Read Online The Missing Book by Lois Gladys Leppard - Free Book Online Page B

carried her into the house.
    For the next three days, Mandie didn’t have much to say to anyone. She anxiously awaited her friend’s return. Joe walked back and forth to school with Mandie, but he didn’t talk either.
    Finally Friday morning came, and Mandie was standing at the road, waiting for Joe. He came, walking fast, and she hurried forward to meet him.
    â€œDid Mr. Miller bring them back last night?” Mandie asked anxiously.
    â€œYes, but I have not talked to Mr. Miller or to Faith and her grandmother. I don’t know anything,” Joe said.
    â€œThen Faith will probably be at school today. Come on. Let’s hurry,” Mandie urged him as she walked faster.
    They got to school early. Mandie waited and watched as everyone else arrived. Finally the bell rang and they had to take their seats. Faith had not shown up. Mandie listened as Mr. Tallant called the roll, and when he got to Faith’s name, there was no answer.
    â€œFaith Winters,” Mr. Tallant repeated as he looked up from his desk.
    Suddenly the door opened and Faith rushed inside, threw off her coat and hat, and hurried to her desk.
    â€œGlad you got back, Faith,” Mr. Tallant said, and continued with the roll.
    Faith looked across the room and met Mandie’s gaze. She smiled and Mandie felt her heart flip. If Faith was happy, that meant her grandmother had the job.
    When the bell rang for recess, Mandie grabbed her lunch pail and rushed outside. Joe caught up with her and they sat on a log in the yard. She kept expecting Faith to join them.
    Finally Joe spoke. “Faith is not eating with us. She is catching up on her assignments with Mr. Tallant and then will be going back home.”
    Mandie frowned. “How do you know?”
    â€œI didn’t rush out as fast as you did. I heard her talking to Mr. Tallant,” Joe replied, biting into his ham biscuit.
    â€œDid she say—” Mandie stopped and squeezed her biscuit in her hand.
    â€œNo, she did not say whether Mrs. Chapman got the job, at least not where I could hear. She asked Mr. Tallant to give her the assignments she missed because she was going back home,” Joe said. “Seems her grandmother needs her for something or other this afternoon.”
    â€œWell,” Mandie said, sighing.
    Mandie and Joe were not sitting near the schoolhouse, and when Faith finally came outside she waved to them as she started down the trail to the road. “We got it!” she called with a big smile, but kept going.
    Mandie almost choked on the bite of biscuit in her mouth. She swallowed it whole as she tried to blink back the tears in her eyes. She wouldn’t look at Joe as she hastily put the rest of her food back in her pail.
    Joe was silent.
    When the bell rang to go back inside, Mandie stood up, shook out her long skirt, and took a deep breath as she picked up her lunch pail.
    Joe, trying to lighten her mood, teased as they walked back toward the front door, “Do you still think I have a secret?”
    Mandie frowned. “Are you going to tell me what it is?” she asked.
    â€œNow, I didn’t say I had a secret. I asked if you still
thought
I had one,” Joe corrected, laughing.
    â€œWhy mention it if you’re not going to tell me what it is?” Mandie asked as they stepped inside the schoolhouse.
    â€œNow, that would be another secret in your opinion, wouldn’t it?” Joe said, grinning as he went to his desk.
    Mandie stomped her foot and went to sit down. Of course Joe Woodard had a secret. And she had not given up on trying to find out what it was. It was just that so many things were happening, she had not had time to really think about it.
    Later, as the two walked home from school, Joe said, “Today’s Friday, so I suppose we won’t be able to talk to Faith until Monday at school.”
    â€œMrs. Chapman got the job. Didn’t you hear her?” Mandie asked, not looking up at