Jackie's Jokes by Lauren Baratz-Logsted Read Free Book Online

may be for some time, so they won't be able to bring you that information you wanted."
    "But that's dreadful news! If I don't file their taxes for them by the fifteenth—" CPA or not, this Alan Watts was working himself up into a Petal frenzy, so it was a good thing Annie cut him off, saying: "But I have the information right here, and I and my sisters will be happy to bring it to you."
    "Eight little girls are going to deliver the tax information?" Alan Watts sounded stunned.
    "I'm trying very hard not to get offended by your tone," Annie said with dignity. "When shall we bring this to you?"
    "How about tomorrow?"
    "On a Thursday?" Annie said. "But we can't do that. That's a school day. Same holds true for Friday."
    "Fine. Then I'll cancel my golf game on Saturday and you can come in and see me that morning."
    "Can you tell me where you're located?" Annie said, pulling out her trusty pencil.
    Alan Watts gave her the address.
    "At any rate, I'll see you Saturday morning at ten sharp," he said, then hung up.
    We all looked at the address in the city.
    "How will we get there?" Zinnia asked. "It sounds like a long way away."
    "Annie will drive us, of course," Durinda said.
    "Oh no, Annie will not," Annie said with a vehement shake of the head.
    "But why not?" Marcia asked.
    "Because we live in the small city and that's the Big City," Annie said. "I'd need to drive on the highway. I'd need to drive really fast on the highway to get us there." Annie shuddered. "To be honest, I don't think I'm ready for highway driving yet."
    "Are you scared?" Rebecca sneered.
    "Yes," Annie said simply. "Only a seven-year-old idiot wouldn't be scared of driving a Hummer on the highway."
    "Then how will we get there?" Georgia asked.
    "The train!" Jackie burst out suddenly. "We could take the train!"
    "Oh, that would be exciting!" Zinnia said. "It would be like a real adventure: taking the train into the Big City!"
    "But don't trains go really fast?" Petal wanted to know. "I'm not sure I'd like that. Plus, I really don't like the sound of this Big City..."
    Durinda placed an arm around Petal's shoulders. "We'll all be together," she said, trying to soothe her. "It will be all right."
    But when Jackie called Pete to inform him of our plans, it turned out Pete had plans of his own.
    "I've decided to take Saturday off," he said. "I'm going with you."
    "But why?" Jackie asked. "We already have the file for the CPA."
    "Because I want to make sure no one takes advantage of you," Pete said. "Besides, it'll give me another chance to wear my Armani jacket. We can tell Mr. CPA the same thing we tell everyone else, that I'm your uncle.
    But as we talked about our plans further, it turned out that we were still in disagreement on how to get there.
    "I'll pick you lot up in the flatbed at eight fifteen," Pete said. "Or, since this is a formal business occasion, would you prefer I bring the limo?"
    The flatbed? The limo? But we—at least, seven of us—had been looking forward to the train!
    "Neither," Jackie said. "Or anyway, not all the way into the city. You can pick us up in the vehicle of your choice, and then you can drive us to the railroad station. You see, we've decided to take the train in, and Petal has her heart set on it, and we'd so hate to disappoint her."
    Petal started to protest, rather loudly, but it was too late.
    Jackie had already hung up.
    ***
    It's amazing how quickly Thursday and Friday fly by when you know you are going to see your CPA on Saturday.
    Saturday dawned the warmest day yet all year. It was T-shirt weather, and not just for Pete. Except...
    "We're going into the Big City to meet with our CPA," Annie said. "So take off those T-shirts and put on some more formal clothes."
    If Marcia hadn't commented that Annie seemed less concerned with power and control, would Annie be acting less bossy now? we wondered.
    Still, we obeyed, exchanging our T-shirts and jeans for dresses and shoes. And we supposed we did fit better with Pete when