CHAPTER 12: Thursday Morning

Early the next morning, Emily bounded into my room and started bouncing up and down on the bed. "Time to get up, Karen!" she grinned.

"Ugh, let me sleep a little longer," I moaned, pulling the pillow down around my ears.

Emily stopped bouncing up and down. "Are you all right?" she asked. "Should I get Daddy?"

"No, I'm all right," I said hoarsely. "Just give me a chance to wake up. What time is it, anyway?"

"Let's see...8:00, no, 8:01," Emily answered. "Say, isn't it when you're having fun that time flies?"

I couldn't help but laugh at that, even though it was a million times lamer than the Lone Ranger joke Sam had told the last time he and Charlie came home for a weekend: "Where does the Lone Ranger take his trash?" Then he started singing,"To the dump, to the dump, to the dump, dump, dump!" to the tune of the Lone Ranger theme.

"Emily, I swear you're getting to be more like Sam every day," I commented.

"Really? I didn't notice."

I sat up, rubbed the sleep from my eyes, and put my glasses on. "So, ready for breakfast?" Emily asked as she jumped to the floor. That's when I noticed her T-shirt. It came down to her knees, and had red, orange, green, and yellow stripes, which made her look like a giant roll of Life-Savers. The shirt used to be mine until I outgrew it, so Daddy and Elizabeth gave it to her.

Speaking of outgrowing things, the old trike that Andrew, Emily, and I used to ride is now collecting dust in the basement, and waiting for Elizabeth to have grandchildren. As for the shirt, after Emily outgrows it, it'll most likely go to the rag pile.

The two of us went downstairs to find everyone else already at the kitchen table. "Feeling better?" Elizabeth asked.

"A little," I answered. "I just hope I can get through breakfast without it ending up all over the floor."

Everyone smiled. "Have a seat," Kristy said, patting the one beside her.

After somehow managing to get through breakfast, I went upstairs to get dressed. I put on my red Stoneybrook Kids T-shirt—which we'd had made prior to the trip to Washington—a pair of white capris, and sandals, and pulled my hair back with a red scrunchie.

When I got outside, I saw Druscilla—or Dru—Porter coming out of her grandmother's house. As I would've expected, she was dressed all in black, but had a white scarf on her head. The only times I've seen her wear any other color were when we were in Washington, as well as that Halloween party when we were seven. Don't get me wrong—I love Dru, but I just wish that her wardrobe was a little more colorful. She's also the type of person who never wears shoes in the summer, inside or out—unless she's going somewhere. I'm amazed that she hasn't stepped on a bee or a piece of glass yet.

"Hi, Dru," I said.

"Hi, Karen," she said. "I just heard you had your tonsils out. How are you feeling?"

"A little better," I answered as we walked up the sidewalk. "I'm just glad my voice is coming back, and I can actually keep food down."

She nodded. That's when I saw Mrs. Porter, Dru's grandmother, coming from behind the house with a basket of begonias. We waved to each other. Like I said before, I've long since outgrown my beliefs that she was a witch named Morbidda Destiny, but I never want to relive what I went through when she had that garden club meeting when I was six. To this day, I don't know who was more embarrassed: her, Daddy and Elizabeth, Grandma Packett, or me. And I can only imagine the major conniption Mr. and Mrs. Papadakis had when they found out Hannie was involved as well.

Anyway, I had a feeling that today was going to be a pretty good day.