Ann Martin - Mary Anne And The Secret In The Attic

"Why didn't you ever tell me this before?" asked Kristy. "Why didn't you tell Mary Anne?"

"I guess I'd just forgotten about it," said her mom. "It was such a sad time for that family. I wasn't trying to hide anything from you. Anyway, everything turned out just fine. Richard has been a wonderful father, and Mary Anne has turned out to be a happy, well-adjusted girl."

"Not so happy lately," said Kristy. She told

her mother what I'd discovered, and about my

fears that my father would give me up again.

"Oh, poor Mary Anne," said Kristy's mom.

"I hope she's talked to her father by now, so

she knows she has nothing to worry about."

That night, Kristy called to tell me about her

talk with her mom. And I told her about the

talk I'd had with my dad.

"So I guess I got worried about nothing," I said.

"It sounds like it," said Kristy. "My mother was just a neighbor, but even she knew how much your dad loved you."

"I'm going to talk to your mom some day soon," I said. "I want to hear all about my mother. I want her to tell me everything she can remember. And you know what? I'm going to bring her an applesauce cake. I think my mother's recipe is still around."

Chapter 14.

"Whoa! Watch it!" Logan stepped forward quickly to catch Old Hickory, who was about to fall on his face.

Well, not the real Old Hickory. It was the cardboard figure we'd made, and we were busy setting up our booth. It was Heritage Day, and the grounds of the elementary school were already full of people.

I helped Claudia set up George and Martha Washington, then stood back to take a look. "They look terrific!" I said. "Here, Kristy, take the camera. I want to see how I look with these two." I stood between the cut-out figures, put my fingers over George's head to give him rabbit ears, and made a silly face. Kristy giggled and snapped my picture with the instant camera. I let go of Martha's arm and stood next to Kristy. We watched as the picture developed, and started giggling as soon as we saw it.

"Awesome!" said Kristy. "It really looks like you're hanging out with George and Martha." The rest of the BSC gathered around to look.

'That's great!" said Jessi. "Let’s stick it up on our booth so people can see how good they'll look."

"No!" I said, suddenly shy. "I don't want my picture displayed for everyone to see. Take another one. Dawn, you do it." I stuck the picture in my back pocket. Later I'd put it up on my bulletin board.

Dawn stood next to Old Hickory and put her arms around him. She gazed at him lovingly. "You're a hunk, Old Hick," she said, giggling. Stacey snapped the picture.

"That's great!" she exclaimed as soon as she saw how it had come out. "Look, you guys. Here's Dawn with her new boyfriend." We passed the picture around.

"Stacey, this was a good idea," said Kristy. I knew it took a lot for her to admit that, since Kristy is usually our "idea" person. But she was right. I could tell that our booth was going to be a hit.

We posted Dawn's picture on our booth, next to the sign Claudia had made. The sign said "POSE WITH STONNEYBROOK'S SE-LEBRTTYS." As usual, Claud's spelling was a little off, but the sign was beautiful. The booth next to ours was run by some

third-graders; they were selling maps of "Olde Stoneybrook." On the other side was a booth set up by some teachers. They were selling refreshments: an old-fashioned drink called "switchel," which was made with lemonade and ginger ale, and chocolate-chip cookies, which were delicious, even if they weren't historically accurate.

As soon as we'd set up our booth, customers started to arrive. We had decided to take turns running the booth, and Dawn, Kristy, and I were on the first shift. Dawn was taking the pictures, I was helping people pose, and Kristy was collecting the money. We were pretty busy. Old Hickory turned out to be die most popular cut-out: Everybody seemed to want their picture taken with him.

After a while, Jessi, Mal, and Claud relieved us. Kristy went off to find David Michael, Karen, and Andrew. Dawn and I started to walk around the fair, looking at the booths.

"Extra! Extra! Read all about it!" yelled Jordan Pike. He was walking toward us, holding up a copy of the Olde Stoneybrook News that his class had published. He was dressed like a newsboy from long ago, in knickers, a vest, and a cap. But instead of old-fashioned shoes, he was wearing his green sneakers with neon-orange laces. "Extra!" he shouted again. "Doc Swanson buys town's first horseless carriage!

Neighbors say if 11 never take the place of the horse!"

We stopped him and bought a copy of the paper. "This is great," said Dawn. 'The kids really worked hard on it. Look at this picture they found of the town after that big blizzard!" She showed me the paper.

Next we stopped at a little stage that had been set up near the baseball diamond. Claire Pike's class was singing the songs they'd learned. They sounded a little out of tune, and a little unsure of the words, but I could tell they were having fun. I caught Claire's eye and gave her a wink. She was dressed in a pilgrim outfit like all the others (no feather boa this time), and she looked great.

After the kindergartners finished, the second-graders performed their skit. Margo said her lines perfectly; the only problem was that she giggled every time she looked at the boy who was playing her husband. The audience didn't seem to mind, though. They gave the actors a big hand when the skit was over.

Next was Vanessa's class, reciting her epic poem. Dawn and I stayed for about eight verses, and then we gave each other a look. The poem was great, but it was time to move on.

Next to the stage was a big display of the

family trees that various kids had made. I saw Charlotte standing in front of her project. Both of her parents were with her, and Charlotte was beaming as she showed off her work to the people clustered around. "Hi, Charlotte," I said. ''Wow, you did a great job." She had, too. She'd made a montage of the pictures she'd found, and next to it was a beautifully drawn tree, with names on every branch. She'd also written a description of why and how her great-grandmother had originally come to Stoneybrook. It was because the town needed a hat maker, and that’s what she was!

Dawn and I walked around the rest of the fair. We saw the mural that Myriah Perkins's class had made, and the project on the town's founders that Shea Rodowsky had helped with. We stopped to listen to the tapes that Corrie Addison had made at Stoneybrook Manor. And we ate and ate: cookies and hot dogs and popcorn. Then we went back to our booth.

"How's business?" I asked. By that time the third shift had taken over: Stacey, Logan, and Shannon were watching the booth.

"If s slowed down a little," said Logan. "I think nearly every person here has already had his picture taken!"

"You should have seen how Mr. Pike looked

with Sophie," said Stacey. "They made quite a couple."

"We took in a lot of money," said Shannon, who was busy counting it. "The Historical Society will be happy to have this!" She held up a wad of bills.

At the end of the day, I helped take down the cut-outs. Dawn and I had agreed to store them in our barn, just in case they'd ever come in handy again. My dad came by to drive us — and the figures — home. Dawn and I told him about the fair as he drove.

"It was really fun," said Dawn. "I feel like I know a lot more about Stoneybrook now, and it wasn't boring to learn all that history. I'm going to spend some time in the library next week. Maybe I can finally find out more about Jared Mullray."

"Jared Mullray?" asked my dad.

"You know, the crazy guy whose ghost haunts our house."

My father nodded. "Oh, right," he said. "That Jared Mullray." He pulled into the driveway and helped Dawn and me carry the cutouts into the barn. As we emerged, dusting off our hands, he turned to Dawn. "Would you mind leaving Mary Anne and me alone for a little while?" he asked her. "There's something I need to talk to her about."