by Mark Levin
And so before Maddy checked her emails, she logged on to Facebook and typed in a search: Rebecca Hitchcock. She had never bothered to check her mother’s profile before and was struck by the picture she had chosen, a casual shot from the previous year’s vacation with her hair hanging loosely around her face. Best of all, she was smiling. Maddy smiled back, then moved her cursor to an icon she never would have imagined clicking a week earlier: Add as Friend.
Then came the scream—a piercing cry that shook the house. Maddy froze, heart pounding. Were the fake Vadims still here? Terrified, Maddy rose to her feet—then she heard the scream again. This time she could identify its source. Benji. She ran down the hall and met her parents outside his room. Together, Roger, Rebecca, and Maddy barged in, fearing the worst. Instead, Benji was on his hands and knees, unharmed but in tears.
“What?” Maddy said. “What is it?”
“Look!” Benji said.
“At what?” Rebecca said. “The room is fine!”
“Look!” Benji shrieked.
Roger, Rebecca, and Maddy saw it at the same time. On his desk lay an enormous pile of Legos.
“My Lego Death Star!” Benji wailed. “It took me two full months to construct it!”
Roger, Rebecca, and Maddy exchanged a relieved sigh.
“Freak,” Maddy said.
“You’ll rebuild it, sport,” Roger said. “Maybe make a Lego Universe out of it.”
“Come on,” Rebecca said. She rubbed Benji’s back. “It was a long flight. Let’s get something to eat.”
A short while later the family was gathered around the kitchen table, feasting on thawed-in-the-oven frozen bagels with cream cheese—this time Roger had remembered to turn off the oven before they burned to a crisp.
“It was a great trip,” Benji said. “But we didn’t get to do half the things on my list.”
Roger nodded. “You know what they say, Benj. If you wanna make God laugh, tell him your plans.”
“I’m wondering,” Maddy said. “Was that the best trip we’ve ever had?”
“Definitely,” Rebecca said.
“Hold on,” Roger said. “What about Bermuda? It wasn’t as exciting, but the beach was beautiful.”
“Yeah, the beach was nice,” Maddy said. “But don’t forget, I got the chicken pox.”
“I got stung by an eel,” Benji said.
Rebecca patted Roger’s hand. “And you, my dear, lay in bed all week with a sunburn.”
“Oh,” Roger said. “I forgot about that.”
“Anyway,” Rebecca said with a yawn. “We can talk more tomorrow. I’m wiped. ’Night, everyone.”
“’Night, hon. I’ll be right up.”
“Don’t be long.”
“’Night, Mom,” Maddy said.
“’Night,” Benji said. “Sleep well.”
Rebecca walked to her room and, overcome by exhaustion, flopped down on the bed. A moment later something told her to get up. Like Maddy, she hadn’t checked her email in a week. Though tempted to wait until morning, she eventually stumbled over to her computer, logged on, and checked her messages. The most recent one caught her eye immediately. Rebecca swallowed hard, then wiped away a tear. Then she clicked Confirm.
She’d happily be Maddy’s friend on Facebook. She’d also try to be a better friend and a more understanding mother in day-to-day life.
Later that night Rebecca lay in Roger’s arms, both moments from sleep.
“Let’s never do another house swap,” Roger murmured.
“You twisted my arm.”
A moment passed. The room was perfectly still.
“I hope the police are easy on the Vadims,” Rebecca said. “They weren’t bad people; they just made some bad decisions.”
“I think they’re cooperating with the authorities,” Roger said. “They’ll probably get off with a hand slap.”
“I hope,” Rebecca said. “Their kids were cute.”
Another moment passed. Roger began to doze, his head buried in his wife’s hair.
“You know where I want to go next, Mr. Hitchcock? Rio.”
“De Janeiro? What’s there?”
“The Olympics, for one. Two thousand sixteen.”
“Wow, you should start training now.”
“No,” Rebecca said. “It’ll be a giant family adventure.”
“I’m in,” Roger said. “How many frequent-flier miles do we have left?”
Rebecca didn’t answer. She had finally dozed off. Roger gave her a soft kiss on the forehead, then closed his own eyes.
Rio, he thought. Had possibilities.
About the Authors
MARK LEVIN & JENNIFER FLACKETT are a husband-and-wife writing, producing, and movie-directing team. Together they’ve worked on such TV shows as The Wonder Years and Beverly Hills 90210 and on such movies as Little Manhattan, Nim’s Island, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and Madeline. This is their first children’s book. They live in Los Angeles with their two children.
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Credits
Jacket art and lettering © 2011 by Iacopo Bruno
Jacket design by Amy Ryan
Copyright
The Family Hitchcock
Copyright © 2011 by Mark Levin and Jennifer Flackett
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
ISBN 978-0-06-189394-0 (trade bdg.)
EPub Edition © AUGUST 2011 ISBN: 9780062093288
11 12 13 14 15 LP/RRDB 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
FIRST EDITION
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