Lost and Found

by Laura Dower

  Mom sat down at the table. “Isn’t this fun, the two of us stuck indoors?”

  “Do you think it will ever stop snowing?” Madison asked, taking another big bite of breakfast.

  “Doesn’t look like it,” Mom said, gazing out the kitchen window. “I’m going to get lots of film editing done today, that’s for sure. I remember when we had bad storms like this in Chicago, growing up.”

  The house rattled with the wind.

  “Just like that.” Mom laughed. “Windy, snowy, really miserable. Your grandmother always sent your aunt Angie and me into the yard to make snow angels. Of course Angie usually beaned me with snowballs instead.”

  Mom told a few more weather-related Chicago stories that made Madison laugh.

  When Mom was finished telling stories, Madison called Fiona to see how she was feeling. But she sounded hoarse, so Madison could barely hear her.

  “I have a fever of a hundred and one,” Fiona said. “I’m all clammy.”

  “That means the fever is going away, though, right?” Madison asked.

  “Mom says I can’t even get out of bed. I’m so sick of watching television, and I read my English reading through next week’s assignments already,” Fiona said.

  Madison realized she’d been out of school for a day and a half and she hadn’t done any homework yet. She’d have to deal with that later.

  “Is Aimee still helping her dad at the store?” Fiona whispered.

  “Yeah,” Madison said. “But she’s not working all of today. We were going to hang out. Can we come over to see you?”

  “My mother says I’m still too sick to have visitors.” Fiona sighed. “I feel like I’m quarantined from the rest of the planet.”

  “Well, as soon as she says it’s okay, we are totally coming over.”

  “Is everyone out skating and playing in the snow and all that?” Fiona asked. “My stupid brother won’t tell me anything.”

  “Not really,” Madison answered. “Not yet, anyway. The lake was closed yesterday. It’s been too stormy.”

  Fiona giggled a little bit. “I really miss you guys.”

  “I miss you, too,” Madison said. She wanted to tell Fiona all the specifics about the skating party and then the cancellation of the skating party and the rescheduling of the skating party…but she decided not to tell her anything. She didn’t want Fiona to feel any more “out of it” than she already did. Being sick was the worst feeling in the world, especially when your head felt woozy with cough and cold medicine.

  After they said their good-byes, Madison called Aimee. Aimee wasn’t going to the bookstore after all. They made a date to walk their dogs in the middle of the blizzard. Madison secretly hoped they could make angels in the snow, too. Just like her mom and Aunt Angie had done when they were her age.

  Mom was waiting upstairs in the attic to resume the big clean. She’d torn into a few other boxes and recovered many of the papers she’d been looking for yesterday.

  “Do you think you could help me organize some of this information on the computer?” Mom asked Madison. “Like, could we put information on a graph chart together?”

  Madison wasn’t a hundred percent sure she knew how, but she was eager for a new computer challenge. She knew a lot about using the PowerPoint program from Mrs. Wing; and on that she could design charts, slides, and graphs. Mom would be impressed! Even if Madison got stuck working on it, she could always ask Mrs. Wing for extra help. If Madison beefed up her computer skills over the next few months, by summer she’d be ready once and for all to start up her very own Web page.

  “I can totally help, Mom,” Madison said. “But can I walk Phinnie and go over to Aimee’s for a little while first?”

  “Sure. Have fun,” Mom said. She was sitting cross-legged in a pile of paper that spread all around her like a puddle. Rubber-banded stacks of slides were piled in between her legs. “I really need to hire an assistant to help me archive these materials.”

  “I’ll help later, Mom,” Madison said again. “I promise. Okay?”

  Mom beamed. “You look cute this morning, honey bear. Are you wearing those pajamas over to Aimee’s or what?”

  Madison made a face and then skipped down into her bedroom. She pulled on a new pair of corduroys with patches on the pockets that had been a Christmas present from Dad’s girlfriend, Stephanie. Before leaving her room, she decided to log on to her laptop to see if Egg had sent e-mail with more news on when and where the “new” skating party had been planned.

  To her surprise, Madison found her e-mailbox bursting with mail.

