Read Online The Pirate Princess: Return to the Emerald Isle by Matthew Morris - Free Book Online Page A

“If you guys want to catch that plane, you’d better get a move on and get packed.”
    Meg and Shay dashed up the stairs leaving Mark and little Sean on their own. Meg realized she had not seen her dog yet that morning and yelled “Fiiiinn. Finn, come here boy.” The dog appeared at her door, tail wagging. “Okay, boy, listen. I’m going away for a week so you are going to stay in Daddy’s room,” she scratched the dog behind the ears and he looked up at her with sad eyes. Finn was a shaggy, white mutt they had saved from the pound a few years back. When she was little Meg had shown an interest in every dog she saw. Since her sister was so busy and out of the house a lot, her parents decided to get Meg a playmate. Shay named the new dog Finn, which meant white in Gaelic. And since then Meg and Finn had been inseparable from the moment he joined the Murphy family.
    Finn sat and watched Meg as she packed her bag. She opened her toy chest and picked up the compendium. Carefully wrapping her special gift in a tee shirt, she placed it in an inside pocket of the book bag that she was going to take with her on the trip.
    “How’s it going in there?” her mom called out from down the hall.
    “Fine , Mom,” Meg yelled back. “I still can’t believe we are doing this.”
    Meg heard her mother shuffling down the hall. Shay stepped in the door and handed her a little blue booklet.
    “What’s that?”
    “It’s your passport. Surprise! We were actually planning to go to the Caribbean for Christmas this year, but it will have to wait for next year, I guess. Don’t tell your sister, though. It’ll have to be our little secret.”
    Meg crossed her heart and continued packing , her sad dog at her feet.

10  
First Flight
     
    Aunt Molly showed up at the house just as they finished packing. She helped Meg get her bags downstairs. “How exciting! You get your first airplane ride and trip out of the country at the same time.”
    “ I know! I still can’t believe it,” replied Meg.
    It was true. Meg’s family had never taken her on an airplane before because they rarely took long vacations. The surprise Christmas trip she just found out about would have been their first. According to her father, living on the water was a vacation all year long. Whenever they did go somewhere, it was always just short trips. And, Meg’s parents could never leave their businesses for a long trip, because they both operated their fishing boats by themselves and worked all of the time.
    This never bothered the Murphy kids because they really did live a great life. During the summer Meg was constantly swimming and snorkeling around the island or reading on the dock. When she got bored with that, she could always spend the day sailing with her mom , reading on the Muirín while Shay dove. She had fun on the water and in the sun every day. Meg’s tan never went away, even in the winter. Eileen, as far as Meg knew, never had a problem with not going away either. She was so into her sports and dancing that she was usually out of the house before Meg got up in the morning. Meg loved her family and her home, and didn’t know anything else, so vacations were not something to miss.
    Eileen was dropped off from practice as everyone was outside loading up the car. She ran up to them and gave her mother a big hug. She said to Meg, “I sure am jealous. Mom and Dad have never taken me anywhere on a plane.” Meg’s eyes twinkled remembering the secret she now shared with her mother, that they would have been taking a trip if this funeral had not come up.
    Shay looked down at Meg to make sure she was silent on the now -canceled Christmas trip and said to Eileen, “I promise you that we will take a vacation to someplace far away very soon. Right, Mark?” Their father put his arm around Eileen’s shoulder, gave her a squeeze, and nodded an affirmative, “Yup.”
    Shay grabbed little Sean who was already squirming to get out of Aunt Molly’s arms.