George's Cosmic Treasure Hunt by Lucy Hawking Read Free Book Online Page A

astronomers will discover…
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    Bernard

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    When the plane landed, George and Gran joined the line to get through immigration and customs. Eric and Annie were waiting in the arrivals area. Annie shrieked and jumped up and down on the other side of the barrier as soon as she saw him.
    â€œGeorge!” she hollered. “George!” She ducked under the rail and grabbed him. She was taller and more tan than he remembered. She hugged him and whispered in his ear, “It is sooooo good you are here! Can’t tell you now, but we are in an emergency! But remember, shush! Say nothing.” She took his cart and careered off with it toward Eric. Gran and George hurried after her.

    George had a shock when he saw Eric. He looked so tired, with some strands of white in his dark hair. But he smiled when he saw George, and his face lit up just like it used to.
    They said their hellos, and Gran shook hands with Eric and got him to write down comments in her notebook. Then she gave him an envelope marked George’s Emergency Fund , hugged her grandson, grinned at Annie, and went off to greet her friends, who had come to the airport to meet her. “A bunch of old rogues and rebels from my past, who live near Eric and Susan,” she had told George. “Nice chance for us to relive some of our hijinks.”
    But the people who came to pick up Gran were so old and wobbly-looking, George couldn’t imagine them ever being young, let alone having an adventure. Gran tottered off into the distance with them, and he felt his stomach shrink as he watched her leave. It seemed very big and bright here in America—everything was much shinier and larger and louder than it was at home. A wave of homesickness struck him. But not for long.
    A smaller boy with thick glasses and a very peculiar hairstyle had appeared from behind Eric.

    â€œGreetings, George,” he said earnestly. “Annie”—he shot her a look of total disgust—“has told me all about you. I have been eagerly anticipating interfacing with you. You sound a most interesting person.”
    â€œBack off, Emmett,” said Annie fiercely. “George is my friend, and he’s come to see me , not you.”
    â€œGeorge, this is Emmett,” Eric told him calmly, while Annie glared at Emmett and Emmett looked away with pursed lips. “He is the son of one of my friends. Emmett is staying with us for a while this summer.”
    â€œHe’s the son of doom, more likely,” Annie whispered in George’s ear.
    Emmett snuck around to George’s other side and hissed in his other ear, “The girl humanoid is a total moron.”
    â€œAs maybe you can tell,” continued Eric lightly, “there’s been a small falling-out between these two.”
    â€œI told him not to touch my Girl’s World action doll!” Annie exploded. “And now it only speaks Klingon.”
    â€œI didn’t ask her to cut my hair,” Emmett bleated. “And now I look stupid.”
    â€œYou looked stupid before,” muttered Annie.
    â€œBetter to speak Klingon than just garbage like you,” retorted Emmett. His big eyes, magnified by his glasses, looked very shiny.
    â€œGeorge has had a long journey,” said Eric firmly. “So we are going to take him to the car and drive home,and everyone is going to be nice to everyone else. Do you hear me?” He sounded quite stern.
    â€œYes!” said George.
    â€œIt’s all right, George,” said Eric. “You’re always nice. It’s the other two I’m worried about.”

Chapter 4
    E ric drove them to the big white wooden house where his family now lived. The sun was beating down from the perfectly blue sky, and the heat rose up from the ground to smack George in the face as he got out of the car. Annie scrambled out after him. “Come on,” she said as Eric unloaded George’s bag from the trunk. “We’ve