Read Online A Handful of Time by Kit Pearson - Free Book Online

they turned in their places so that Patricia was now facing Kelly’s back. It was difficult to stop the boat from going in a circle, but eventually she was able to keep it on a fairly straight course.
    â€œYou’re really doing well!” Kelly’s expression was one of undisguised admiration. Then she looked embarrassed, as if she hadn’t meant to sound so friendly. “Next time, Potty, I’ll let you try taking it out alone. Let’s switch again. I’ll take us to the Main Beach and back.”
    All the way there Patricia matched her strokes to her cousin’s. Every time she lifted up her paddle it left spinning whorls in the water. Her arm was getting sore, but she kept going. I can paddle a canoe! she thought. Like Kelly … like Ruth.
    â€œWhy is this canoe called the Loon ?” she asked.
    â€œBecause loons come here. Our grandparents must have named it—it’s a really old canoe. Christie and Bruce’s is lighter, but this one’s steadier.”
    â€œWhat do loons look like?”
    â€œDon’t you know?” A trace of familiar scorn came back into Kelly’s voice. “Loons are wonderful—big birds with black heads and speckled bands around their necks. They used to nest on this lake but now it’s too noisy, so they just come here to feed. You hear them mostly at night. They sound like they’re laughing. That’s why people say someone’s loony. It’s a weird, laughing sound.”
    But beautiful, too, Patricia remembered. She wished she were in the canoe with Ruth again. She wondered what Ruth was doing. Being in the Loon with Kelly, who looked like Ruth but wasn’t, made her long for the other girl.
    T HAT EVENING Aunt Ginnie sent them to the store as usual to get the paper. On the way they called on Christie and Bruce. Patricia cringed when Uncle Rod came into the backyard and boomed a greeting.
    â€œWell, here’s our little Easterner! Why are you still so white, when the others are as brown as berries?”
    â€œI don’t know,” whispered Patricia. She examined him fearfully. All that was left of his boyhood hair was a grey fringe above his ears. His expression was still patronizing; he looked at her in the present the way he did at Ruth in the past.
    â€œReady to show me your teeth, now?” Uncle Rod loomed over her.
    â€œDaddy, we have to go!” said Christie impatiently. Patricia scuttered down the driveway after her cousins.
    When they neared the store she looked around eagerly for the pump. It was still there, but it was rusty and half-buried in weeds.
    â€œDoes that old pump still work?” she asked Bruce.
    â€œNo,” Kelly answered for him. “They boarded up the well years ago because the water was contaminated.”
    Patricia walked on sadly, her mouth recalling the water’s tang. Then she brightened, remembering that she could go back and taste it again.
    The Other Enders were sitting around the store. They read comics and chewed gum just as they had thirty-five years ago. Two of them even resembled the Thorpe girls from the past. For an instant Patricia forgot what time she was in.
    Kelly walked by the group without a word.
    â€œHey, Kelly!” called one of the Cresswell boys, putting down his comic. His sister stared haughtily at them.
    â€œWhat you want?” Kelly said coolly.
    â€œJust to remind you to leave our boat alone or I’ll tell my parents.”
    â€œDon’t worry,” retorted Kelly. “I wouldn’t touch your stupid boat. I just wanted to see how flimsy it was and I was right.”
    Her words sounded lame. The row of eyes observed her with pity, then dropped to their reading.
    â€œSomehow we’ve got to get them!” said Kelly on the way home. “They’re one up on us now.”
    Patricia sighed guiltily; Kelly was probably remembering how she had let her down at the Cresswells.
    Maggie ran to catch up with