Gabby Duran and the Unsittables by Elise Allen Read Free Book Online Page A

herself in ten years, standing proudly in a navy blue cap and gown as she accepted her diploma from R.A.M.A. She imagined the families
she’d helped cheering her from the audience, stray tentacles accidentally popping loose as they applauded and wiped away grateful tears.
    Gabby took a deep breath. There was only one response, but saying it out loud still felt momentous, like everything in her life was about to change.
    “Yes,” she said. “I’ll do it.”
    Edwina smiled. “Then by the power vested in me by the Association Linking Intergalactics and Earthlings as Neighbors, I hereby declare you, Gabby Duran, Associate 4118-25125A: Sitter to
the Unsittables.”

G abby spent the rest of the ride in silence, her mind too filled with wonder to speak. When the limo pulled up in front of her house, Gabby knew
that for appearances’ sake, she should fly out like she always did after a job. But the occasion felt too monumental for that.
    “Thank you for the ride, Edwina,” she said formally. “And of course for the opportunity.”
    Edwina didn’t respond. She simply looked at Gabby in the rearview mirror.
    “It was great meeting you,” Gabby offered.
    She waited for Edwina to tell her it was great meeting her, too. It didn’t happen.
    “O-kay, then. So I’ll just…” She reached for the door handle, then thought better of it. “Do you have a cell phone or anything? In case I wake up tomorrow with all
kinds of questions I forgot to think of, and—”
    Edwina pressed a button on the console. Gabby’s door popped open.
    “Right,” Gabby said. “You’ll find me.”
    She grabbed her purple knapsack and slid out of the limo, which screeched away the second she shut the door. Across the street, Madison was again playing flute in the living room. She wondered
if Maestro Jenkins had told her about R.A.M.A., too. Maybe they’d end up there together. Maybe by then, she and Madison would be friends. Maybe they’d be roommates even. And after
graduation they’d end up in the same orchestra and they’d tell funny stories to reporters about their early days as bitter rivals at Brensville Middle School.
    Madison stopped playing and glanced out her window. Gabby thought she was pretty invisible on the darkened street, but Madison locked eyes with her, then shook her head with a smug smile.
    The message was clear.
I practiced, you didn’t. I win, you lose.
    Okay, so maybe they wouldn’t be R.A.M.A. roommates. Gabby turned and darted inside her house, clomping extra loud so it might seem like she ran in as usual. “Mom? Car?” she
called.
    “Down here, sweetie!” Alice answered.
    Gabby trotted downstairs to the TV room. Alice was sprawled on the overstuffed couch, decompressing to the drone of Food Network. She still wore her stained It’s All Relativity apron from
the Greek-Italian-Cajun themed Diwali luncheon. Carmen hovered over the Puzzle Place—an old behemoth of a dining room table the Durans had found at a secondhand store, refinished, and turned
into a home for Carmen’s favorite hobby: impossibly complicated jigsaw puzzles.
    “How were the triplets?” Alice asked.
    For a second, Gabby had no idea who she meant. John, Lisa, and Philip?
    “Oh, you mean Ali, Lia, and Ila!” Gabby remembered, reaching back to what seemed like ages ago. “They were great!”
    Carmen looked up from her puzzle. “You sound weird.”
    “And the flight?” Alice asked. “You said there was trouble, but Carmen checked that Web site that tracks all the planes, and it said the flight left and arrived right on
time.”
    “Really?” Gabby squeaked. Her palms tickled with sweat. “Oh, that’s because the trouble was after we landed. Long time on the runway. Is it getting hot in here?”
She tugged on her shirt and flapped her arms like chicken wings to get a breeze on her suddenly swampy torso.
    “You’re acting weird, too,” Carmen said.
    “Oh yeah?” Gabby countered. “Weirder than choosing a jigsaw puzzle