ELEVEN Fred landed on top of my desk, surrounded by the pileup of books that had been blown off my shelves. In one hand he held The Book. In the other hand he held the summer reading list. I lay on my bed, still feeling a little time-warp queasy. Sam was nowhere to be seen. “Oh no,” I said. “Sam was outside with the other characters when the mist scooped us up.” “He must still be in Hoboken,” said Fred, jumping down off the desk. I looked at the pile of books and had a terrible thought. “Or sucked into some other book,” I said. Fred and I attacked the books, flipping through all of them, looking for Sam. “Here’s the Hoboken Chicken,” I said. “She made it back into her book. “ “The Twits are both here,” said Fred. “Mary Poppins, Charlotte, Frog and Toad— everybody’s back. Sam!” I yelled at the pile of books. “Where are you?” We heard a very faint noise. It sounded like Sam’s voice. “Are you in The White Mountains?” called Fred, flipping it open. “Are you in Treasure Island?” I called, leafing through it. “Help! “ came a muffled cry. It was definitely Sam’s voice. “Hang on, Sam,” said Fred. “We’ll get you out. “ We flipped through Winnie-the-Pooh, The BFG, Fat Men from Space, and Treehorn Times Three. Still no Sam. That’s when Fred and I both spotted the scariest book on the desk. We saw it, but couldn’t bring ourselves to pick it up. It was Little House on the Prairie. “Help! Help! Help! “ yelled Sam’s muffled voice. “Oh no,” said Fred. “What if we can’t get him out? What if he’s stuck in there forever? “ Fred carefully picked up Little House on the Prairie between one finger and thumb. I took it carefully, breathed a deep breath . . . and opened it. Sam came tumbling out of my closet, fighting my shirts, pants, and hangers wrapped around him. Fred and I took one look and fell back laughing. Sam finally pulled my basketball shorts off his head. He stood there still covered in clothes and hangers. We started laughing all over again. “Ahem. “ We froze. “Ahem. “ It was my little sister Anna, standing in the doorway. “I don’t really want to know what you are doing,” said Anna. “I just wanted to ask you, Joe, if you have any ribbon I can use for my—” Anna held out her stuffed toy. And before the words “teddy bear” were even out of her mouth, the three of us dove into my closet screaming, “Nooooooo! “ Anna backed slowly out of my room. She held her teddy bear behind her. We peeked out of the closet. “You guys are so weird,” said Anna. “So weird. “
Posted on: Sun, 11 Aug 2013 05:11:25 +0000
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