Double Take by Melody Carlson Read Free Book Online Page B

to town next Saturday?
    Madison shook her head and turned her attention back to her pages of notes. She would have to think about her exit strategy later. Right now she needed to do all she could to pull this off successfully. Fortunately, she’d taken a couple years of drama and loved participating in productions. For this performance, she should win a Tony! She tugged up one of the black stockings and went over her notes.
    After about an hour, the charm of riding in the buggy had worn off. They were well into the countryside now, and the road was bumpier than ever. Madison’s backside was starting to ache, and she desperately needed to use a restroom. She pulled out the house plan that Anna had sketched and searched for the location of the bathroom. Hopefully there would be one on the first floor and near the front door because she needed to go—bad. But she couldn’t find a bathroom on either the first or second story. Anna seemed to have forgotten to include this.
    Madison was tempted to call out to Uncle Daniel, asking him how far it was to the house, or if he might care to make a rest stop, but he was just turning down what appeared to be a long driveway. She peered out the window to spot a red barn and a tall white farmhouse at the end. In the dusky light, with the periwinkle sky and the golden light in the windows, this charming, quintessential scene could’ve been on a calendar or postcard.
    As the buggy drew closer, she spotted a small structure between the house and barn, a shedlike building that looked very much like an outhouse. Not that she’d ever actually seen a real outhouse in person, but she’d seen them on shows like Little House on the Prairie . Was it possible that this outhouse was the family’s bathroom? If so, why hadn’t Anna mentioned this? Madison shuddered. Why hadn’t she considered this possibility?
    The buggy finally pulled to a stop near the house, and Madison fumbled with the door, rushing to get out. Uncle Daniel was saying something to her, but she just waved her hand at him. “Toilet!” she exclaimed as she hurried toward the small structure, which did indeed appear to be an outhouse.
    Opening the wooden door, she held her breath and felt thankful that she wasn’t wearing her normal clothes, because she discovered that when you’re in a hurry, a simple dress with a full skirt could be thrown over your shoulders, which made using the toilet much faster and easier. The small space was definitely rustic and the smell was disgusting, but all in all it was better than having an accident. How embarrassing would that be?
    However, as she finished up, fumbling in the dusky light to find a roll of sandpaper-grade toilet paper, she wasn’t too sure she’d care to make a trip out here in the middle of the night. Seriously, what had she gotten herself into? And how long would it take to get out of it? She pulled down her dress, straightened her apron, and quickly emerged from the smelly outhouse, gasping for fresh air as the door slammed closed behind her.
    Uncle Daniel was waiting nearby, peering curiously at her. He said something she thought was an inquiry as to what she’d been doing, which seemed rather obvious.
    She pointed to the outhouse. “Toilet.”
    She blinked as he questioned her judgment in his odd-sounding German. Then he told her rather explicitly that there was a toilet in the house . Well, go figure.
    He pointed to the outhouse now. “That is for Yuchend .”
    She couldn’t help but laugh. He was informing her that the outhouse was for the boys. She held up her hands and gave him a helpless look, again speaking in German, saying, “I don’t know.” It was a phrase she would probably use often this week. If she made it for a full week.
    With her bag in one hand, Daniel waved toward the house, telling her to come to dinner.
    She rubbed her stomach for dramatic effect, telling him in German that she was very hungry.
    He frowned curiously at her as he held the back