Hello, hello, my beautiful friends, you amazing people. I´m really sorry for not updating on time, but, saying sorry won´t make it up to you, right? I do have an excuse though! I was too busy celebrating New Year. (is that an excuse?) anyway, my mom wanted me to help her in the kitchen and yeah. We also spend the weekend up at my grandmother´s almost every weekend and I really don´t have time to write up there, (besides the fact that her wifi is TERRIBLE. ABSOLUTLY TERRIBLE. So that´s why I want to change UPDATE DAY to Wednesdays. And…Happy New Year! I hope you have an AMAZING year, with lot´s of new and exciting things. Of course, there are always birthdays to look forward to, vacations, holidays, maybe new family members, weddings, etc. I´ve already started my new Mandie FanFic (no, it does not mean I have the whole Pirate´s Secret written down yet, sorry) and you probably want to get down to the story already, so, the reviews:
CantDecideOnUsername: As always, thanks for your reviews. Happy New Year!
"Hi," Mandie told Celia who seemed not to pay attention. "Hello," she repeated.
"Oh, Hi!" Celia said startled.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"Yeah, of course! Why?" Celia seemed cheery, though Mandie could notice she was faking.
"No, you're not," she said plainly.
"I guess I´m just a bit tired," she argued.
"Celia, you´re my best friend. We´ve known each other for two years now, and I can tell when something is wrong, so, what is wrong?" Mandie started to lift her voice.
"Mandie…" Celia hesitated to speak.
"What?" Mandie pressed.
"It´s just, will you promise not to tell anyone?"
"Mm-hmm," Mandie nodded her head up and down and then slightly shook it without Celia noticing.
She sat down by Celia on the couch close to her and made sure that no one was around.
Earlier that day
"Hey, what´s this?" Jonathan asked his group of friends when he started to lift the chess board off the table.
"What´s what?" Celia asked him with curiosity.
"This," he said pointing to the bottom of the chess set.
"Let me see that," Tommy said.
"Hmmm…" Jonathan examined the paper which seemed to be taped onto the back of the board. "It looks like it´s an envelope taped onto—"
"We can see that!" Celia was impatient. "Just open it and find out what´s in it!" she exclaimed.
"Patience, patience, my good friend," Jonathan turned his view upwards to her.
Celia just glared at him with earnest in her eyes.
"What´s in it?" Tommy was also impatient to know.
Just to annoy them, Jonathan started imitating a sloth, making every movement last a life time.
"Hurry—" Celia started to say, but Jonathan interrupted her with a warning glance.
Both Tommy and Celia crossed their arms and stared a Jonathan.
"Fine," he gave up. He quickened up his pace a little and soon they were able to see what was inside the envelope.
"What does it say?" Tommy asked.
"Let me read it!" Celia grabbed the letter from Jonathan not willing to wait anymore.
"Read it aloud," Tommy suggested.
"This is what it says," she said while scanning through the letter quickly.
Mr. and Mrs. Patton,
Things are progressing as expected. As we said before, we have our own reasons for wanting to help you. We have gained some information that may help you. If we continue making progress at the same rate, we think that this will be solved before Sunday. If you wish to know this information, you know where to find us.
-Anonymous
TMIB
"What?!" Tommy exclaimed. "Let me see that!" he grabbed the letter from Celia. He murmured some of the letter aloud and checked it at least twice before whispering to himself, "No…" his voice wandered off. "What does this mean?"
"Let´s see…" Jonathan started counting the days till Sunday with his fingers. "Today is Friday, so that means we have… exactly two days before it´s Sunday," he paused to think again. "I just wished that they would specify the place where they´re going to meet," his thought wandered off.
Meanwhile, Celia was trying to calm Tommy down telling him that he shouldn't worry too much.
"But, look!" he said, pointing to the letter. "It´s directed to my parents!"
"No worries, I´m sure we´re misunderstanding it all…" she couldn't think of anything else to say.
"Just," he stammered. "Don´t tell Mandie."
"Why not?" she´s an expert in solving mysteries.
"Because—"
"What´s all the fuss about?" Jonathan interrupted them after he had finished thinking. "What´s so intriguing about that letter?"
"Don´t you see?" Celia yelled loudly, but calmly, "it´s directed to his parents. Mr. and Mrs. Patton," she pointed out.
