Nanny X Returns by Madelyn Rosenberg Read Free Book Online

“The statue was in transit to the White House. No photo was available.”
    â€œI checked this morning,” Boris said, “and was told the same thing. But surely the statue must be there by now.”
    â€œThen we should go see it,” Stinky said.
    â€œMuseum,” I said.
    â€œReviewer,” said Ali.
    â€œWe are a big team, no?” said Boris. “Perhaps we need to divide and conquer once more. I will take Ali to see this
Artsy Bartsy
.”
    â€œI’ll take Jake to the White House and get a visual,” said Nanny X. “We’ll meet at the National Gallery.”
    Of course they were doing my idea last. I pretended that was because it was the best, like when you’re the cleanup batter in baseball. “Howard gets to come with us, though, right?” I said.
    â€œRight.”
    â€œWe get Yeti,” said Ali.
    â€œAnd me,” added Stinky. He turned a little reddish, probably because he’d just said we should be going to the White House. Or maybe because he liked my sister. It is amazing the things you can notice when you are workingon your powers of observation. I was ready for action, even if my shoes were still squishy.
    Nanny X called the White House to let them know we were coming. Her diaper phone has a direct line there.
    â€œYou’re sure you’re okay?” Boris asked Nanny X.
    â€œFine,” she said, touching her hat.
    â€œOkay, then.” Boris took off with my sister and Stinky. Nanny X reached into her diaper bag and pulled out her bunny slippers. At first I thought she was going to give them to me instead of my squishy shoes. But she took off her own shoes and slid them on. Then she whistled. A pedicab driver came biking toward us, pulling a chair like a chariot.
    â€œGet in,” said Nanny X. “You too, Howard.”
    Howard adjusted his bonnet and climbed from the stroller into the pedicab. “Sixteen hundred Pennsylvania Avenue,” Nanny X told the driver.
    â€œThe White House?”
    â€œPrecisely.”
    â€œWhat about you and Eliza?” I said. Nanny X had just gotten conked on the head. She needed to sit down. But the pedicab would be a little crowded with four of us, plus Eliza’s stroller.
    â€œDon’t worry about me,” said Nanny X. She reached into the bag and pulled out an old-fashioned motorcycle helmet, the leather kind that matched her motorcycle jacket. Then she pushed the noses on her bunny slippers. Wheels popped out of the bottoms. She looked pretty spry as she skated over to the bike path, pushing Eliza in the stroller.
    I leaned over to Howard. “She’s being conspicuous again,” I said. “Very conspicuous.”
    At least no one was looking at him anymore; they were looking at our nanny, who was skating expertly down Independence Avenue.
    Howard and I settled back as our driver pedaled past a bus. He signaled right and turned onto Fourteenth Street. Howard signaled, too, like he knew just what it meant. He gave me a thumbs-up as the driver put on the brakes, right in front of the White House gate.

11. Alison
Nanny X Is Out of the Picture

    I was running ahead of Stinky even though he had longer legs and even though it wasn’t supposed to be a race. Sometimes it felt like the only thing I was the best at was biting my fingernails. I wanted to be the best at something real and important, like solving our case so we could keep our jobs. Being faster than Stinky made me feel better.
    But when I looked back over my shoulder and saw our nanny roller-skating in a blur of pink bunny slippers, I stopped running and started laughing.
    â€œAre those bunny slippers?” Boris asked as Nanny X passed a line of people riding on Segways, which look like dollies, the kind the UPS man uses for moving heavy packages.
    I nodded.
    â€œState of the art!” he said. “This is the first time I’ve seen them in action.” I could tell he was wishing for