Read Anastasia at This Address for Free Online Page B

she added, glancing at the fishbowl. "Frank has had a traumatic day and he needs peace and quiet."
    "What happened?" Daphne asked. "How can a fish have a traumatic day?"
    Anastasia shook her head. "Don't ask. It was awful. Does he look flat to you?"
    They all gazed at the goldfish for a moment. "Yeah, he looks flat," Sonya said at last. "But he always
was
flat. I don't think he's changed any."
    "Good," Anastasia said. "Maybe he's okay, then. What's the big problem, Meredith?"
    "Well, first there's just a small problem," Meredith said. "A decision. Which of these do you like best?" She reached into the pocket of her jeans, pulled out three squashed-looking pink things, and tossed them onto Anastasia's desk. Sonya, Daphne, and Anastasia all stared at them.
    "Yuck," Daphne said after a moment. "What
are
they?"
    Meredith had been taking off her sweater. She glanced over and giggled. "Oh," she said. "They got squooshed."
    Anastasia cringed and looked quickly at her goldfish to see if he had heard the word, but Frank seemed to be daydreaming.
    Meredith picked up the three pink things and fluffed them out a bit. "
Now
look," she said. "They're fake flowers. We're going to have real ones at the wedding, but these are just so you can vote for which kind you like the best, to carry for your bouquet. What would look best with our dresses? This one's a rose. " She held up a wrinkled pink silk rose on a green wire stem.
    "And this is a snapdragon." She held up a longer, deeper pink silk flower.
    "And this one is a tulip. What do you think? They'll all look better when they're real, my mom says."
    "Why
pink?
" Sonya wailed. "Do they have to be pink? I told Kirsten I can't wear pink with my red hair!"
    "You won't be
wearing
them," Meredith pointed out. "You hold them down at your waist. They won't be anywhere near your hair."
    "Well," Sonya said grudgingly, "I like the roses."
    "Tulips are more dramatic," Daphne said. "I want to look dramatic."
    "I vote for snapdragons," Anastasia said. "Snapdragons are neat. You can snap them open and closed; my mom showed me when I was just a little kid."
    Meredith sighed. "I knew this wouldn't be easy," she said. She held the three silk flowers in her hand and looked down at them with a frown. "Hey, look!" she said suddenly. "They look good all together."
    The other girls nodded. "Can't we have all of them?" Sonya asked. "They call that a mixed bouquet."
    "Great idea," Meredith said. "Is that a unanimous vote for a mixed bouquet?"
    Everyone nodded, and Meredith dropped the flowers back on Anastasia's desk. "Now for the
tough
decision," she announced.
    "Do you have anything to eat? Nonfattening?" Sonya asked. "I always need food when I discuss problems. Just last night my mother called a family meeting to discuss Lack of Help around This House, and it took two tunafish sandwiches for me to get through it.
    "Sorry, Frank," she added apologetically, looking at the fishbowl. "Next time I'll have egg salad."
    Anastasia handed her the open box of Ritz crackers that was next to the sloop on the windowsill beside her desk.
    "Ready?" Meredith asked.
    Sonya scooped a handful of crackers out of the box and offered them to the other girls. Everyone shook their heads no. "Okay. Ready," Sonya said, and nibbled at a cracker.
    "Well, here's the deal. We have a moral decision to make," Meredith announced.
    Anastasia, Sonya, and Daphne all stared at her.
    "I'm against capital punishment," Daphne said firmly. "Even though I disagree with my parents on just about everything else, I agree with them on
that.
"
    Sonya frowned. "About abortion?" she said. "I think I agree with a woman's right to make her own decision, but sometimes I—"
    Meredith interrupted. "No, no, nothing like that," she said loudly.
    "Shhhh," Anastasia said, and gestured meaningfully toward the goldfish bowl. "Quieter."
    "Oh. Sorry, Frank." Meredith lowered her voice. "It's nothing like that. Not a political issue. It has to do with the wedding."
    "I won't