Read Online Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson - Free Book Online

up, and he found he would have to go over into every one else’s dollar to make up the full amount for May Belle. Somehow this year May Belle needed something special. She was always moping around. He and Leslie couldn’t include her in their activities, but that was hard to explain to someone like May Belle. Why didn’t she play with Joyce Ann? He couldn’t be expected to entertain her all the time. Still—still, she ought to have the Barbie.
    So there was no money, and he seemed paralyzed in his efforts to make anything for Leslie. She wouldn’t be like Brenda or Ellie. She wouldn’t laugh at him no matter what he gave her. But for his own sake he had to give her something that he could be proud of.
    If he had the money, he’d buy her a TV. One of those tiny Japanese ones that she could keep in her own room without bothering Judy and Bill. It didn’t seem fair with all their money that they’d gotten rid of the TV. It wasn’t as if Leslie would watch the wayBrenda did—with her mouth open and her eyes bulging like a goldfish, hour after hour. But every once in a while, a person liked to watch. At least if she had one, it would be one less thing for the kids at school to sneer about. But, of course, there was no way that he could buy her a TV. It was pretty stupid of him even to think about it.
    Lord, he was stupid. He gazed miserably out the window of the school bus. It was a wonder someone like Leslie would even give him the time of day. It was because there was no one else. If she had found anyone else at that dumb school—he was so stupid he had almost gone straight past the sign without catching on. But something in a corner of his head clicked, and he jumped up, pushing past Leslie and May Belle.
    â€œSee you later,” he mumbled, and shoved his way up the aisle through pair after pair of sprawling legs.
    â€œLemme off here, Miz Prentice, will you?”
    â€œThis ain’t your stop.”
    â€œGotta do an errand for my mother,” he lied.
    â€œLong as you don’t get me into trouble.” She eased the brakes.
    â€œNo’m. Thanks.”
    He swung off the bus before it had really stopped and ran back toward the sign.
    â€œPuppies,” it said. “Free.”
    Â 
    Jess told Leslie to meet him at the castle stronghold on Christmas Eve afternoon. The rest of his family had gone to the Millsburg Plaza for last-minute shopping, but he stayed behind. The dog was a little brown-and-black thing with great brown eyes. Jess stole a ribbon from Brenda’s drawer, and hurried across the field and down the hill with the puppy squirming in his arms. Before he got to the creek bed, it had licked his face raw and sent a stream down his jacket front, but he couldn’t be mad. He tucked it tightly under his arm and swung across the creek as gently as he could. He could have walked through the gully. It would have been easier, but he couldn’t escape the feeling that one must enter Terabithia only by the prescribed entrance. He couldn’t let the puppy break the rules. It might mean bad luck for both of them.
    At the stronghold he tied the ribbon around thepuppy’s neck, laughing as it backed out of the loop and chewed at the ends of the ribbon. It was a clever, lively little thing—a present Jess could be proud of.

    There was no mistaking the delight in Leslie’s eyes. She dropped to her knees on the cold ground, picked the puppy up, and held it close to her face.
    â€œWatch it,” Jess cautioned. “It sprays worse’n a water pistol.”
    Leslie moved it out a little way. “Is it male or female?”
    Once in a rare while there was something he could teach Leslie. “Boy,” he said happily.
    â€œThen we’ll name him Prince Terrien and make him the guardian of Terabithia.”
    She put the puppy down and got to her feet.
    â€œWhere you going?”
    â€œTo the grove of the pines,” she