Read Online The Big Shuffle by Laura Pedersen - Free Book Online Page A

hand. Even though Eric and I aren't twins, we can do a pretty good sibling telepathy when necessary.
    “Oh dear,” says Aunt Lala, and peers out the window. “I wonder what happened to my taxi?”
    “Sorry,” I say. “That was the cab company on the phone, and they're not coming until later because of the weather.”
    “I'll drive you to the hospital,” says Eric. “Let me take a quick shower.”
    “Hospital?” inquires Uncle Lenny. “But I thought—”
    “Their mother is in shock,” explains Bernard.
    “Great Caesar's ghost!” roars Uncle Lenny so that we all jump back a step. “What next?”
    Teddy appears from around the corner, where he was listening the entire time. The protruding ears give him an unmistakable silhouette.
    “Can I go with them?” asks Teddy.
    “Sure,” I say.
    “I'm off shopping.” Bernard heads toward the door. He scrutinizes my new hairstyle and grimaces. “I'll be sure to pick up a black hat for you.”
    “Your parents have such wonderful friends,” says Aunt Lala.
    It's not the time to explain that Bernard is actually my friend a lot more than Mom and Dad's.
    Just then there's a horrible crash on the stairs followed by a loud shriek.
    “Man overboard!” Uncle Lenny calls out in his booming bass.
    Aunt Lala and I dash toward the first-floor landing, where Francie, the family daredevil, is lying curled up at the bottom and Louise is approaching from the top.
    “I
told
you to stop sledding on the stairs!” yells an irritated Louise.
    There's blood running down Francie's chin, and I can't tell if it's coming from her nose or her mouth or the fingers she's using to cover her face. It's not until we finally manage to get her hair and hands out of the way that it's possible to see the gash below her bottom lip.
    Aunt Lala recoils at the sight of the open wound, grabs onto the railing, and looks as if she's going to pass out. “Oh dear Lord!”
    By the sound of Francie's howls one would think I was performing a skin graft, but it actually appears not to be that bad. And she doesn't seem to have knocked any more teeth out.
    “We'd better go to the emergency room just to be on the safe side,” I say. “She may need a few stitches.”
    Francie screams even louder upon hearing my unwelcome diagnosis.
    “You and I can take Francie to the emergency room, and Aunt Lala can go with Louise to see Mom,” says Eric.
    “Who is going to watch the rest of the kids?” I ask.
    The phone starts ringing in the background. Now what? Are we supposed to evacuate the area due to nuclear fallout?
    “Louise will have to stay here and watch the kids,” I say.
    Louise gives me a look indicating that she's
over
child care.
    I put a Band-Aid over Francie's cut and bundle her up.
    “Darlene, Davy, and Lillian can go outside, but not for more than an hour. Be sure to put Wonder bread bags over their socks since their boots leak.” I sound like Mom.
    Uncle Lenny is standing in the living room. I'd forgotten about the surprise sailor situation. “Make yourself at home,” I say as we hurtle out of the door.
    It's cold and the roads to the hospital are still icy. The good news is that the storm has slowed down business at the emergency room. There's just one guy with chest pains whose wife is yelling at him about being too cheap to hire a plow service.
    After a quick examination we're given some baby aspirin and a butterfly bandage is applied to Francie's lip. The doctor makes some notations about Francie's various scars, the knocked-out front teeth, and the still-fresh lump on her forehead from the living room fall the other day. I can tell he's wondering whether she's really this accident-prone or if we're throwing her down the stairs on a regular basis. Then he asks me to leave the room for a moment. Great. She'd better not tell one of her crazy stories and land me in jail.
    Apparently the doctor is satisfied with their conversation. At least for now. And thus the big surprise turns out not to