Read Online The Friendship Riddle by Megan Frazer Blakemore - Free Book Online Page A

him.
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œA lot of fantasy is about the world and the creatures and all that. But her worlds are simple. It’s the characters that are complicated.”
    â€œI see,” he said. And I thought that maybe he did, which was refreshing. Charlotte had once said, “I don’t get it. An elf and a human had a baby? How is that even possible?”
    I went on: “I think maybe it’s more like the quest. The adventure. I don’t know, they just make you think, think about what you would do, what your quest would be.”
    â€œDo people go on quests anymore?”
    I wished we did, but he was right. “That’s why you need to read about them. It’s the same as a series like Andromeda Rex. I mean, it’s not like you really think you’re going to have a world with time stops and teleporting through wormholes and all that, right?”
    â€œWell, that’s science fiction,” he said.
    â€œBut they’re both fiction. They make you think about things, but they aren’t actually real.”
    â€œBut science fiction
could
be real.”
    â€œMaybe. But the authors are just guessing, don’t you think? No one knows what’s really going to happen in the future.”
    He pushed his floppy hair out of his eyes. “Adam and Dev and those guys don’t really talk about books like this. They just talk about what’s cool and how they would rule the world if they could stop time or time travel. Adam read
When You Reach Me
and all he could say in the end was that if he figured out how to go back in time, he would bet on all the World Series games.”
    â€œI don’t know Adam very well, but he seems pretty financially oriented.”
    Coco laughed. “You could say that. Anyway, it’s nice talking to you about books. Maybe I could borrow one of those Harriet Wexler books sometime.”
    â€œThis one?” I asked.
    â€œMaybe when you’re done—”
    â€œ   ’Cause I got this one from Eliot—Mr. Diamond—at the library. It hasn’t even come out yet.”
    â€œI thought you might have others at home.”
    â€œI do.”
    â€œOkay.”
    â€œOh!” I said, feeling like a dunce. “Well, sure, I could bring you one. What one do you think you would like? The Taryn Greenbottom series is the best, but some people like
A River Slowly
better. That’s a stand-alone book, and it’s more science fiction. It’s about time travel, too. You might like that one.”
    â€œWhichever. They both sound good.”
    â€œOkay.”
    â€œOkay.”
    â€œDo you like riddles?” I asked. I didn’t know why. I had no intention of telling anyone else about the notes in the books.
    â€œSometimes. I don’t like dumb riddles like that one about a stranger coming to the door asking for food and you have peanut butter, tuna, and pickles. What do you open first?”
    â€œThe door,” I replied.
    He grinned. “Of course you got it! I said pickles because you could give the strangers a pickle while you tried to figure out what to give him for a real meal.”
    â€œI didn’t mean that kind of riddle.”
    â€œWhat kind did you mean?”
    â€œNothing,” I said. I pointed at the book cover. “It’s just that this book is called
The Riddled Cottage
, and it got me thinking about riddles. We should get back to studying.”
    He stared right in my face for a minute, and I wonderedif he could tell I was lying. Not lying, exactly. I had started down one path and then made a right turn. My riddles. My mystery.
    â€œ   ‘Didgeridoo.’   ”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œAn aboriginal wind instrument from Australia.”
    â€œIs that on the list?”
    â€œNo. I just like it.”
    â€œAre there any alternate pronunciations?”
    â€œI don’t think so,