I So Don't Do Mysteries
Page 19
My throat lumps up. “I’m glad we could work together. I really, really loved hanging with you.”
“It has been wonderful, hasn’t it?” Sounds like she has a lump in her throat too. “One of the reasons I wanted you onboard for the mystery was so we’d get to spend time together.”
“Does it have to be over?” I feel my eyes bug. What am I saying? At first, I didn’t want to get involved with the mystery. But now that it’s all wrapped up, I’m already starting to miss it.
Grandpa scratches in the sand and squawks up a storm.
“Are you sure?” Mom asks.
“What? What’s he saying? I don’t get how you can always understand him.”
“Uh, you, uh, get used to him over time.” She’s distracted.
Grandpa garbles out a bunch more wrenspeak.
I hear my name.
“I had no idea,” Mom says.
Grandpa flies up and lightly trails his wings across my forehead.
“Fly safe, Grandpa.”
He croaks something. Maybe “You did great.” Or maybe “Those boobs look fake.” Then he flaps off, his round little body bobbing as his wings whirl like eggbeaters.
“What did he say? I heard my name.”
“According to your grandfather, now that the Academy knows what a remarkable mother-daughter duo we are, they might make us a permanent team.” Mom’s words float gently on the Pacific breeze.
A permanent team? Yes, yes, yes. More crime prevention? Yes, yes, yes. Continued weirdness and a hugely bizarre life where I get to spend time with my mom? Yes, yes, yes.
“I have an appointment with my guidance counselor later this week in Phoenix.” Mom’s voice is fading. “Coffee-call me when you’re home, and I’ll let you know what I find out.”
“I love you, Mom.”
“I love you, Sherry.” And she’s gone.
“Sherry!” Josh yells. “I’m coming!”
He’s running helter-skelter toward me, a can of soda in his hand. Poor unsuspecting guy. He has no idea what mystery-solving mania and supernatural strangeness he’s speeding toward.
I close my eyes and relive seeing Josh for the first time at a water polo game, door-whacking him, hearing his golden tones on the phone, riding next to him in a Honda, un-duct-taping him and, finally, the va-va-voom kiss.
I open my eyes; then, with a flick of my hair and some swinging hip action, I take a few big steps in Josh Morton’s direction.
He may not know what life as my boyfriend is all about, but I’m definitely willing to help him find out. . . .
Published by Delacorte Press
an imprint of Random House Children’s Books
a division of Random House, Inc.
New York
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2008 by Barbara Summy
All rights reserved.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Summy, Barrie.
I so don’t do mysteries / Barrie Summy. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Summary: When thirteen-year-old Sherry is visited by the ghost of her mother, asking Sherry to help solve a case involving rhinoceros poaching at the San Diego Wild Animal Park, Sherry’s involvement not only helps save the rhinos, but it also brings mother and daughter closer together than ever before.
[1. Ghosts—Fiction. 2. Mothers and daughters—Fiction. 3. Rhinoceroses—Fiction. 4. San Diego (Calif.)—Fiction. 5. Mystery and detective stories.] I. Title. II. Title: I so do not do mysteries.
PZ7.S9546Ias 2008
[Fic]—dc22
2007037413
Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.
eISBN: 978-0-375-89135-9
v3.0