  FROM

  SUBJECT

  Eggaway

  SK8ING!!!!

  Boop-Dee-Doop

  Clearance

  JeffFinn

  Fw: This is SNOW funny

  Webmaster@TweenBl

  Server Down

  Bigwheels

  Re: Ice-Skating Trauma

  Madison read Egg’s note first. He had sent it to a lot of people.

  From: Eggaway

  To: Chet Wetwins; Fiona Wetwinz; Aim BalletGrl; Rose Roseanl6; Ivy

  Flowr99; Hart Sk8ingboy; Susie Peace-peep; Joan JK4ever; Lance Bossbutt; Suresh Suresh00; Maddie

  MadFinn; Dan Dantheman; Drew W_Wonka7

  Subject: SK8ING!!!!!

  Date: Wed 17 Jan 10:33 AM

  ok sooo this is the deal we’re NOT meeting today b/c Drew sez the lake is STILL closed from storm and it’s still snowing n e way. My mom calld school & she thinks they’ll close it Thursday too so let’s mt tomorrow instead @ 3 at the lake. bye!!!!

  Madison looked over the list of “to” names on Egg’s e-mail to see who was invited skating and who wasn’t. Unfortunately, she saw Ivy, Rose, and Joan’s e-mail addresses on the list.

  But she also saw another e-mail address.

  Hart.

  Without thinking, Madison selected Sk8ingboy and added it to her own address book. She figured it was good to have, just in case she ever needed to send him e-mail.

  Just in case.

  Then Madison moved on to the other mail, deleting the Boop-Dee-Doop “special offer” because she knew Mom wouldn’t let her get anything, anyway, and deleting the note from TweenBlurt’s Webmaster. She knew the server had been down. She didn’t need to read about it anymore.

  The next message was from Dad, which was very short and sweet.

  From: JeffFinn

  To: MadFinn

  Subject: Have You Heard This One?

  Date: Wed 17 Jan 12:13 AM

  What do you get when you cross a witch with a glacier?

  A cold spell!

  LOL. Thought that was sort of cute.

  Miss you, Maddie.

  Love,

  Dad

  Dad had told that one at least three or four times already. It was one of his winter “regulars.” Luckily the message from Bigwheels wasn’t something she’d already heard. Bigwheels had actually typed the e-mail the day before.

  From: Bigwheels

  To: MadFinn

  Subject: Re: Ice-Skating Trauma

  Date: Tues 16 Jan 8:09 PM

  School is same as always. My parents were doing really well except Dad moved out again for a temporary separation. Don’t ask. I told my mom I didn’t care, but of course I do.

  How do you deal with your parents?

  I LOVE SKATING, by the way. I agree that it can be a little scary. That sounded so weird that you almost got cut on a skating blade. But it’s really not so scary on regular rinks. I used to skate on a lake. That was way scarier. I remember those times when I was very little. I didn’t actually skate, but my dad did, and he carried me. There was one time the lake ice cracked. Dad almost fell in.

  I can’t wait for the Olympics to start because I want to watch the ice skaters do triple-Lutz jumps. I think the ice dancing is my favorite part. They all look so romantic dancing on the ice like that, don’t you think?

  I don’t skate now, but I think you sho
uld. It really doesn’t matter if you fall. Don’t worry about your crush, either. He will NOT fall, either, and definitely not for that Ivy girl. She sounds mean. Trust me.

  Write back again soon.

  Yours till the snow caps,

  Bigwheels

  Madison looked over at the clock and gasped.

  It was way later than she thought.

  Aimee was waiting.

  She closed her computer down quickly (saving the Bigwheels message for further reply), grabbed her coat, and headed out the door.

  The weather outside was nippy. More fat snowflakes were falling, and she stuck out her tongue to lick one out of the air. It tasted like ice cream, but that was no surprise to Madison, who had always believed that snowflakes were naturally sweetened. She ran to Aimee’s in less than five minutes.

  “Where have you been?” Aimee said when she opened her door. She was in her slippers and jeans.

  “You’re not even dressed?” Madison asked.

