11 Birthdays

11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass Page B

Book: 11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass Read Free Book Online
Authors: Wendy Mass
Tags: Humorous stories, Juvenile Fiction
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IS! But I shake my head and cough a few times. “I just don’t feel well, Dad.”
    “Okay,” he says, backing away and sneezing. “I’ll be on the couch downstairs if you need anything. I’ll come get you when Mrs. Grayson gets here.”
    As he closes the door it occurs to me that I might not have to go to such elaborate lengths to get out of going to the doctor. Maybe all I have to do is appeal to Dad’s soft-hearted nature. “Wait, Dad?” I call out.
    He comes back in. “That was fast.”
    Now that he’s here I’m not sure what to say. “Um, can I just ask one small favor?”
    “Sure, honey. It is your birthday after all.”
    That’s it! I can work with that! “Yes, right, it’s my birthday, and well, it’d be really awful if I had to go to the doctor on my birthday. I mean, it’s bad enough that I have to cancel my party and everything…. Is there any way I can goto the doctor tomorrow, instead? I’m sure I have what you have, you know, just a cold.”
    “Hmm, it is Friday, so you’d have the whole weekend to recover.”
    I hold my breath while he considers. This definitely isn’t the right time to tell him weekends don’t seem to exist for me lately. Finally he says, “Okay, I guess it’s a reasonable request. I’ll tell the doctor we’ll call tomorrow if you don’t feel any better.”
    I want to jump up and give him a hug, but I still need to be sick enough to spend the day in bed. “Thanks, Dad!”
    “Okay, okay.” He smiles and heads for the door. “I won’t bother you, just come get me if you need anything. Try to get some sleep. That’s what I plan to do.”
    “I will,” I say, crossing my fingers under the covers.
    I stay in bed until I hear his footfalls on the stairs, then push aside the breakfast he brought me and throw on my clothes. I wrench open the bottom of my tooth-shaped piggy bank and pull out the crumpled bills I’ve stashed in there over the years, compliments of the tooth fairy. Smoothing everything out on the bed, I count exactly forty-two dollars. That’s a lot of teeth! I don’tknow what Leo has planned, but it never hurts to be prepared.
    I’ve just placed the piggy bank back on the shelf when I hear a knock on the window. Leo’s grinning face is framed in the glass. I hurry to open the window, and Leo swings one leg over the windowsill and almost falls onto the floor.
    Picking leaves off his shirt he says, “Either that tree has gotten smaller or I’ve gotten bigger. Didn’t you hear the branch crack? I thought I was a goner.”
    I shake my head, glancing out at the tree. It doesn’t look any different to me.
    “We’ll have to go out a different way,” he says. Then he sees the money spread out on my bed. “How much you got? I stopped at the bank and wiped out my savings account.”
    “You
did
?”
    He nods, the old sparkle back again. “I figured, why not? It’ll just replace itself tomorrow!”
    “Good thinking! So how much do you have?”
    He holds up a wad of cash. “Three hundred dollars!”
    “Wow!” I’ve never seen that much money before. I reach out to touch it.
    “So how much do you have?” he repeats.
    “Um, forty-two.” Suddenly it doesn’t seem as impressive.
    He gathers it up and adds it to his stack. “That’s okay, we have plenty.”
    “Wait a sec! I do have more! Well, it’s not cash, but my parents gave me gift cards for my birthday.”
    “Great!” he says. “Where are they?”
    I turn toward the night table and stop. “Oh, right, they’re gone now. Never mind.” I slip on my sneakers and turn to the door.
    But Leo doesn’t move. “Does your mom still hide your presents under her bed?”
    “I guess so, but if we take them, they’ll find out tonight.”
    He shakes his head. “Not if you don’t open your gifts tonight.”
    He’s right! I’ve only opened the gifts once since this started happening. I’ll just put it off again.
    Five minutes later we’re out the back door, gift cards securely in hand.

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