Unk looked again at the two mangled parts of his beloved owl and sighed deeply. Then he handed Augie his paintbrush. He gave me the roller. “When you’ve finished here,” he said, “I imagine Hilda can come up with another room that needs painting.”
Augie and I watched as he left the room, his shoulders sagging.
“Gosh, Aunt Hilda,” said Augie. “I feel really bad about this.”
“Me, too,” I said.
“Oh, don’t you boys worry,” said Aunt Hilda. “I’ll bake him some snickerdoodles and he’ll cheer up in no time.” She smiled naughtily and whispered, “Meanwhile, I’m so grateful to you boys, I just don’t know how to thank you!”
I didn’t know about Augie, but I had an idea of how she could thank me. And, amazingly, it happened, just as I had imagined it would. Smiling, Aunt Hilda reached out, clasped me in her arms, and hugged me tightly to her in a warm, pillowy, floral-scented embrace that I’m sure I will remember for the rest of my life.
So that’s it: the 100 percent true story about Augie and me and our fort and the best summer vacation I ever had.
I called Augie last night to see how everybody’s doing, and he said good. He told me J.R. and Morrie have been real quiet. They haven’t bothered him at all. Or Gerard either. I guess Al’s been keeping them busy working at the junkyard.
Mostly we talked about what we’ll do next summer. We’ve already come up with a plan. Somebody ditched an old boat at the junkyard when Al wasn’t there. Al says it’s a worthless old wormbox, but Augie’s pretty sure we can fix it up.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cynthia DeFelice is the author of many bestselling books, including The Ghost of Fossil Glen, Signal, The Missing Manatee, and Weasel. Her books have been nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe Award and listed as American Library Association Notable Children’s Books and Bank Street Best Children’s Books of the Year, among numerous other honors. She lives in upstate New York. You can sign up for email updates here.
ALSO BY Cynthia DeFelice
The Strange Night Writing of Jessamine Colter
Weasel
Devil’s Bridge
The Light on Hogback Hill
Lostman’s River
The Apprenticeship of Lucas Whitaker
The Ghost of Fossil Glen
Nowhere to Call Home
Death at Devil’s Bridge
The Ghost and Mrs. Hobbs
Under the Same Sky
The Ghost of Cutler Creek
The Missing Manatee
Bringing Ezra Back
The Ghost of Poplar Point
Signal
Wild Life
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Preface
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
Postscript
About the Author
Also by Cynthia DeFelice
Copyright
Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers
175 Fifth Avenue, New York 10010
Text copyright © 2015 Cynthia DeFelice
All rights reserved
First hardcover edition, 2015
eBook edition, May 2015
mackids.com
eBooks may be purchased for business or promotional use. For information on bulk purchases, please contact Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department by writing to [email protected].
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
DeFelice, Cynthia C.
Fort / Cynthia DeFelice. — First edition.
pages cm
Summary: “A middle-grade summer adventure about two boys who build an awesome fort and tangle with two older bullies”—Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-0-374-32427-8 (hardback)
ISBN 978-0-374-32429-2 (e-book)
[1. Best friends—Fiction. 2. Friendship—Fiction. 3. Bullying—Fiction. 4. Summer—Fiction. 5. Great-aunts—Fiction. 6. Great-uncles—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.D3597For 2015
[Fic]—dc23
2014040167
eISBN 9780374324292
Fort Page 12
