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

he arrived, given that he was wearing, as promised, his Armani tuxedo jacket over his navy T-shirt and jeans. He also had on the wide and wild tie we'd seen once before.
    The limo to the railroad station was a fun and zippy good ride, but when we arrived at the station, we must say, it was all so confusing.
    So many people! Everybody rushing! People here! People there!
    "I'll get the tickets," Pete said, and we waited as he went off to buy nine of them.
    "Do you think the Big Bad Wolf lives in the Big Bad City?" Petal asked.
    "If you promise not to say any more stupid things," Rebecca said to Petal, "we'll let you have the window seat."
    "But that might make me feel sick to my stomach and then I might throw up," Petal said. "All the world rushing by my window. Whoosh! WHOOSH! It will be so awful—"
    "Oh, bother," Georgia said.
    "Here we are, then," Pete said in his jolly way, waving the tickets in the air. "Nine tickets."
    This was exciting! It was exciting because it was a beautiful spring day and we looked pretty in our dresses and we were going into the Big City and each of us was holding her own ticket. Pete was the sort of adult who understood that that was what we would like to do, and so he didn't hold on to them himself as though he thought we might do something foolish, like lose them.
    We were feeling so excited and so wanted to be good and behave ourselves properly for Pete that we stood on the platform and waited for the train patiently. Then, when the train arrived, we let the passengers that were on it debark before boarding ourselves in an orderly fashion.
    When we walked anywhere, we usually walked in order of age and height, Annie through Zinnia. But on that day, Jackie lagged behind because she was busy pulling up her blue socks. Of all the Eights, Jackie was the one who always had the most trouble with her socks, although we all admit that socks can be a tricky thing.
    And so it was that Jackie was the last in line to get on, and Jackie was still outside on the platform when a lady came up to her and asked her a question. We couldn't hear what was asked or answered, but of course we saw Jackie's mouth moving and we knew that she was answering, which of course she would, because that is the polite thing to do when someone asks you a question.
    But all we could hear was the sound of our own voices shouting out the windows we'd forced open: "Jackie! Please! Hurry up! You'll miss the—"

    She couldn't hear us and we couldn't hear her because just then the sliding doors closed, the whistle blew, and the train rolled down the tracks, leaving the station...
    And Jackie wasn't with us.

CHAPTER SEVEN

    We stood at the windows of the train, watching as Jackie in her blue dress grew smaller and smaller behind us. The conductor gently asked us to sit down.
    "I don't see you telling the adults to hurry up and sit down," Rebecca objected.
    "Yes," the conductor said kindly, "but I just don't want to see you kids get hurt."
    "Yeah, right," Rebecca muttered as the conductor moved off to take someone else's ticket. "You're probably just worried about lawsuits."
    "Do we even have a lawyer?" Zinnia wondered. "I think it would be nice to have a lawyer."
    "We must have one," Annie said. "We have a CPA."
    Then, as the train picked up more and more speed, a blue dot zipped by the windows.
    "Did you see that?" Marcia asked.
    "I've never seen anything like it," Pete said.

    "Could it have been a shooting star?" Zinnia asked. "I've always wanted to see one of those."
    "I don't think shooting stars fall in the daytime," Georgia said.
    "And I'm fairly certain that whenever they do fall," Rebecca said, "they don't shoot sideways like that."
    "Could whatever that was be dangerous?" Petal asked. "Do you think we're under attack? You know, our bus driver did say something the other day about aliens—"
    "Now let's have no more of this attack talk," Pete said, getting us all settled down into our seats. "Let's just try to enjoy our nice