  Aimee twirled around and got into some ballerina poses. “No, I’m not dressed. But I look pretty good, don’t I?”

  “Quit posing and get dressed!” Madison said, exasperated. “Please?”

  Aimee burst into laughter and ran inside. Madison followed her.

  It took Aimee only half an hour to get on all her gear, and in no time, she and Madison were stomping around in the Gillespie backyard. A little while later, Aimee’s brothers Billy and Dean came out to join them for a game of snow Frisbee.

  Ker-splat!

  As Madison reached to catch the Frisbee, she lost her footing. She fell hat over boots into a snowdrift.

  “Nice one, Maddie.” Billy snickered.

  Aimee rushed over to help her up out of the snow, but Madison was laughing so hard, she couldn’t even stand.

  “I—can’t—get—aaaaaaah—help!” Madison cried as she bent forward and fell back again.

  Aimee started to giggle, too.

  “Hey, did you see that?” Dean said, looking up at the sky. He pointed to a cloud. “I swear I just saw a lightning bolt.”

  “No way,” Aimee said, punching him in the side. Her face was flushed pink from running around in the cold air.

  Madison finally stood up, patted the snow off her pants and back, and walked over to her friend. “What are you guys looking at?” she asked.

  The sky looked ominous, grayer than before. Another bolt of lightning did crack against the winter sky. Evening was on its way.

  “I’ve never seen anything like that before,” Billy said.

  The four stared and stared, as if staring would make another lightning bolt appear. And then, in the middle of all the dark sky, it began to snow once again.

  Madison felt wet drops on her eyelashes. She gazed at other snowflakes as they landed on the front of her hand, examining the crystal shapes up close.

  “What time is it, Dean?” Madison asked Aimee’s brother.

  He looked at his digital watch. “Five-oh-six,” he said.

  Aimee frowned. “You have to go? Already?”

  “I have to walk Phinnie!” Madison shook the snow off her green gloves and ran toward home.

  Mom was standing on the porch when she got there, shoveling some of the snow that had collected near the front door.

  “Well, look at you, the Snow Queen!” Mom said, smiling at Madison’s approach.

  “Very funny, Mom,” Madison replied.

  “I ordered pizza for dinner tonight,” Mom added. “And Phin has already been for a walk.”

  “Sounds good,” Madison said, heading for the house.

  “And I want you to help me move some of those boxes in the attic,” Mom said. “I discovered a whole bunch of stuff up there from grade school.”

  “From my grade school?” Madison asked.

  “Yes,” Mom answered. “Journals, books, even an old photo album. They’re in a box that’s half open. You were so cute back then…”

  “What do you mean, ‘back then’?” Madison laughed.

  Mom grinned. “You know what I mean, honey bear.”

  Madison grinned back and stepped inside the front hallway. She tugged off the rainbow hat, which made her hair stick out in a bouquet of static electricity.

  Old photo album?

  She couldn’t wait to see what Mom was talking about.

  Chapter 6

  MADISON’S CLOTHES WERE SOPPING wet from the game of snow Frisbee. She hadn’t realized it until she went to remove them and had to peel her pants off.

  The answering machine in the front hall was blinking twice, which meant two calls. She hit the PLAY key. A tinny-sounding voice echoed in the hall.

  Message one.

  “Maddie? Maddie, are you there? It’s Daddy, still in Denver, sweetheart. We’re holed up here in the hotel at the airport, waiting for the next available flight. Only problem is that the airport is closed and looks like it might stay closed for another day or so. I miss you, Maddie. Stephanie says hello. Tell your mother I said hi. I’ll call again later when I think you might be—”

  Beeeeeeeeep. Message two.

  “This is Ronnie Dustin at Budge, calling for Fran Finn. Fran, we have a distributor for that Brazil documentary. Give me a call, please, at your earliest convenience. I’m in the LA office.”

  Madison clicked STOP and then saved the last message. But she deleted the first one, figuring that Mom probably wouldn’t need to hear Dad’s voice. Her parents were getting along better these days, but Mom still bristled a little bit at the mention of Dad. She tried to be fair, but no matter what Dad ever did to redeem himself, Mom would find something wrong.

