Read Out of the Blue for Free Online

outhouse and then got a mug of water from the bottle next to the sink. She took her toothbrush to the open window near the stove. Spitting out the window was one of the best of the island traditions. She glanced over to the fire where Betsy was sitting, poking the coals with a stick. Mum and Dad were sitting at opposite ends of the couch.
    About a month ago I received a letter.
Mum and Dad on the other couch, Mum holding that piece of paper. And what had Dad said? “Anything is a risk.” A risk. The risk of high seas and the mainmast snapping in a storm. Megan spit toothpaste water out the window. Her disappointment came flooding back. How could she have been so
wrong
?
Megan Hungerford — girl detective. More like girl stupido-head. Tall ships. Move that idea right into the little garbage can. Instead pick option B—a total stranger moving into your life. She flung the rest of the water out into the trees. “We’re in the whole story together.” Well, not quite. What about the chapter called “Birthday Wrecked, Trip Stolen”? All by this Natalie person.
    â€œWhen is Natalie coming to our house?” said Betsy.
    â€œI’ve invited her for dinner a week from Sunday,” said Mum.
    â€œCan Auntie Marie and Uncle Howie and John come, too?”
    â€œI think we’ll be enough to cope with the first time,” said Mum with a grin. “Although Marie is so curious that I wouldn’t be surprised to see her hidden in the hedge with a periscope.”
    Megan turned around from the window. “You told Marie before you told us?”
    â€œYes, when I was trying to decide what to do I needed to talk to someone who knew me when I was seventeen and knew the background to the story. There isn’t really anyone except Marie and Josh. And Josh . . . well, it isn’t something to talk about long distance.”
    â€œWho else knows?”
    â€œJust Marie and Howie. I asked them not to tell John until I had talked to you.”
    â€œSo now are you going to tell everyone?”
    â€œWell, I’m not going to hire a skywriter,” said Mum, “but I don’t see any reason to keep it a secret. I’m sick of secrets.”
    Yeah, right. Sick of secrets now. Keeps something a secret from her own children and then decides to broadcast it. Betsy would probably announce it in school. It was all going to be totally embarrassing. Well, one thing was for sure. Nobody was going to hear it from her.
    Later, in bed, Betsy just wouldn’t shut up. Her voice from the bottom bunk was as insistent as a mosquito’s whine.
    â€œShe probably wears makeup. I mean she’s a grown-up. Mum doesn’t wear makeup, but I think our sister will. Maybe she’ll let us try it on. Do you think so? Hey! Hey, Megan, do you think so? Are you asleep?”
    Megan’s top-bunk mattress began to bounce up and down. “Betsy, get your feet off the bottom of my bunk.”
    â€œOkay. What do you think? Long hair or short hair? I hope it’s long. I hope she’s pretty.”
    â€œOh, good grief. She’s not a Barbie doll, you know.”
    Betsy giggled. “You’re funny. A Barbie doll! I know that. I know she’s a human being. Maybe she’ll come and live with us. Oh no, I forgot, she’s going to get married. So she’ll go and live in her own house. But I’ll bet she has us for overnights sometimes. . . .”
    Megan lay curled up and quiet and, at long last, Betsy dropped off to sleep in the middle of a word.
    Finally, space to think. Some room to take out her tangled thoughts and have a look at them. Megan stretched out long and stiff in the bed and reached her arms up to press against the roof. A lie. Mum and Dad had been lying to her for years. Maybe not in words but in silence. “Just tell the truth,” they always said, “even if you’ve done something wrong. In the long run it gets you into less trouble than