Read Harriet the Spy, Double Agent for Free Online

Ole Golly had slept when she lived there. She sat down at the writing desk under a framed print of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers and snapped on the sensible desk lamp. The afternoon hours no longer stretched ahead forlorn and empty. I know just what to do with myself, she gloated. I’ll write to Ole Golly.
    By bedtime, the wastebasket overflowed with wadded-up cream-colored paper.
    When Harriet finally finished a version she liked, she looked at the clock on her dresser and realized that, for the first time, she was late for her nine-thirty flashlit goodnight.
    “Where were you?” demanded Annie the following morning. “I semaphored twice .”
    “Important international correspondence,” said Harriet, tapping the envelope on which she had written AIR MAIL, PAR AVION, and VIA AEREA, just in case.
    “Fancy schmantzy,” said Annie. “I suppose that explains your neglecting an ailing friend?”
    “I forgot, okay?” Harriet strode to the corner mailbox and dropped in her letter.
    “Anyway, you’re all better.”
    “I was never that sick in the first place.” Annie shrugged. “My aunt Barbara’s a lunatic. Anything new on the spy route?”
    “Nothing of note.” Harriet was reluctant to admit she’d gone straight home for cake and milk.
    “Let’s stake out the premises after school. I have a feeling the case is about to break open. A turf war with the Dei Santis.” Annie spotted a soda can on the sidewalk and kicked it into the snowbank. Harriet chased her, relieved to find someone her age who still wanted to be a kid.
    “ With love’s light wings did I o’erperch these walls; For stony limits cannot hold love out: And what love can do, that dares love attempt; Therefore thy kinsmen are no stop to me .” Mr. Grenville held the textbook away from his face and intoned like an actor, even though, with his thinning hair combed over and sprayed in a mat, he was nobody’s picture of Romeo. All across the classroom, girls leaned over their desks with their cheeks propped on their palms, looking dreamy-eyed. Janie was actually stroking the photo of Jason Orlando on the key chain that hung from her purse. Harriet stifled a giggle. She glanced back at Annie, who pointed at Janie and rolled her eyes. Harriet smiled.
    When the bell rang at three, they were first down the steps. “We need to come up with a cover,” said Harriet as they walked side by side toward the Christmas tree stand.
    “We can’t just keep hanging around the Koreans’. If we pick up any more fruit without buying it, Mrs. Kim’s going to boil us in oil.” Annie thought for a moment. “We could build a snowman,” she said. “Right there, on the edge of the fence. That would give us a clear line of sight.”
    “Too suspicious.”
    “We’re kids! Kids all over the world build snowmen. Well, maybe not in Borneo.”
    Harriet shook her head. “It would call too much attention to us. Anyway, the snow is disgusting.”
    Annie looked down at the curb. It was true. The last snowfall had been on the ground for so long that the drifts were black-edged and grainy with soot. “I know!” she said, a triumphant smile blazing across her face. “Let’s shop for a Christmas tree!”
    “What?” Harriet stopped in her tracks, staring at Annie as if she’d gone crazy. “Is that what you call undercover?”
    “It’s deep undercover. It’s hiding in plain sight. Don’t you see? We’ve walked past the stand and hung around staring a million times, but we’ve never been inside the fence. If we go in as customers, they won’t be suspicious at all . We can get up close and personal.” Annie’s eyes were shining.
    “But it doesn’t make sense,” argued Harriet. “The worst thing a spy can do is to let someone make her. That means ‘identify,’” she added importantly.
    “Nonsense,” said Annie. “The worst thing a spy can do is to pass up a great opportunity. We might even get to see inside the shed, where Douglas and Balsam keep their stuff.