Aleca Zamm Is a Wonder

by Ginger Rue

  “Finland,” Aunt Zephyr replied.

  “Why are you wearing towels?” I asked.

  “I ran into an old friend,” she said. “She invited me to take a sauna with her.”

  “What’s a sauna, and where did you take it to?” I asked.

  “A sauna, my dear, is a sweat bath.”

  “Gross!” I said. “I wouldn’t take a bath in somebody’s sweat for a million bucks!”

  “The sweat is one’s own,” Aunt Zephyr explained. “It is produced by sitting in a hot room and relaxing.”

  “Wait. You mean you went all the way to Finland to sit around and get sweaty—on purpose—with a friend of yours?” I asked.

  “Of course. In Finland it’s very rude to refuse an invitation to sauna. What choice did I have? Besides, a nice, deep sweat is so invigorating. Do I look invigorated?”

  “You look kind of sticky,” I stated.

  “If by ‘sticky’ you mean ‘relaxed,’ then you are correct,” said Aunt Zephyr.

  “You might have told me you were going to Finland,” said my mom.

  “I assure you, Harmony, it was a spur-of-the-moment decision. Spontaneity keeps life interesting.”

  “Well, if you’re going to be spontaneous again anytime soon, could you at least leave a note?” My mom sighed. “Aleca has something to tell you.”

  “What is it, little miss?” asked Aunt Zephyr.

  I gulped hard, like I was trying to swallow the news so it wouldn’t come out. “I stopped time again today,” I blurted.

  Aunt Zephyr didn’t look shocked. “Of course. I already knew that,” she asserted. “Just as I was telling the most marvelous story, I noticed that Vilhelmiina failed to laugh at the best part, about the hippopotamus and the man in the trench coat. At first I thought Vilhelmiina had lost her sense of humor entirely. But then I realized that no one could not laugh at the hippopotamus-and-the-man-in-the-trench-coat story. So it stood to reason that either Vilhelmiina was dead or you’d stopped time again. I stepped out of the sauna and realized no one was moving, so I assumed the latter. But more to the point—did we or did we not discuss this just yesterday?” she asked flatly.

  “We did,” I said. “But see, I had this idea—”

  “You had an idea,” Aunt Zephyr interrupted. “So did the people who created cigarettes . . . or shoes for cats. Not all ideas are good ones.”

  I repeated the story about the lunch lady and how I’d wanted to help her. Then I tried to explain my theory that if I did a good thing when I stopped time, maybe it would cancel out any bad things I had done by stopping time before. When I said it out loud, my theory sounded pretty ridiculous.

  “Wait . . . don’t tell me,” Aunt Zephyr said. “It didn’t work out as you’d hoped.”

  “Not exactly,” I said. Then I told her and Mom about the person moving outside the lunchroom window.

  “Oh, Aleca!” Mom cried. “Who?”

  “That’s just it,” I replied. “I don’t know. I went outside to look, but the person was long gone.”

  Aunt Zephyr didn’t say anything for a while. Her eyebrows were squished together so that the skin between them made a deep eleven.

  “Aren’t you going to say anything?” I asked.

  “I don’t exactly know what to say,” declared Aunt Zephyr. “This is most troubling.”

  About the Author

  Ginger Rue is the author of the middle-grade Tig Ripley novels, as well as Brand-New Emily and Jump. She lives in Alabama.

  Find out what happens next in book 2:

  ALECA ZAMM IS AHEAD OF HER TIME

  ALADDIN

  SIMON & SCHUSTER, NEW YORK

  Visit us at simonandschuster.com/kids

  Authors.SimonandSchuster.com/Ginger-Rue

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  Read more about Aleca’s

  adventures in book 2:

  Aleca Zamm Is Ahead of Her Time

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

  1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  First Aladdin hardcover edition June 2017

  Text copyright © 2017 by Ginger Stewart

  Jacket illustration copyright © 2017 by Zoe Persico

  Also available in an Aladdin paperback edition.

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

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  Jacket designed by Karin Paprocki

  Interior designed by Hilary Zarycky

  The text of this book was set in ITC New Baskerville.

  The Library of Congress has cataloged the paperback edition as follows:

  Names: Rue, Ginger, author.

  Title: Aleca Zamm is a wonder / by Ginger Rue.

  Description: First Aladdin paperback edition. | New York : Aladdin, 2017. |

  Series: Aleca Zamm ; 1 | Summary: Aleca Zamm is ordinary compared with her sister and friends until her tenth birthday, when she discovers she can stop time just by saying her name, which could cure her test anxiety.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2016032078 | ISBN 9781481470605 (pbk) | ISBN 9781481470612 (hc) | ISBN 9781481470629 (eBook)

  Subjects: | CYAC: Ability—Fiction. | Magic—Fiction. | Friendship—Fiction. | Test anxiety—Fiction. | Schools—Fiction. | Humorous stories. |

  BISAC: JUVENILE FICTION / Fantasy & Magic. | JUVENILE FICTION / Social Issues / Friendship. | JUVENILE FICTION / Humorous Stories.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.R88512 Ale 2017 | DDC [Fic]--dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016032078