An Uncommon Family Read Free Page B

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    “What if Anna or your aunt and uncle check on us?”
    “Don’t be such a scaredy-cat. Don’t you want to see your mama again?”
    “Sure, I want to, but . . .”
    “Think how much fun that would be. If you are too chicken, I’ll go by myself.” Maja pulled a snit.
    “Okay. I’ll come. Do you think they can see us in the dark?” Karla was getting excited as well.
    “Of course, silly. And there will be light from the moon.” Maja picked up a small flat stone, and skipped it across the water. It bounced off the surface several times.
    “We have to find out when the next full moon is,” Karla said.
    “I have a calendar at home which shows the full and the new moons. I’ll bring it to school tomorrow.” Maja sat down again.
    “But where shall we go? There aren’t any high mountains nearby.”
    “We can climb up to the Egg. That’s a high hill. I bet we can see from there.” Maja pedaled her legs in the water and splashed a few drops on Karla.
    Karla dunked her hand and sprayed Maja. The two girls giggled, then got up and raced each other across the meadow.
     
    During recess at school the following day, Karla and Maja studied the colorful calendar Maja had brought.
    “We’re lucky. There’s going to be a full moon next Monday.” Maja pointed at the round yellow dot next to the date. “That’s just when vacation starts. That means we can be out late at night and we don’t have to get up early to go to school the next day. The weather forecast is good, too. Clear sky. Great.” Maja playfully punched Karla’s arm.
    Karla nodded. It sounded like a great adventure. She only wished she could tell Aunt Anna about it. She was sure that Anna had a pure heart and wouldn’t spoil it. It was so difficult to keep a secret. But she didn’t want to disappoint Maja.
     
     
    Chapter 5
     
    “Karla is intelligent, but very unfocused,” the young man told Anna.
    Anna was having a meeting with Karla’s main teacher about her progress in school. Mr. Winter was sitting across from her behind his desk, which was stacked with neatly arranged piles of papers and books. The late-afternoon sun shone through the window, bathing the sparse office and the serious face of the handsome young man in a pale light.
    “What do you mean?” Anna peered at him.
    The teacher sat up straight. “For one thing, her mind wanders and she’s often unable to concentrate. She doesn’t pay attention. She sits in her chair, either looks at me with a blank expression on her face—you can tell she’s not listening—or she gazes out the window. When I call on her with a question, she looks startled, as if she’d just woken up from a dream.
    “I tried all kinds of things. I moved her away from the window. I called on her more frequently, so she wouldn’t have a chance to fall back into her daydreaming. She tries to listen, but after a while I catch her again staring into space.
    “I thought that perhaps the subject I teach doesn’t interest her, but the other teachers have the same experience. Karla is very absentminded. Interestingly enough, her written work is better and she excels in her art class. She draws and paints far beyond her age, as the art teacher told me.”
    Anna nodded. “I know; she loves to draw and paint. It’s something that makes her happy. I found a professional art teacher for her.”
    “Yes, it may encourage and perhaps help her. However, she needs to snap out of her daydreaming during the oral lessons, or she won’t be able to graduate to the next class.”
    “Why wasn’t I told of this earlier?” Anna asked in a sharp voice. “I didn’t know she was doing poorly. At first, she wasn’t happy in school. As you know, her whole life was turned upside down when her mother and grandmother died. She's had so many changes, so I'm not surprised that she’s still suffering. But she made a few friends, she did her homework, and she never complained about school.”
    “I'm sorry. Perhaps I should’ve