A/N: Hey there reader! This is my first ever book/post on FanFiction, so... (Wait for it!) JUDGE! That's right! PLEASE LEAVE A REVEIW ON HOW TO MAKE MY STORY BETTER! The only thing that I ask of you is that you leave CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, anything that makes me a better writer! This is the story of a family of four girls, (This is pre-Iantha if you are wondering, and I won't spoil anything!) that are all individual in their own ways, Rosalind the oldest and most motherly, Skye the athlete that is the only girl who has blonde hair and blue eyes like her mother, Jane the writer of the Sabrina Starr series, and Batty the youngest and most imaginative, who has a sweet relationship with the dog, Hound. Then there is Mr. Penderwick, who is a Botanist, and speaks fluent Latin, and is always losing his glasses.
Well I will stop talking now, (I'm sure you're like, 'Finally!') and get on with the story. I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Jeanne Birdsall's characters from her book. I am merely using them in a story because I love them so much.
They are almost like family to me, and I love using them.
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Chapter #1:
"Batty! Leave the dead squirrel!" Skye tried her best to restrain her five year old sister Batty.
"But Hound would like it!" She protested. "Hound loves to chase squirrels! He would love me forever if I gave him one that didn't run away!" Batty was now tired, but kept squirming in an attempt to get Skye off of her.
"I think that Hound would LOVE a present!" chimed in Jane.
Batty paused her squirming long enough to say, "You do?"
Skye gave her a look of daggers.
"Yeah, well not a dead squirrel! Maybe a…. Oh, I don't know… ah, maybe a piece of delicious turkey! Yeah, that's it! Turkey!" She flashed a grin and a shrug at Skye.
Skye was reproachful but decided it was better than the squirrel!
"Okey-dokey." Batty waited for Skye to get off of her, as she eventually did, but with a wary look. Then Batty got up and brushed herself off and calmly walked inside without a word.
"Let's get rid of this thing!" Jane said.
"Probably a good idea." Skye said as she walked to the fence to grab a shovel.
"Here, you'll need this unless you are going to pick it up with your hands!"
She handed the shovel to the speechless Jane and walked inside.
Jane got her voice back and called after her.
"Where do I put it?" But Skye had already closed the door.
Jane mumbled to herself as she began to do the dirty job, but she just had to picture herself as Sabrina Starr, the heroic character of her book series she was writing, picking up a lump of poison and therefore saving the town- no, city!
"JANE!" Rosalind, the oldest Penderwick called.
Well, I can't finish this now…Jane thought.
"COMING!" She was almost looking forward to her duty.
At the dinner table that evening Jane decided to tell their father what had happened.
"There was a squirrel in the yard." She said without emotion.
"Yes Skye, hoc est a nota." Mr. Penderwick said falling into his habit of speaking Latin with his English.
They all gave him the 'You know we don't know what you just said, right?' look.
"Sorry, there are always squirrels in the yard." He said pointedly.
"No. Dead." Jane stated blankly while picking at the Lima beans she didn't want to eat.
Mr. Penderwick looked stunned, then surprised.
"Did that clumsy Hound actually catch a squirrel?" Mr. Penderwick asked incredulously.
"No, but Batty thought that Hound would want it. You should clean it up before Batty gets her hands on it." Jane said knowingly.
Mr. Penderwick jumped up knocking his chair over,
"I think I'll scoot out for a minute!" Mr. Penderwick said in a hurry. He walked quickly to the door leading outside.
"I call a MOPS meeting to order!" Rosalind said.
MOPS stood for Meeting of the Penderwick Sisters. They also held MOOPS meetings which were the Meetings of the Older Penderwick Sisters. Batty was not allowed in those.
"Thank you Jane for getting Daddy leave. Let's clean up and go to my room."
"You are forever welcome, and if you are ever in need of my service again, I shall be more than happy to help!" She replied dramatically.
"Okay…" Rosalind said slowly. "Well," She continued, "Let's go!"
"So we are planning to go to Aunt Claire's house for thanksgiving this year! But you aren't supposed to know that yet… I think- What's wrong Batty?" Batty had interrupted Rosalind mid-sentence by tugging on her sleeve.
"I have to use the bathroom. I think I drank too much lemonade at dinner." Batty explained.
Rosalind sighed.
"Anyone else?" She said exasperatedly. All the hands in the room shot up.
"Five minutes, one bathroom, GO!" Everyone shot out of the room like arrows.
Rosalind smiled to herself. When they come back, she thought to herself, we had better get this show on the road!
"Finally!" Rosalind sighed. "Jane, can you take notes?" Jane left the room and came back with a pad of paper and a pencil. "Um, I don't have good handwriting! Skye you do it."
"Nope. You are the writer of the house, you do it." Skye pushed the pad back towards her sister. Jane started mumbling, but held the paper and pencil ready to take notes. Be Sabrina Starr, the reporter! She thought to herself. She felt ready now.
"Okay, so like I said going to Aunt Claire's house for Thanksgiving weekend, and I think we need to start packing as that is next weekend… Oh and Daddy is probably going to tell all of this to you tomorrow over breakfast, I'll bet you he's going to serve maple syrup too…" A cheer came from the mouths of the other three children. "Any way, we all need to pack three outfits, two good, one really nice for if Aunt Claire takes us somewhere nice…" Rosalind tried her best to continue with Jane asking her to slow down, Batty asking if she could take one toy or another, and Skye saying 'If I can't bring my soccer ball and my math book, I'm not going!'.
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So, that's it. The first chapter. I was so inspired by the book, me and my sisters call meetings now too! WE call them GOTS! (Gathering Of The Sisters! XD). Tell me what you think! Let me know if you like it. Please. I'll see when I can post the next chapter!