Sink or Swim (15 page)

Madison smiled even though she wasn’t sure what he was up to. “How are you this morning?” she asked cautiously.

“Kitties!” Eliot cried, pointing to the cats. They returned up the stairs and quickly disappeared into his bedroom. “Come on, let’s go now!”

Eliot grabbed Madison’s arm and started to drag her into his room. He’d never done this before. Usually he wanted his mama or he wanted to play alone. Instead of being instantly delighted, however, Madison questioned his motives.

“Do you have something in your room?” she asked. “Are the kitties playing there?”

He shook his head. “No!”

“Okay. Well, are your trucks in the bedroom?” Madison asked.

“No!” he snapped.

Madison half expected something to bonk her on the head or come crashing into her side as she walked in. Eliot was acting stranger than strange.

“My secret,” he whispered. “Seeeeee-kret!”

“Secret?” Madison asked. Now she was really curious.

Eliot slowly pushed open his door. Nothing about the room looked that different than it had the week before. His small red table and chairs were still in the corner. The airplane mobile was still hanging from the ceiling. Books of all sizes were perched on a high shelf.

“What is it, Eliot?” Madison asked. “You’re being awfully—”

“BOO!” Eliot cried. Madison guessed that was his way of announcing a surprise. He threw open the closet door. “My secret place.”

Madison’s eyes flitted in every direction. The closet was crowded with toy animals in all shapes and sizes. There was more than the typical stuffed bears and rabbits. Eliot had rhinoceroses and elephants and ten different kinds of monkey. They were arranged in rows.

“Wow! Is this your own zoo or what?” Madison asked.

“Zoo! Zoo!” Eliot chirped. “My friends. You my friend?”

Madison dropped down onto the carpet and crossed her legs so she could give Eliot her undivided attention.

“I am definitely your friend,” Madison said.

“Did you meet Zebra?” he asked, distracted again. He introduced Madison to Camel, Armadillo, Cobra, and Stegosaurus Dinosaur, too. Madison was sure there were one hundred animals in here, in all shapes and sizes. She wondered why Eliot was sharing them with her now.

Then she realized why exactly.

Eliot liked Madison. And he really
did
want to be friends. Madison grinned. Even better was the fact that he liked
animals
, too. Just like Madison.

The two stayed upstairs for over an hour, taking animals out of the closet and examining their coats and scales and tails. It was quite a collection.

After the morning flew by, Madison and Eliot headed downstairs to have a snack and some lunch. Before they ate, they fed the Reed cats together. Eliot liked petting Peanut Butter while she lapped her milk.

“Do you like her tongue?” Madison asked. She put a drop of milk on Eliot’s hand so the cat would lick the milk off.

“Ooh!” Eliot laughed. “Tickles.”

“I should bring my doggy over so you can meet him,” Madison suggested.

“DOGGY!” Eliot squealed.

After lunch, Eliot didn’t need much entertaining. He was content to sit on the window seat and stare at the rain. As droplets rolled down, he tried to catch them from behind the glass. “Wain!” he cried.

Madison gave him a surprise hug as they sat there. She expected Eliot to wriggle away, but he didn’t. He rested his head on her shoulder. It was nap time and he wasn’t putting up a fight? Normally, Mrs. Reed put Eliot down for daily naps, but today it appeared that Eliot was ready to have Madison take over that task. He snuggled closer.

“Maddie?” Eliot said. “Thwimming! Thwim!”

“Oh, I’m sorry. We can’t go to the pool today,” Madison explained. “It’s wet and hot outside. We have to stay in here.”

“Nonononono!” Eliot said, shaking his head. “Thwim!”

Eliot pushed away from Madison, and she felt a pang of dread. Was he running away again? He climbed down off the window seat and tottered away into the other room.

“Eliot?” Madison cried out. “Come back here, Eliot. We have stuff to do.”

No answer. Madison wondered if maybe he was originating a game of hide-and-seek all on his own. She walked through the house, looking for his little orange socks—the one article of clothing that might give him away. Was he hiding behind the sofa? Back up in his closet? Madison didn’t know.

“Eliot?” she asked aloud.

“Is everything okay in here?” Mrs. Reed said, appearing at the doorway with Becka in her arms. Becka’s face was smeared with formula and applesauce. She quietly looked around.

“I think Eliot’s playing a game of hide-and-seek,” Madison explained.

No sooner had she said that, however, than Eliot reappeared. He was holding something behind his back.

“What are you up to?” she asked, picking him up.

Eliot grinned. “Here!” he said. In his small fist he was holding on to something. Madison peeled apart his fingers.

It was the blue ribbon he’d won at Pool Day.

“Look, it’s Eliot’s prize!” Madison cheered.

“No!” Eliot yelled, shaking his head. He pushed the ribbon into Madison’s face.

“Looks like he wants someone else to have that ribbon,” Mrs. Reed said.

Madison looked at Eliot. “Eliot’s ribbon,” she said clearly.

Eliot giggled. “I want down,” he said.

Madison lowered him to the ground and held the ribbon out and away for herself.

“Maddie ribbon!” Eliot said.

“Did you tell him to give me this?” Madison asked Mrs. Reed, who quickly shrugged “no.” She was smiling, admiring her son.

“Wow, Eliot,” Madison said. She had one of those lumps in her throat. Only this wasn’t a bad-omen lump. This was a
very good
lump.

Here was what Madison had been waiting for since she’d started baby-sitting.

“Thank you, thank you,” Madison said a few times in a row.

Eliot seemed pleased with himself. He grabbed Madison’s arm and swung it from side to side.

