Read Online Petal's Problems by Lauren Baratz-Logsted - Free Book Online
Authors: Lauren Baratz-Logsted
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Durinda," Jackie said.
"Durinda's thinking, 'I'll bet dinner tonight won't be nearly as good as I could make it.'"
Durinda looked ashamed at having her immodest thought exposed.
"And Annie," Jackie said.
"Annie's thinking, 'Why am I letting Jackie run the show right now? I always run the show!'" Petal laughed again. "That's really funny. I was just wondering also why Annie was letting Jackie take over."
"And Marcia," Annie said, seizing control once more.
"Marcia's thinking, 'That drawer that had the pencil and paper in it—I wonder if there are any math workbooks in there. I could really use some math right around now.' Why, this isn't bad at all!" Petal said. "It seems most people just think nice, ordinary things. Maybe you're all correct. Maybe it won't be so bad having my power."
"And Georgia," Annie said.
"Georgia's thinking ... oh." Petal's face fell. "Georgia's still thinking, 'Petal's a little idiot.'"
"Don't mind Georgia," Jackie said.
"Yeah," Georgia said, "don't mind me. You know how I am. I get something in my head and it just sticks there for a long time, like it's attached to my brain by a piece of gum."
"And Rebecca," Annie said.
Petal tilted her head to the side one last time and stared at Rebecca's forehead.
Then she shrieked and dived back under the bed.
Precious, who'd been keeping pace with Petal, did the same thing with Rambunctious: tilted, stared, meowed loudly, dived.
"What did you read in Rebecca's mind?" six of us who weren't under the bed asked. The seventh didn't ask because they were her thoughts; she already knew them.
"It was so dark in there," Petal said, her voice trembling. "I could see almost nothing, no real words, just this vast darkness ... and cobwebs ... and a few spiders..."
Most people would be embarrassed to have the contents of their minds exposed in the way that Rebecca's had just been, and yet Rebecca looked rather proud of herself.
Poor Petal, though. Most of us were beginning to see why this power would be terrifying for her.
"And that's it?" Jackie said gently. "Nothing else but the darkness and the other nasty things you described?"
"Well," Petal admitted, "right in the center of it all, there was a giant can of pink frosting."
At least that was something.
***
It took all the powers of persuasion we had to get Petal to come out from under the bed that night so we could all make an appearance at the first party for Aunt Martha and Uncle George.
When we did finally get downstairs, we were greeted by a large roomful of people, none of whom we recognized, save for Aunt Martha and Uncle George and the Petes.
Then we saw someone who looked vaguely familiar from behind, something about her hair, which was long, the color of chestnuts.
She was standing in front of the unlit fireplace, and when she turned we could see that she had eyes the color of chocolate and was tall, like Mommy, and beautiful, like Mommy, and about ten years younger than Mommy.
We knew that woman.
Crazy Serena.
NINE
"What's she doing here?" seven Eights hissed.
To which Petal added, "I feel faint!"
"Read her mind, Petal," Annie directed. "Tell us what she's thinking so we know what she's up to."
But Petal didn't tilt her head to one side as we'd seen her do when reading our minds. Rather, she squinched her eyes shut and began mumbling nonsense words, stringing them all together so it came out sounding something like sgfeuogfgevcsgel. Nonstop.
She didn't tell us what she was doing—she couldn't, because she was too busy babbling nonsense—but we guessed she was doing it to drown out all sounds from other people's minds so that she couldn't hear whatever dark and terrifying thoughts lurked in Crazy Serena's.
In a way, we could understand her fear—who, except for maybe Rebecca, would want to travel into the heart of darkness?—but it was so not helpful.
So while Petal continued babbling with her eyes squinched shut, we dragged her over to where Aunt Martha and Uncle George
"Durinda's thinking, 'I'll bet dinner tonight won't be nearly as good as I could make it.'"
Durinda looked ashamed at having her immodest thought exposed.
"And Annie," Jackie said.
"Annie's thinking, 'Why am I letting Jackie run the show right now? I always run the show!'" Petal laughed again. "That's really funny. I was just wondering also why Annie was letting Jackie take over."
"And Marcia," Annie said, seizing control once more.
"Marcia's thinking, 'That drawer that had the pencil and paper in it—I wonder if there are any math workbooks in there. I could really use some math right around now.' Why, this isn't bad at all!" Petal said. "It seems most people just think nice, ordinary things. Maybe you're all correct. Maybe it won't be so bad having my power."
"And Georgia," Annie said.
"Georgia's thinking ... oh." Petal's face fell. "Georgia's still thinking, 'Petal's a little idiot.'"
"Don't mind Georgia," Jackie said.
"Yeah," Georgia said, "don't mind me. You know how I am. I get something in my head and it just sticks there for a long time, like it's attached to my brain by a piece of gum."
"And Rebecca," Annie said.
Petal tilted her head to the side one last time and stared at Rebecca's forehead.
Then she shrieked and dived back under the bed.
Precious, who'd been keeping pace with Petal, did the same thing with Rambunctious: tilted, stared, meowed loudly, dived.
"What did you read in Rebecca's mind?" six of us who weren't under the bed asked. The seventh didn't ask because they were her thoughts; she already knew them.
"It was so dark in there," Petal said, her voice trembling. "I could see almost nothing, no real words, just this vast darkness ... and cobwebs ... and a few spiders..."
Most people would be embarrassed to have the contents of their minds exposed in the way that Rebecca's had just been, and yet Rebecca looked rather proud of herself.
Poor Petal, though. Most of us were beginning to see why this power would be terrifying for her.
"And that's it?" Jackie said gently. "Nothing else but the darkness and the other nasty things you described?"
"Well," Petal admitted, "right in the center of it all, there was a giant can of pink frosting."
At least that was something.
***
It took all the powers of persuasion we had to get Petal to come out from under the bed that night so we could all make an appearance at the first party for Aunt Martha and Uncle George.
When we did finally get downstairs, we were greeted by a large roomful of people, none of whom we recognized, save for Aunt Martha and Uncle George and the Petes.
Then we saw someone who looked vaguely familiar from behind, something about her hair, which was long, the color of chestnuts.
She was standing in front of the unlit fireplace, and when she turned we could see that she had eyes the color of chocolate and was tall, like Mommy, and beautiful, like Mommy, and about ten years younger than Mommy.
We knew that woman.
Crazy Serena.
NINE
"What's she doing here?" seven Eights hissed.
To which Petal added, "I feel faint!"
"Read her mind, Petal," Annie directed. "Tell us what she's thinking so we know what she's up to."
But Petal didn't tilt her head to one side as we'd seen her do when reading our minds. Rather, she squinched her eyes shut and began mumbling nonsense words, stringing them all together so it came out sounding something like sgfeuogfgevcsgel. Nonstop.
She didn't tell us what she was doing—she couldn't, because she was too busy babbling nonsense—but we guessed she was doing it to drown out all sounds from other people's minds so that she couldn't hear whatever dark and terrifying thoughts lurked in Crazy Serena's.
In a way, we could understand her fear—who, except for maybe Rebecca, would want to travel into the heart of darkness?—but it was so not helpful.
So while Petal continued babbling with her eyes squinched shut, we dragged her over to where Aunt Martha and Uncle George
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