"But, whoever the letter´s from, they said they´re helping for their own benefit, so they must be the good guys," he concluded. "And—" Jonathan wasn´t able to finish before being interrupted by Sallie, Mandie, and Joe at the entrance of the parlor.
Celia quickly have Jonathan a look and whispered, "Don´t tell Mandie about this."
"Why not?" he asked.
Celia just glared at him.
"Right!" he quickly composed himself.
"Hello," Sallie called from the doorway. "What have you been doing?" she asked them.
"Oh! We´ve been playing chess. Just that!" Jonathan said in his usual cheery voice.
"That´s nice!" Mandie said. "Weren´t you going to go swimming?" she asked them.
"Yeah, we were," Jonathan started to say, "but we were waiting for Joe and then Tommy´s parents told him that we were going to go sightseeing today," he explained.
"Oh, that sounds like fun!" Sallie said.
"Yes, it does. Where are we going to?" Joe asked.
"Well, Tommy´s parents haven´t decided yet, but after that, they plan to take us out to dinner," Celia explained.
"I´m looking forward to it," Mandie said.
Later
"Before you came into the room, we found the letter," Celia was telling Mandie. "I don´t know why Tommy didn´t want to tell you," she said, "but I think you ought to know. You´re the one who always solves the mysteries anyway," Celia smiled.
Mandie chuckled a bit, and said, "Well, I do have help from friends sometimes."
"What do you think?" Celia asked her.
"About what?"
"About the letter, silly."
"Oh! About the letter. Well, I don´t think Tommy´s parents are involved in anything. The letter said that they were helping them for their own benefit, but, I do wonder, what could TMIB mean?" she thought.
"It could be the place where they´re going to meet," Celia offered her thoughts.
"Or, it could be the initials of something," Mandie said.
"Yess…" Celia said slowly while thinking what it could mean.
The girls were still thinking when Sallie came into the parlor.
"There you are!" Sallie exclaimed. "I´ve been looking for you. I wanted to know when we´re leaving so I can get ready."
"Oh, I forgot about going out already!" Mandie came back to the present.
"Hmm… that´s a good question. I really don´t know," Celia told Sallie. "I think we should ask Mrs. Patton," she suggested.
"Yes, I think we should," Mandie agreed. Mandie looked at Celia and made signs with her look that she was going to let Sallie know about the letter that they had found earlier. Celia quickly shook her head and opposed, but Mandie didn´t mind her.
"Sallie! You´ll never guess what kind of discovery Celia made!" she motioned for Sallie to sit down. "Along with Tommy and Jonathan, of course," she added.
"What?" Sallie asked feeling instantly attracted to the story and to hear all about it.
"Mandie…" Celia whined softly, while Mandie didn´t even turn to look at her.
"Tell me all about it," Sallie was desperate to hear the news.
"Well, it goes like this: Jonathan and Tommy were playing chess and suddenly they found a letter stuck to the bottom of the chess set…" Mandie related the whole story to her with every detail and stopped only to catch her breath, while Celia, who was siting besides her, was making faces at Mandie the whole time without any success. Neither Mandie, nor Sallie, noticed when Mrs. Patton came into the room.
"Oh, Mrs. Patton! I´m so glad— we´re so glad to see you," Celia looked up immediately after Mrs. Patton came into the room. "We were wondering when we would go sightseeing, so we have enough time to get ready," Celia explained.
"Oh, I´m very sorry, but I thought Tommy had told you already," Mrs. Patton apologized, "but I´m afraid that the plans got canceled. We´ll go tomorrow though. I think we´ll leave around this time tomorrow, and we´ll take you downtown, and maybe you girls, will want to do some shopping," she said. "How about that?" she searched their faces for approval.
"Oh, that´s fine," Mandie turned to see Mrs. Patton hoping that she hadn´t overheard them. "I think I would like to rest today anyway. I´m a bit tired," she explained.
"Oh dear, I do hope you´ve had enough rest or else you could get sick," she worried.
"No worries at all, Mrs. Patton, I feel perfectly fine! I couldn´t be better!" she said trying to calm Mrs. Patton, "I enjoy the warmth and the sunshine."
"Well, I do hope the rest of you are fine with the change of plans," she said.
"Of course," Sallie was quick to reply. "I agree with Mandie, I think we should rest today a bit," she winked at Mandie thinking of their midnight discovery yesterday, or should she think, this morning.
