Lizzie! by Maxine Kumin Read Free Book Online

was his second cousin and now I am in . . . where did you say you live?”
    â€œWoodvale.” But by now I was feeling embarrassed.
    â€œRight. Woodvale, where I have never been. Well, how would you like a ride in my plane, pequeñita ? You and your little friend here? The next time I come to see Henry and his poor mama.”
    I murmured something about how that would be nice. But what I was really thinking was that I wouldn’t go up in his plane with him if he offered me a million dollars.

 
    Â 
    CHAPTER 8
    I hated to see Trippy go back to the frozen north the next day, but at the same time I was worried. Here we were walking around with a deep secret and I was scared neither of us would be able to hold it in much longer. Trippy swore with a “cross my heart and hope to die” swear that she would be faithful to our secret but I knew how tempted she’d be to tell the whole story.
    I said, “I think we better encrypt the monkeys in our emails. How about if we call them ‘the goldfinches’?”
    â€œThat’s a great idea! I’m going to start looking them up as soon as I get home.”
    How long could Trippy last? For that matter, how long could I? And then I started thinking about Josh. If I had to spill the beans I felt he was the one friend I could trust. We’re a lot alike. Josh’s whole name is Joshua Blaine. A lot of the other kids kind of snicker when he answers a question because when he gets excited and raises his hand it sort of flaps, and if Mr. Hammersmith catches them making derogatory (look it up) sounds, he gives them detention. Well, let them be jerks if they want to. Josh has a nifty electric wheelchair and his mom drives a van with a side door and a ramp so he can roll himself in and out on his own. I know this because our moms turned out to be alumnae of the same college. They both went to Wellesley, which is in Massachusetts, but they didn’t know each other there. Josh’s mother is five years older.
    â€œSo how do you say it,” I asked him, “is it alumn-eye or alumn-knee ?”
    â€œWell, it turns out people say it either way, but the ‘eye’ ending is the right one because it’s the plural of alumna .”
    â€œFor a guy it would be alumnus , right?”
    â€œYep. And here’s where it gets tricky. The plural is alumni , with an i . It should be pronounced ‘knee,’ but almost everybody who hasn’t taken Latin says ‘eye.’ For some reason this cracked me up and then Josh cracked up too.
    This was over lunch. Then out of the blue, I invited him to come home with me the next afternoon. Of course my mom thought it was a great idea since I hadn’t been exactly eager to invite anyone from Graver. “I thought you hated everybody at school.”
    â€œWell, apparently not.”
    â€œWhen were you thinking?”
    â€œHow about tomorrow?”
    â€œI’ll call his mother,” Mom said, and it was settled.
    It wasn’t exactly a surprise but more of a relief when Josh accepted. The next day I couldn’t wait for school to let out. As soon as I got home I waited out front for Josh. But I didn’t want it to appear obvious that I was waiting for him so I wheeled up to Mom’s plantings of petunias, which are a pain in the neck to keep watered but they do bloom a lot. I sort of leaned forward and acted busy deadheading them until I heard an approaching vehicle. Josh’s mom was driving. Anyway, I did what Mom taught me to do. I observed the amenities and introduced myself.
    And then his mother said, “Hi, Lizzie. I’m Josh’s mom. Please call me Jenna.”
    I said, “Would you like to come in and meet my mom?” but just then my mom appeared, and the two of them stood outside talking, so that was taken care of. Josh and I wheeled up the ramp into our house and of course after Jenna drove off Mom asked us if we’d like anything to