California Diaries # 11: Dawn III: Missing by Whitney Read Free Book Online Page A

I’l call later when we’re leaving if you want. So you’ll
    know when we’re on our way home.”
    “Well,” said Dad.
    “Well,” said Carol.
    They were definitely uncertain, so I moved on to #5, hoping I wasn’t
    overdoing things. “If you let me go, I’l clean out the garage.”
    Dad looked at me and started to laugh. So did Carol. “Okay, you can go,”
    said Dad.
    “Really?” I cried. “Really?”
    “Really,” said Dad and Carol.
    “Thanks! Thanks!”
    I ran across the room and hugged Dad first, then Carol.
    “You drive a hard bargain,” said Dad.
    “Did I go overboard?”
    “Maybe just a little.”
    “Do I really have to clean out the garage?”
    “Yes.”
    Later Tuesday night 3/2
    I won’t mind cleaning out the garage. I can daydream about Pierre while I
    work. With any luck I’ll have something real to daydream about.
    Wednesday afternoon 3/3
    When I got home from school today only one vehicle was parked in the
    Winslows’ driveway. I didn’t recognize it, but I decided to try visiting Mrs. Winslow
    anyway.
    It turned out that the car belonged to a very nice woman named Simone,
    who called herself a home-health-care worker. As far as I can tell, her job is to
    help out around the Winslows’ house (in particular, to fix meals), to keep Mrs.
    Winslow company when she’s there alone, and to help her with things like
    bathing, changing her nightgown, and going to the bathroom. I liked Simone,
    BUT…
    I couldn’t believe it. Mrs. Winslow wasn’t in her bed on the second floor.
    Instead, the dining room has been turned into her bedroom. (I don’t know where
    the table and chairs were moved to), and she’s in an actual hospital bed. In fact,
    the room looks like a hospital room, with al sorts of equipment in it. The gross
    part? It SMELLS like a hospital room too. I can’t pinpoint that smell, but it’s kind
    of disgusting. It’s medicine and pee and sweaty sheets and I don’t know what
    else.
    Ugh.
    Mrs. Winslow seemed glad to see me. And she seemed better than she
    had been in the hospital. She could talk a bit because her mouth sores were
    getting better. She wasn’t so sleepy either.
    I sat in a chair next to her bed. I was holding Franny and Zooey, just in
    case. But we didn’t need it. We could talk.
    Well, we tried to talk. But we were interrupted about a thousand times.
    Simone had questions about dinner, which she was preparing. So she kept
    poking her head through the doorway between the kitchen and the dining room,
    asking about Mrs. Winslow’s appetite or where the spices were stored or what
    time Sunny would be home. Then I was right in the middle of tel ing how I had to
    clean the garage when the doorbel rang and in walked the visiting nurse.
    I told Mrs. Winslow I’d come back the next day.
    Thursday morning 3/4
    TOMORROW NIGHT I WILL SEE PIERRE LIVE!!!
    Countdown: 40 hours. (approximately)
    Thursday afternoon 3/4
    Visited Mrs. Winslow as soon as I got home from school. Simone was
    there Mrs. Winslow seemed a teeny but better than yesterday and I was
    encouraged. She can talk even more, and now that she can talk, her sense of
    humor is back. She was making jokes about the fuzz that will soon start to grow
    on her head. It will probably be blonde, and Mrs. Winslow was saying she’ll look
    like a chick.
    “I always wanted to look like a cute chick,” she said, “but I meant a cute
    chick, not a blonde chicken.”
    Mr. Winslow came home from work early. Simone showed him what she’d
    prepared for dinner and then she left. I started to leave too. I thought Mr. and
    Mrs. Winslow might want some time alone together, especial y since they kept
    glancing at each other. So I stood up to leave, but Mr. Winslow said, “No, wait,
    Dawn. There’s something we’d like to tel you. Sunny already knows and it’s no
    secret anymore.” He glanced at Mrs. Winslow again.
    My heart leaped. Maybe Mrs. Winslow was in remission! Maybe they’d
    found a way to beat her