Ann Martin - Mary Anne And The Zoo Mystery

Здесь есть возможность читать онлайн «Ann Martin - Mary Anne And The Zoo Mystery» весь текст электронной книги совершенно бесплатно (целиком полную версию без сокращений). В некоторых случаях можно слушать аудио, скачать через торрент в формате fb2 и присутствует краткое содержание. Жанр: Старинная литература, на английском языке. Описание произведения, (предисловие) а так же отзывы посетителей доступны на портале библиотеки ЛибКат.

Mary Anne And The Zoo Mystery: краткое содержание, описание и аннотация

Предлагаем к чтению аннотацию, описание, краткое содержание или предисловие (зависит от того, что написал сам автор книги «Mary Anne And The Zoo Mystery»). Если вы не нашли необходимую информацию о книге — напишите в комментариях, мы постараемся отыскать её.

Mary Anne And The Zoo Mystery — читать онлайн бесплатно полную книгу (весь текст) целиком

Ниже представлен текст книги, разбитый по страницам. Система сохранения места последней прочитанной страницы, позволяет с удобством читать онлайн бесплатно книгу «Mary Anne And The Zoo Mystery», без необходимости каждый раз заново искать на чём Вы остановились. Поставьте закладку, и сможете в любой момент перейти на страницу, на которой закончили чтение.

Тёмная тема
Сбросить

Интервал:

Закладка:

Сделать

"You know, Kristy and her stepfather, Watson, have made arrangements to let us do a walkathon," Jessi said, as she passed out apple and orange slices on paper towels. "The course will be four miles long, and it will wind in and out of the neighborhoods, with the final stretch going right down Main Street to the courthouse steps."

"What can we do to help?" Becca asked, taking a bite of her apple slice.

"We need to design pledge sheets for you kids to take around."

"We can do that," Charlotte said. "You just need the name of the walkathon at the top

and little lines for people's names and addresses. You also need a line for how much they're willing to pay per mile."

Jessi took a spoonful of her yogurt. "Kristy suggested we ask for a dollar a mile. If every kid walks the full four miles, that could really add up."

"Does the walkathon have a name?" Charlotte asked.

Jessi smiled. "Kristy named it the Elephant Walk."

"The Elephant Walk!" Haley giggled. "I love it. We could dress up in elephant costumes and lead the parade."

"That would be awfully cute," Jessi said, smiling at the thought of the girls in elephant costumes.

Charlotte, who is not a big fan of dressing up and being silly in front of people, said, "Why don't you and Becca be the elephants, and I'll design the pledge sheets?"

"If you draw up the pledge sheets," Jessi said, "I'll bet Watson Brewer could have them copied for us. After Kristy talked to him, he said he would do anything he could to help out."

"While Charlotte does the pledge sheets, we can work on our costumes. Don't you have some gray tights we could wear?" Becca asked Jessi.

"I'm sure I do," Jessi replied. (Actually, she must have at least two dozen pairs of tights and as many leotards.) "Some of my pink pairs are so faded they look almost gray. And Mama could probably help you sew on the ears and trunk. I think she has some gray felt left over from the cat costume she made me a few years ago for Halloween."

The kids hurried to finish their snacks, anxious to start on their new projects. Jessi stayed in the kitchen and washed Squirt’s face and hands, as well as the area where he'd been sitting. "I don't know how you do it," she said, dabbing at his face with a warm washcloth. "But you have managed to get yogurt on every part of the table, your chair, and the floor all the way to the wall."

Squirt smiled and another string of drool dripped onto his T-shirt.

"Very attractive," Jessi said, swiping at it with a wet washcloth.

Ding-dong!

Jessi set Squirt down and hurried to the front hall to answer the doorbell. Becca was already there, with her back pressed against the door, smiling sheepishly. "Remember when I said I didn't invite any other kids?"

"Yes." Jessi raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I forgot."

Jessi peered through the peephole in the

door. Vanessa and Margo Pike, Sara Hill, and Corrie Addison were standing in a tight duster on the front porch. Jessi looked down at her sister. "So you forgot, huh? There are four more kids out there. What did you do? Make an announcement over the PA system?"

Becca shook her head. "No, I just mentioned it at recess."

Jessi gasped. "I can't take care of that many kids."

Ding-dong!

The girls on the front porch were growing impatient.

"Aren't you going to open the door?" Becca asked.

"I'm thinking," Jessi replied, "of what to say."

"How about, come on in?" Becca suggested.

"Not to them," Jessi shot back. 'To Aunt Cecelia, when she sees that I've been babysitting for eight kids. She'll have a heart attack."