Mrs. Reed looked doubly pleased. “Well, someone has a new friend. That’s for sure.” She looked as surprised as Madison.

Right on cue, Becka cooed.

After lunch Madison and Eliot played with the animals, read animal stories, and laughed together. Madison had never had such a great time at the Reed house. She told Eliot all about endangered animals and volunteering at the animal clinic even though she was certain he didn’t understand what either of those things were.

By the late afternoon, Madison asked Mrs. Reed for some blank paper and crayons. She set them out on the table and invited Eliot to color along with her. First they drew a picture of the family—Mr. Reed, Mrs. Reed, Eliot, Becka, Peanut Butter and Jelly. That picture went up on the refrigerator. Then they drew a picture for Becka. Eliot drew funny bunnies with extra-long ears. At least that’s what Madison said they were. They could have been almost anything, since it was really only a bunch of squiggles.

Madison wished they could have made a collage of scraps and photos, but she’d save that for another time. There was plenty of time to make new memories with Eliot.

When Madison left for the day, she was brimming with pride. She wanted to give him a ten-minute hug and thank him for making her wish come true. But Eliot wasn’t in the mood for hugs. He was too distracted and dashed off to find his trucks.

“See you tomorrow, Madison,” Mrs. Reed said. “Thanks again. I think we really turned a corner today. Eliot seems to have really warmed up to you.”

Madison nodded. “I know.” Her face felt flushed. “See you tomorrow.”

She walked slowly down the steps of the Reed house and onto the street. She watched as a fleet of about six kids rode their bikes through the puddles on the street. Everyone who’d been cooped up all day was outside now to enjoy the evening. The rain had stopped an hour earlier, but it hadn’t cooled anything down. The air was very sticky and hot. Thankfully, home was only minutes away.

As she turned down Blueberry Street, Madison ran into Aimee, who was out walking Blossom.

“Maddie!” Aimee yelled, running up the street. “Howdy! Where were you?”

Madison beamed. “Work.”

“Oh no, was Eliot a troublemaker again today?” Aimee asked.

Madison shook her head. “Nope. He was perfect.”

“Perfect?” Aimee laughed. “There is no boy in the world who’s perfect!”

Madison laughed at the joke, and they walked on down the block.

Of course she knew the truth.

Right now, Eliot was about as close to perfect as she could have imagined. And she couldn’t wait to baby-sit him tomorrow.

I don’t know what I would have done these past weeks if I hadn’t had my keypal. Thanks to Bigwheels and the Internet, I got all the baby-sitting and friend advice I needed. Things with Eliot worked out much better. Why should I be stressed out about not knowing something when all this cool information is at my fingertips?
I can look up just about anything online—and learn so many new things in a matter of minutes
. If only I could surf the Internet for swimming tips—maybe I’d learn how to do a better freestyle stroke!

Visit Madison online at the author’s page,
www.lauradower.com
.

Turn the page to continue reading from Laura Dower’s From the Files of Madison Finn series

M
ADISON FINN TWISTED THE
lock on her orange locker and tugged open the door. It was only September, but already books and papers were overflowing onto the floor. Her new American history textbook crashed down with a thud.

“Hey, Finnster!” a voice called out from behind.

Madison turned around to see Hart Jones standing there, smiling. Her heart raced.

Hart had once been the most annoying boy in her life. He had spent half of elementary school chasing her around with worms and other gross stuff. That was when he’d nicknamed her “the Finnster.”

But now that they were both in seventh grade, something had changed. Hart had changed. This year, he was totally crushable. And Madison had fallen—hard—even if he did still call her by the same embarrassing nickname.

“Oops,” Madison mumbled, leaning over to pick up the book. “I didn’t mean to do that.” Her cheeks purpled with embarrassment.

“Hey! Nice one, Maddie,” someone else yelled from behind Hart.

Madison looked up to see her longtime friend Walter “Egg” Diaz leaning against the bank of lockers, mouthing off as usual. Next to him stood Chet Waters, a kid in their class whose family had moved to Far Hills from California the year before. He and Egg had been spending a lot of time together, and Madison had been spending a lot of time with Chet’s twin sister, Fiona. The Waters family lived in a house just around the corner from Madison and her other best friend, Aimee Gillespie.

“Hey, you know what I think?” Egg asked.

Madison groaned. “No one cares what you think, Egg….”

“Nice one!” Chet said.

“Yeah, whatever …” Egg cracked. “Well, I don’t care what
you
think, Maddie.” He turned and dragged Chet down the hall.

First period would be starting soon.

“I have to go, too,” Hart said, waving a small good-bye to Madison. “Bye.”

Madison thought she saw Hart’s eyes twinkle when he said good-bye. She watched his floppy brown hair bob down the hall.

“Yeah,” she sighed. “So long.”

Thankfully, Fiona and Aimee had not magically appeared to catch Madison at the scene of her crush. Neither BFF knew about Madison’s
true
feelings for Hart. Although her first year of junior high had only just begun, Madison was having trouble figuring out her relationships with boys. The only friends who knew about Madison’s undying love were her pug, Phineas T. Finn, and Bigwheels, her keypal—and both were sworn to secrecy.

Brrrrrrrrring.

Madison had to hurry. Technology class was upstairs, and she had to race to get there before the second bell rang. Quickly, she shoved her books into her bag, which was a super-tight squeeze, considering that she had her laptop computer stuffed in there, too. Madison carried her laptop everywhere these days. Organizing her life in top-secret computer files named for friends, enemies, and everything in between was the best way to keep track of her most private thoughts.