Read Online A Summer of Sundays by Lindsay Eland - Free Book Online Page A

manuscript or about my plans to make my mark. He bugged me like a fly around a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
    But I had my reasons for holding out.
    First, even though we were becoming better friends, I still didn’t know him all that well, and I needed to make sure he wasn’t going to turn around and tattle on me the moment I showed him the manuscript.
    Second, I needed to make sure that he wasn’t going to tell my family about what we were up to because that would ruin everything, too.
    And third, well, I hadn’t come up with any plans to do anything spectacular yet. I’d been so busy at the librarythat I was hardly able to keep myself awake at night to read the Nancy Drew book
The Mystery at Lilac Inn
or the manuscript, let alone try to come up with a plan to be noticed. Each day that I didn’t come up with anything made me more anxious to get started. I didn’t want to leave Alma as still just one-of-the-six.
    But just that morning, Mom and Miss Jenny had told Jude and me that we didn’t have to stay at the library all day long anymore. It was finally time to come up with a huge plan to make my mark.
    That’s why, after lunch, I took Jude up to my room.
    He plopped down on the floor in front of the fan and looked around. “So, where is that book you’re reading? The one you took from the library.”
    I stared hard at him. He could be trusted. To a certain point. “Close your eyes and turn around.”
    “Really, Sunday, that’s silly. I won’t tell.”
    “What if one of my brothers or sisters captures you and forces you to tell them all your secrets? If you don’t know where the book is, then there won’t be a chance of you spilling the beans.”
    He sighed and shrugged. “Okay.”
    I waited till he was facing the opposite way and then checked to make sure his eyes were closed. Lifting the mattress, I pulled out the pages. I carried them over to the floor and took a seat in front of him. “You can open your eyes.”
    “This isn’t a book.”
    “Sure it is. It’s just not a published one. Maybe someone in Alma is destined to become a famous writer.”
    The headline in the Alma newspaper, SUNDAY FOWLER TURNS UNKNOWN LOCAL INTO FAMOUS AUTHOR , scrolled through my mind.
    “So you don’t know who wrote it?”
    I shook my head no and grinned. “It’s a mystery.”
    “I guess it could be anyone’s.”
    “Yeah, I suppose.”
    “How in the world are you going to find out who it belongs to? It’s impossible.”
    The headline disappeared in a puff of smoke and I snatched the papers back. “You sure know how to kill a person’s dreams.”
    “I’m just saying. Lots of people write books. My mom even says she wants to write one someday.”
    “Well, maybe she wrote it? And if we can prove it, then maybe she’ll be in the newspaper or it’ll get published and made into a movie or something.”
    I could tell Jude liked that idea. “Maybe. She has always liked going to the library.”
    “I found this one locked in a box in the library basement.”
    “A safe? You broke into a safe?” His eyebrows rose over his wide-open eyes.
    I hadn’t thought of it as a safe, but the idea soundedmuch more intriguing that way. “Well, sort of. So the book has to be kind of valuable, right?”
    Jude shrugged. “I guess so. Or what if it’s something that someone wrote and didn’t want anyone to read? Like a diary or something.”
    I stood up, set the pages beside
The Mystery at Lilac Inn
, and sat on my bed. “It’s not written like a diary and, besides, if they didn’t want anyone to read it, then they should’ve kept it at home and not in the library where anyone could find the key and open the box.” I lifted my nose in the air, more determined than ever. “I’m going to figure out who wrote this and I think we should start with your mom.”
    He shrugged. “Sure.”
    “In the meantime, you can help me think of ideas for what I can do to make myself stand out. The manuscript from the library might