"And you, Celia?" Mrs. Patton asked her, "you seem tired too. I suppose you were all up late last night talking," she smiled.
"Oh, no ma´am," Celia replied, "but umm… well, I guess I am tired too," she used that excuse to avoid telling her of the letter.
"You girls get some rest. I have to go with my husband to town and settle some business," she excused herself.
"Thank you for letting us know about the change of plans," Sallie called out.
"Of course, dear," she said waving a goodbye. "I´ll be seeing you all soon," was all she said and then exited the room.
"Mandie!" Celia finally said not caring if Sallie asked why she was upset.
"What´s wrong, Celia?" Sallie asked her, but Celia ignored her.
"Celia´s upset because I wasn´t supposed to tell anyone about the letter," Mandie explained.
"Actually," Celia corrected her, "no one was supposed to know about it," she finished.
"Then why did you tell me in the first place?" Mandie joked around. "Besides, I thought that Sallie should know. She does help a lot with mysteries, you know."
"Because I also thought you should know," Celia was starting to get irritated.
They´re discussion ended when the boys walked into the room. They looked like they were going to go out to the beach.
"There you are Mandie!" Tommy said. "We´ve been looking for you. My mother told me that there was a change of plans and apparently we won't be going downtown today," he explained to the three girls who were sitting down.
"Oh, yes! Your mother told us, but thanks anyway," Celia said.
"Where are you going?" Sallie was interested to know.
"Since there was a change of plans, we thought we could go swimming today," Joe replied.
"It does look nice outside," Mandie commented.
"You girls are welcome to come along, if you want to," Jonathan suggested.
"I thought I would go read a book, but reading outside in the sunshine sound far more exciting," Sallie quickly agreed to Jonathans suggestion.
"You know, I think I might tag along too," Mandie joined in.
"How about you, Celia?" Joe asked.
"Hmm…" she said thoughtfully. "I don´t know. It looks like it might be too hot outside," she looked out a small window.
"You can always bring a parasol," Mandie suggested.
"Well, I guess I´ll come too, since everyone will be going," Celia finally gave in.
The three girls quickly chose one or two books they wanted to read and Celia ran upstairs to get her parasol. After that, they all followed Tommy outside and while the boys were getting ready to swim, the girls sat down on some benches that were close enough.
After a while, Sallie quickly noticed Mandie staring at Joe.
"What are you thinking about?" she asked jokingly.
"What?" Mandie was startled.
"You haven´t even opened your book and I´m already on page twenty-one," she said.
"Oh, I guess I was just a little distracted," she made up an excuse.
"Distracted with what, or, better said, with whom?" Celia quickly joined into the conversation which seemed to be far more interesting that her book.
"What are you accusing me of?" Mandie said in an offended, but sarcastic, voice.
"Oh, well, we just thought that you might be a little too interested in someone," Sallie suggested to her friend.
Celia gave her a look telling her to admit that she was staring at Joe.
"Fine!" she gave up. "I was staring at someone," she admitted, "and I´m not gonna tell you his name. But you probably know already," Mandie laughed.
"What are you looking at?" Jonathan teased his friend.
"Hmm?" Joe said, not caring whether his friends caught him staring at Mandie.
"I know who your staring at," Jonathan teased him again giving him a slap on the back. "You gotta admit, she is very pretty."
Joe didn´t know if that was supposed to be meant as competition for him, or if it was just a comment, but all he could do was say, "She´s beautiful!"
I know it was kind off slow. Not much happened except the discovery that Celia, Jonathan, and Tommy made.
I need your opinion. My goal for this year is to read at least 100 books. I tend to read really long books, so I don´t know if I´ll be able to read more that 100, but anyway, I need your recommendations. What books do you really really like? I prefer novels, but I read any type of books. I like Pride and Prejudice, Anne of Green Gables, Mandie, of course, The Book Thief, and stuff like that. Can you think of any books I might like? Thanks again for reading and Happy New Year!
Oh! P.S. In chapter 6, when Mandie and Joe discover the letter in Ms. Blakely´s bag, the letter says something like "the girl could already be on to you. Perhaps even Monsieur Durand…" when I reread it I understood it as, maybe even M. Durand was onto Ms. Blakely, but what I really meant and what it should say is "the girl could already be onto you. Perhaps she is even onto Monsieur Durand." I hope you understand what I wanted to say, now.
