Anastasia on Her Own by Lois Lowry Read Free Book Online Page B

or something. Instant coffee, maybe."
    "But before I knew what was happening, she announced that she was coming for dinner Friday night. She even knew our address—she'd found it in the phone book."
    "Well, that's rude, Dad. You don't just
tell
people that you're coming for dinner. I mean, what if they'd forgotten to take something out of the freezer?"
    "It is sort of rude, isn't it? Funny, I don't remember Annie being rude. She was always very sweet."
    "Well," said Anastasia firmly, "she's obviously turned into a rude person. So you can be rude back. You can call her and un-invite her. Tell her that you're going bowling."
    "Anastasia, I've never gone bowling in my life."
    Anastasia thought. "Tell her you're planning to listen to one of your complete sets of opera records, then. What's a real long opera?"
    "Wagner. The Ring. It lasts for hours and hours and hours."
    "Good. Tell her that you're listening to that Friday night, and it will take hours and hours and hours, so she can't come to dinner."
    Dr. Krupnik finished his beer and set the can aside. "I can't call her. Even if I thought up a terrific excuse, I couldn't call her. She didn't tell me where she was staying."
    "Oh, RATS. She conned you, Dad."
    He nodded. "I think she did."
    Anastasia sat silently for a minute, thinking. Finally she said, "We'll make it a real quick dinner, then. We'll have—let's see. What's the quickest thing there is, to eat?"
    Sam looked up. "Hot dogs," he said. "I can eat a hot dog real fast."
    "Okay. We'll have hot dogs. I'll have them all cooked when she gets here—what time is she coming? Or was she too rude to tell you?"
    "Seven," her father answered.
    "Okay. I'll have four hot dogs all cooked at seven o'clock. When she gets here, I'll hand her one, and we'll each have one, and we'll stand around and eat them real fast. Maybe I won't even get the mustard out. Then, the instant she finishes her last bite, we'll say, 'It was nice of you to come, Annie,' and we'll hold the door open so she'll leave. Maybe she won't even have time to take her coat off."
    "But she said that we had all those years to catch up on."
    "Between bites. Do it between bites. The whole thing shouldn't take longer than fifteen minutes."
    Suddenly Anastasia thought of something. "Oh, RATS!" she wailed.
    "What?" her father asked.
    "Dad, I won't be here Friday night. I have a date."
    "You have a
what?
"
    "I told you, but you weren't listening because you were depressed about Annie. I have a date to go to the movies with Steve, Friday night. My very first date,
ever.
"
    "Anastasia," her father said, "it's going to be bad enough when your mother finds out that Annie was here when she was in California. But if you're not here, too—well, I'm not sure what your mother will say to Annie being here when no one else was home."
    "
I'll
be here," Sam pointed out cheerfully. "I don't have a date. I have chicken pox."
    Anastasia and her father looked at Sam. Green ink lines crisscrossed his face, going from spot to spot.
    "I guess," said Anastasia sadly, "I'm going to have to break my very first date. Talk about disaster. Probably he won't ever ask me again, he'll be so insulted."
    "Anastasia," her father suggested, "why don't you invite Steve to dinner Friday night?"
    Anastasia pondered that. Actually, it wasn't a bad idea. "I don't want to just hand him a hot dog," she said. "He seems to be hungrier than that, most of the time. Even at McDonald's, he always has at least two Big Macs."
    "Well, maybe we could make it a sort of dinner party. Then somehow it wouldn't seem so awkward, having Annie here."
    Anastasia nodded. "It would be more chaperones."
    "And tonight, when Mom calls," Dr. Krupnik said hesitantly, "I think it would be a good idea if maybe we just didn't
mention
Annie—"
    "We're already not telling her I have chicken pox," Sam reminded them.
    "And we're already not telling her that I'm not going to school this week, or that we're using paper plates," Anastasia said.