when I open the door. It’s like peeking into a trash bin that’s been sitting in the sun. I pinch my nose as I breathe Magic Mist on the window and stare at the circle of fog. A week ago, I had so many wishes that I didn’t know which one to pick.

Now I do.

I trace a square house with a triangle roof. I add windows, a door, and a curlicue of smoke rising from a chimney. I make a thumbprint in the middle of the square, imagining that it’s Sofía, sitting inside the house. Then I close my eyes and make my wish: I want her home.

“Something stinks!”

Rosie is making a face in the doorway. I shoo her out and pull the door closed behind us. “What do you want?”

She lights up. “It’s time to pick the donuts!”

In spite of everything, I get excited as we hurry across the yard. Rosie squeals when she sees the donuts, their icing gleaming in the sun. “You got your wish,” I say. “Chocolate!”

She slides one off the stick. But when she turns it over, her smile fades. She picks another one and checks both sides. “Where are the sprinkles?” she asks.

I grab a donut and take a bite. “What sprinkles?”

She points at the dirt.

At first, I don’t see anything. But when I peer closer, I spot tiny flecks of color dotting the ground. “Did you do that?” I ask.

She nods. “When you went to Sofía’s yesterday.”

“But I didn’t know—I mean, I didn’t have a chance…” I slide my Rainbow Ring back and forth on its string. “You didn’t bury them,” I say finally. “So they didn’t grow roots.”

Rosie tilts her head and squints at me. “Really?”

Something in her voice makes the bottoms of my feet tingle. “Don’t you believe me?”

She doesn’t answer, just looks at me very carefully.

I puff my chest out and put my hands on my hips. “Rosalyn Zee, have I ever lied to you?”

For a minute, it’s like we’re having a staring contest.

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