Read The Second Life of Abigail Walker for Free Online Page A

that a five-year-old could climb. She leaned her chair against a post—she could pick it up later—and dropped the cooler on the other side. No one would think anything of an abandoned beach chair, but she thought the cooler might look suspicious.
    Abby climbed over the fence easily and hopped to the ground. Picking up the cooler, she wound her way through a stand of trees to the edge of the next yard, hoping no one would be outside. When she got to the driveway, she saw a man over by some rosebushes with a sprayer, but his back was turned to her. She quickly made her way to the street.
    The street was called Blue Valley Lane. Even though her bus picked up kids here, she really didn’t know any of them. She didn’t know how long the street was. Did it run parallel to Ridge Valley Road, or did it start to curve off in some other, completely different direction?
    Maybe Blue Valley Lane emptied out into some interesting place she’d never heard about, a shopping center with an ice cream parlor, or a pond next to a tree where she could look for newbirds. She turned right and began to hike along the sidewalk.
    After she’d been walking for a few minutes, she noticed that a dog was following her. At first she made friendly noises at it, hey, boy, good boy , but it didn’t come any closer. It stayed about ten feet behind her. She guessed it was some kind of hound; it had long ears and a brown nose and was speckled black and red, with freckles across its face.
    The dog wasn’t friendly or unfriendly. It was just there, and after a while Abby forgot about it and started looking around. The houses on Blue Valley Lane looked pretty much like the ones on Ridge Valley Road. They all seemed to be half house, half garage, and most of the houses were close to the street, so there was more backyard than front.
    Abby glanced at the dog again, and that’s when she saw Kristen and Georgia riding their bikes down the street in her direction. They were still about two blocks away. Abby didn’t think they’d seen her yet, but her knees got wobbly anyway.
    I’ve got to get out of here, she thought, and looked wildly around, in case there was an obvious bush to jump under or a car to duck behind.
    The dog seemed unconcerned. Without any ado, he trotted across the street and scampered down a driveway. Abby decided to follow him. Maybe this was where he lived. Maybe his owners would come to the door and invite Abby inside for a drink of water. She wasn’t supposed to go into strangers’ houses, but it had to be safer than letting Kristen and Georgia catch up with her.
    But the dog didn’t go to the house. Instead he led Abby to a steep hill at the end of the driveway. Abby crashed down after him into the woods, the cooler smashing into her leg with each stride. The air turned cool as soon as they crossed into the deep shade, and Abby could hear running water. She followed the dog for another fifty yards, and there it was, a creek.
    And on the other side of the creek, a boy.

how do you know Wallace?” the boy called to her from across the creek. He was kneeling by the water and poking a stick at something.
    Wallace? He must have meant the dog. “I don’t know him, actually. He’s just been following me. And now I guess I’m following him.”
    â€œHe’s a pretty nice dog,” the boy said. “I was afraid I’d be allergic to him, but I’m not. I’m allergic to a lot of other things, though.”
    â€œMy brother’s allergic.” Abby set the cooler on the ground next to a large rock. She felt likeshe was in a safe place now and could take a minute to rest. “But we got the kind of dog that allergic people can live with.”
    â€œA bichon frise?”
    â€œNo, a cockapoo. He’s really nice.”
    The boy nodded. “My dad says hypoallergenic dogs cost, like, seven hundred dollars.”
    â€œYeah,” Abby agreed.