  None of that mattered to Madison. She loved everything about her dad, even the parts that weren’t so perfect, even the horrible jokes. Plus Dad always noticed and complimented Madison on her outfits.

  After playing the messages, Madison hopped upstairs to put on sweatpants, her woolly monkey slippers, and an old plaid shirt she’d inherited from Dad. It was so warm.

  She turned on her laptop computer and let it warm up, too, before opening another new file.

  Snow Day

  Today was the BEST snow day I have ever had in my entire life, and I am not exaggerating one bit.

  Secret admission #1: I maybe have a baby crush on Aimee’s brothers again (but only a teeny, tiny one, I swear). They looked soooo cute today outside her house. We played Frisbee for an hour or more, and Aimee was acting kind of dorky, but she always acts weird around her brothers. I don’t know why.

  Secret admission #2: I think I will go skating at the lake Thursday. I’m getting up my courage. I’m feeling so HAPPY.

  I’ve never seen so much snow in my whole life, like I could get lost in all this snow. Aimee and I made the BEST snow angels, and it was all powdery for perfect wings.

  Rude Awakening: Getting left out in the cold can be a good thing. Blizzards are awesome!

  While Madison was online, Phinnie came into her room and curled up near her feet. She could feel his warm little pug body. In the next moment, however, he jumped up and scampered up the attic stairs.

  “Phinnie?” Madison turned and called after him. “Phinnie, are you there?”

  “Rowrroooooo!” Phin called back. Madison could hear the click-clack-click of his black nails running back and forth in the attic.

  She got up quickly to head upstairs, too. Phin would make a huge mess if he started chewing on any of the materials Madison and her mother had left out of boxes.

  Madison remembered what Mom had said about the extra items left in one of the open boxes. She took the attic steps by twos and hurried to see what was inside the books and albums.

  Once upstairs, Phinnie seemed to calm down. Madison guessed that he’d heard steam in the pipes or a creaking floorboard and gotten jumpy.

  The box Mom had mentioned was sitting right by the attic entrance. Madison looked through some of the art projects and pictures. But there was another box that caught Madison’s eye.

  Madison
walked over to the box in the corner of the attic. The box had large red letters that read FRANCINE HOOPER. On top was a rubber-banded pile of old, torn report cards with her Mom’s name on them.

  The rubber band snapped off in Madison’s hand as soon as she reached for it. The cards were chilly from being in storage for so long. Each report card was filled in with so many comments.

  Very good writer. Needs improvement on math skills. Suggest extra-credit program for Frannie this summer.

  Madison chuckled to herself. Mom had been unsuccessful in math class, too. Just like Madison. Fortunately, summer school hadn’t been necessary in Madison’s case.

  Excellent English papers this term! However, we cannot overlook the fact that Fran needs to get to school on time. Her tardiness has become a problem.

  Mom was always late? It seemed funny that Mom would be so angry with Dad for being late when she herself had a problem with lateness on many of the report cards Madison was reading.

  Inside the report card box, she discovered newspaper clippings from Mom’s school paper, showing Mom taking a jump shot at a basketball game and cramming for finals in a school library.

  Next to the report card box, Madison noticed another box marked KEEP OUT! THIS MEANS YOU, MOM AND DAD. Madison recognized the handwriting. She had written it a long time ago. Mom hadn’t cracked the seal yet, but Madison did. She found something inside she hadn’t seen in years.

  Nesting at the top of the box was an old, wooden cigar case covered with decoupage. A long time ago Madison had saved letters, comics, and other special notes in it. Most of the letters and papers had rough edges, torn sides, and broken seals. She’d called this her “secret box.”

  Opening the box slowly, Madison gasped. She’d forgotten all this existed! She read and then reread every letter. Her favorite was a note from Gramma Helen, who had written while traveling with Grampa Joe in Europe. Madison had saved the envelope because the stamp was so pretty.

  She looked deeper inside the mystery carton to see what else lay buried or wrapped in newspapers beneath the cigar box.