Read Online The Islanders by Katherine Applegate - Free Book Online Page B

stories.”
    â€œNo, I mean, do you dislike them especially? Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle . . .”
    â€œ. . . Mark.” Claire supplied the name. “They’ve always seemed okay. I mean, Aunt E. is like Dad in a bad dress and with no sense of humor. And Uncle Mark is just boring. But at least they don’t have kids.”
    â€œWhy?” Nina asked while her mind whirled.
    â€œWhy what?”
    â€œWhy don’t they have kids?” Nina pressed, as if it had become the most important question in the world.
    â€œHow would I know?” Claire said, giving her a frustrated look. “Maybe they don’t like kids, or maybe one of them has some physical problem. Or maybe they’re still waiting.”
    â€œThey’re too old.”
    â€œAunt E.’s only forty, I think. It’s still possible.”
    â€œI have to go,” Nina said. “I have to read to Benjamin.”
    â€œTell him hello,” Claire said, sounding a tiny bit wistful.
    â€œYeah,” Nina said. “I have to go right now.” She ran from the house and didn’t stop till she reached the circle. There she slumped against the cold marble war monument and labored to catch her breath. Her heart was pounding.
    He was coming. She couldn’t tell herself any longer that it had all been a false alarm.
    She couldn’t read to Benjamin, not now. He would know from her voice that something was wrong. He would ask her, or else he would tell Zoey to ask her, and Zoey would want to know.
    But Zoey could never know. No one could.
    He had told her that so many times, and she accepted it—no one would ever believe her.

    Â 

Nina
    Ah, yes, dream number three. Dream number three is one I’ve had several times. It’s extremely embarrassing the way dreams are sometimes. Extremely strange. I guess all I can say is, hey, it’s just a dream.
    This dream starts out like two. My mom is dressing me in a cute little dress with a ridiculous bow on the front. Only this time I’m getting dressed for a party, a grown-up party; you know, where I’m the official cute kid. It’s not much of a party from my point of view. It mostly involves staring up at massively tall adults, so tall that their heads aren’t even clearly visible. They just seem to disappear in the mist.
    Did I mention it’s kind of foggy in this dream? It is. And dark again, like a grainy old picture. And all the adults are tall, like redwoods or something, going up and up until they seem to converge.
    And I’m feeling weird, like I’m drunk. A drunk eleven-year-old in a bad dress. Everything kind of veering like the old Batman reruns, where things were always at an angle.
    Anyway, in the dream I get tired, so tired I almost can’t walk anymore. And then I see the chair.
    I climb up on the chair, which is really tall, so tall it’s likeclimbing a mountain, only suddenly there I am, sitting, and I’m dangling my legs over the edge of the seat, way above the ground.
    Which is when the embarrassing part comes in.
    I suddenly realize all the tall redwood people are staring at me with these ax-murderer, blood-hungry-vampire eyes. Staring and staring, and I squirm, being understandably uneasy.
    And then I realize I can feel the seat under my behind.
    And then I realize I’m not wearing my dumb dress after all. I’m naked and starting to cry like a little baby.
    And I never should have tried to go to the adult party, and I should have known better, and I knew I would be punished severely because it’s my fault I’m there. My fault for being stupid.
    When I wake up, I feel like throwing up.
    And I don’t think I don’t understand this dream, and the others, because I do. I know what it all means, although I wish I didn’t. I know the cause. I know. I know the dreams and the reality.
    I just don’t know how to make either of them go away.

SEVEN
    â€œIT’S NEW. IT’S