Read Out of the Blue for Free Online Page B

coming for dinner a week from Sunday, and Mum spent the whole weekend talking about it. Like the queen is coming or something.”
    â€œAren’t you just dying to see what she looks like?”
    â€œNo, not really. Why would I be?”
    â€œTo see if she looks like
you
, space case.”
    â€œI hadn’t thought of it. She’s not going to look like me. She’s old. After all, she’s about to get married.”
    â€œWill you get to go to the wedding?”
    â€œMum said we were invited.”
    â€œOh! Weddings are so great.”
    â€œHave you been to one?”
    â€œYeah, my uncle Dave’s. The summer after fourth grade. We drove to Saskatchewan. It was the best time. We stayed in this big motel and all the adults got really silly. On the day of the wedding we were walking up the street toward the church, and Mum was walking with Uncle Barry, and we passed this lawn sprinkler. And Uncle Barry said, ‘I dare you to run through the sprinkler,’ and Mum just gave him this look and put her purse down on the sidewalk and ran right through it. I couldn’t believe it. She sat all through the wedding with water polka dots all over her. Uncle Barry told me that when they were kids they had to be careful what they dared Mum to do because she would
always
do it.
    â€œAnd after the wedding in the church there was this big party and Uncle Dave polkaed me so fast he lifted me right off the floor. Even after Uncle Dave and Monique left, in their honeymoon clothes, people kept eating and drinking and dancing. Everyone forgot about us. Nobody made us go to bed. Some little kids just fell asleep under the tables. I’d love to go to another wedding.”
    â€œYou can go to this wedding disguised as me. I don’t want to go.”
    â€œYou’re crazy. Weddings have great food.”
    â€œCan we talk about something else?”
    â€œOkay. What’s Natalie going to call your mum — ‘Mum’?”
    â€œNo way! She already has a mother. You can’t just go calling somebody ‘Mum.’ Besides, didn’t I just say could we talk about something else?”
    â€œI thought you meant something else other than weddings. I didn’t know you meant something else other than the whole subject. Anyway, don’t get mad.
You’re
the one who Tutankhamened
me
, remember?”
    Erin was right. Why get mad? It was just that . . . All she knew was that she didn’t want congratulations. “You’re right. I’m sorry. Hey, I almost forgot to tell you. I get to have my ears pierced. Want to come?”
    â€œSure.”
    Megan pulled out her apple. “Are you mad?”
    â€œNo. I just don’t get it.” Erin noticed the forgotten cookie in her hand and took a big bite.
    That was it. That was the problem. Erin didn’t get it. Betsy didn’t get it. Mum didn’t get it. Nobody got it. She hardly got it herself.
    After Erin’s reaction Megan didn’t feel like telling anyone else the news. Not that she needed to. Mum was doing a good job spreading the word. She was always on the phone, talking about Natalie. She said the same things over and over. She might as well have put it on the answering machine.
    â€œYes, a great surprise but such a happy one.”
    â€œStudying for a PhD in astronomy at the university — sure didn’t get those brains from me.”
    â€œNo, it is like we’ve known each other for years, right from the first moment.”
    It was better to be out of the house. Saturday morning Megan woke up to the sound of Mum already on the phone. She could tell by Mum’s voice that this time it was to Natalie, not about her. That was the worst. During these conversations Mum’s face sort of melted and her voice went all soft and mushy. She laughed a lot, as though Natalie was some sort of comedy star. But when she repeated her remarks later, and she always did repeat them later, it