Read Online Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm - Free Book Online

I miss you something awful.
    Mrs. Budnick never sleeps and doesn’t care if anybody else does, either. She thinks nothing of waking me up in the middle of the night to make her tea or toast. I’m so tired I can barely see straight. The only thing that keeps me going is thinking of you.
    Someday this will all be behind us, I promise. I’ve been thinking that maybe I can become an actress. Can’t you just see my name in lights? All I need to do now is get a screen test with Warner Brothers.
    Love always,
    Mama
    P.S. Please give your aunt my love, and tell her not to kiss any Curry boys.
    I sigh. This is why I worry about Mama. She’s always getting zany ideas. I don’t know what she’d do without me to figure things out.
    “What’s it say?” Kermit asks me.
    “Mama’s head is so high in the clouds, I’m surprised she doesn’t bump into Amelia Earhart.”
    “How can your mama’s head be up in the clouds?” Buddy asks. “Ain’t it attached to her neck?”
    “Look! It’s Killie the Horse!” Beans says suddenly, an edge of excitement in his voice.
    An old man riding a horse-drawn wagon is coming down the lane. The horse looks like it’s going to drop dead any minute. I’ve never seen a sorrier-looking animal. And the man doesn’t look much better. He’s wearing filthy old clothes and has a wild, whiskery beard. The wagon is piled high with all sorts of trash.
    “Murderer,” Pork Chop whispers.
    “What?” I ask.
    “He killed a horse. Whipped it to death!” Ira says.
    The man doesn’t look like he could kill a fly, let alone a horse.
    “Says who?” I ask.
    “Says everybody!” Pork Chop says.
    The boys grow quiet as the wagon passes. The next thing I know, all the boys are chasing after the wagon, taunting the old man.
    Their mocking cries fill the lane: “Killie the Horse! Killie the Horse!”
    They jump onto the back of the wagon.
    “Leave me be!” the old man cries, but he loses his balance and goes tumbling onto the dusty lane.
    The boys erupt into peals of laughter.
    A lady steps out of her house and shouts, “You boys stop that right now! You hear me?”
    The boys mouth a few halfhearted “Yes, ma’am”s and come sauntering back, snickering under their breath.
    “You see the look in his eyes when we jumped on the wagon?” Pork Chop says. “That was swell!”
    “You said it, pal!” Beans says.
    Killie the Horse stands up and climbs gingerly back onto the wagon, gives a whistle, and starts off.
    “What should we do now?” Ira asks.
    “Maybe you should go drown some kittens,” I suggest.
    “Ain’t no fun in drowning kittens,” Beans says.
    “Yeah,” Pork Chop says. “You gotta light their tails on fire and watch ’em run around!”
    A tall man carrying a sack over his shoulder turns onto Curry Lane and Beans inhales sharply.
    “Poppy,” he says, his throat thick.
    Then he leaps up and runs down the lane. Beans throws himself headlong into the arms of his father, who drops his sack and hoists Beans up easily, hugging him hard. Kermit and Buddy go racing down the lane, too, shouting “Poppy’s home!” Even Termite waddles to greet his master, yipping happily.
    My uncle’s face is tan as old shoe leather. He looks hot and tired, and has a pale patch of skin on his chin where a beard must’ve been.
    Aunt Minnie opens the door and steps out onto the porch. She doesn’t fling herself into his arms and kiss him like Mama when she sees Archie. She just wipes her hands on her apron and says, “You shaved, Vernon.”
    “Stopped at the barbershop on my way home,” he says, rubbing his chin. He looks at me and back at Aunt Minnie, a question in his eyes. “Something you want to tell me?”
    Aunt Minnie rolls her eyes. “She’s Sadiebelle’s girl. Just showed up.”
    “Got the family resemblance, all right.”
    “Poppy!” Buddy says, tugging on his father’s hand. “Will you play marbles with me?”
    Pudding, thoroughly disturbed by all the shouting, starts