Jessi really didn't want to tell the girls to go home. Especially since they'd come to help Free Babar. But she was feeling overwhelmed by the number of kids she was suddenly supposed to be responsible for.

Luckily for Jessi, her aunt’s car pulled into the driveway then, and the crisis was resolved.

Except for one thing. While Jessi and Becca

were talking in the front hall, Squirt found the half-empty yogurt carton. He emptied it onto the floor and was busy practicing his skating when Jessi's aunt walked through the door. What a day!

Chapter 10.

The adult emu generally weighs about one hundred and twenty pounds," Alan was saying. "He stands on three toes. His wings are short and nearly hidden under his tail feathers. The main shaft and second shaft are the same length so it looks like he has two layers of feathers. The emu eats hundreds of caterpillars and grasshoppers which he keeps in his mouth until it forms a big ball about the size of a baseball, then he swallows it. The emu doesn't sweat, he pants to stay cool. He also does quite a bit of yawning. When he sleeps, he lies with his head stretched out along the ground. He doesn't take water baths, but he does like to give himself a dirt bath. The dirt sops up the excess oil and gets rid of parasites and ticks."

Logan and I listened as Alan read from his observation book on Saturday afternoon. He was very proud of what he had recorded.

"You learned all that from watching the emu pen?" Logan asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

"I didn't just watch," Alan corrected him. "I observed. Big difference."

"Well, I made some interesting observations about gorillas," Logan said, turning his back on Alan and focusing on me.

"Yeah, he observed that they look a whole lot like some of his relatives," Alan joked.

"They may look like my family," Logan retorted. "But they act like yours. Especially when they're picking fleas out of each other's hair."

Logan pretended a flea had jumped from Alan to him. He swatted at it and returned the imaginary dead flea to Alan's head.

"That’s so funny I forgot to laugh," Alan said, staring angrily at Logan.

"Okay." I waved my hands in front of their faces. "Fun time is over. Time for us to regroup and go our different ways."

Alan and Logan continued to glare at each other. I had to grab Alan's arm to pull him away from Logan. "Come on, Alan. I want to hear more about your observations. I'm amazed at how detailed they are. When I was watching Edith, all she did was sleep, take a drink of water, and sleep some more."

Alan was distracted. He murmured, "If

you're going to win this game, you have to do a little more than just sit and stare."

"It’s not a game," I reminded him.

"You're right." Alan glanced over his shoulder at the spot where Logan had been standing. "It’s war."

"Oh, brother!" I groaned. Every time I saw Logan or Alan I could feel my shoulders tightening and a knot forming in my stomach. This had to change. Sooner or later I was going to develop an ulcer.

My group had agreed to meet at the emu enclosure. Howie was there waiting for us when Alan and I arrived. He wasn't even facing the pen. His attention was glued to a group of girls from our school who were watching the gorillas playing outside in the area next to the emu enclosure.

"Yo, Howie," Alan called, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Watcha staring at? Gimits?"

Sometimes boys can act so geeky.

The group of girls Howie had been staring at moved on, and I spotted Jessi and Matt Braddock standing in front of the cage.

At the BSC meeting on Friday, all we had talked about was the zoo mystery. What would happen next? Would we be able to unearth new dues? That was when Jessi had the brilliant idea of bringing Matt Braddock to

the zoo to talk to Mojo in American Sign Language. She thought Matt could ask Mojo if she knew who freed the animals, and we all thought it was a terrific plan. So Jessi talked to the Braddocks and arranged a visit for Matt.

I left Alan and Howie at the emu pen and went over to talk to Jessi and Matt. I only know a little bit of sign language. For instance, "Hi, how are you?" and, "I'm hungry" and "time for bed." (Matt did teach us how to sign "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" but that doesn't come in handy very often.)

Читать дальше
Тёмная тема
Сбросить

Интервал:

Закладка:

Сделать

Похожие книги на «Mary Anne And The Zoo Mystery»

Представляем Вашему вниманию похожие книги на «Mary Anne And The Zoo Mystery» списком для выбора. Мы отобрали схожую по названию и смыслу литературу в надежде предоставить читателям больше вариантов отыскать новые, интересные, ещё непрочитанные произведения.


Отзывы о книге «Mary Anne And The Zoo Mystery»

Обсуждение, отзывы о книге «Mary Anne And The Zoo Mystery» и просто собственные мнения читателей. Оставьте ваши комментарии, напишите, что Вы думаете о произведении, его смысле или главных героях. Укажите что конкретно понравилось, а что нет, и почему Вы так считаете.

x