Annie's Adventures Read Free Page A

mantel over the fireplace and handed one to Durinda. Then the two of them lit the three candles in each from the dwindling fire that still burned.
    We made our way to bed, following behind them to our rooms on the floor above. Annie and Durinda supervised as we brushed our teeth and hair, then they did their own while we waited.
    Usually, we slept in two rooms separated by a single large bathroom. In one room slept the four oldest; in the other, the youngest. But not on that night. Annie was worried that Petal and Zinnia would be too worried, Rebecca would insult their worries, and Marcia, the oldest in that room, wouldn't be able to control the situation. So she made a minor switch.
    "Durinda," she said, "you sleep with the three youngest and I'll take Marcia in with us."

    So that's what we did. And in a way, as Annie and Durinda made the rounds from bed to bed, tucking each of us in with a kiss by the light cast from their candelabras, this minor switch was comforting. At least someone—Annie—was taking charge.
    But as you can imagine, it was all very confusing for the cats. It took some time for Dandruff and Minx to find the right beds to sleep at the bottom of, but once they did, we were all out like lights.
    ***
    We awoke to the rumble of empty stomachs and the cats grumbling for more food. We awoke to a world filled with light.
    The power had come back on.
    "Rise and shine," Annie said as she bustled around the bedrooms.
    We put on our robes and brushed our teeth, feeling as though we'd hardly slept at all. Then we made our way downstairs to the smell of ... nothing.
    On Christmas Day and New Year's Day mornings, Mommy always made big stacks of chocolate chip pancakes for us. This year, since we were supposed to be celebrating both holidays at once, we'd all secretly been expecting a double dose of the good stuff. But there was to be none of that. Or at least, none of that made by Mommy.
    "How are we going to eat?" Petal asked, puzzled.
    "We're going to do it ourselves, of course," Annie said.
    Petal remained puzzled, as though Annie were speaking British again.
    "Okay," Annie announced, "here's what we're going to do. We'll gather whatever ingredients we think go into the pancakes and do our best."
    "Actually," Durinda said timidly, "I've watched Mommy closely when she's made them. I'm pretty sure I can do it if Jackie helps me."
    "I can do that," Jackie said gamely.
    "Good." Annie nodded. "Georgia and Rebecca, see to the cats."
    "You mean feed them?" Georgia asked.
    "Feed them, of course," Annie said. She paused and then added with a meaningful sniff of the air, "Also, clean the litter boxes."
    "But Mommy always does that!" Rebecca objected.
    "Well," Annie said, "Mommy's not here right now, is she?"
    "At least we don't have to worry about the plants," Durinda put in.
    It was true.
    Mommy had invented a flying watering can. It moved through the house on metal runners attached to the ceiling, stopping over each plant to give it a healthy sprinkle. Unfortunately, sometimes the flying watering can malfunctioned, sprinkling the floor—which we would then have to clean up—or even sometimes sprinkling a person.
    "And what are you going to do," Georgia demanded of Annie, "while we're doing all of that? "
    "I'll be planning," Annie said importantly. "Durinda, Jackie, Georgia, and Rebecca are doing breakfast and cat detail, and after we eat, Marcia, Petal, Zinnia, and myself will shovel the walk so the mailperson can get through tomorrow. Petal and Zinnia can even build snowpeople as we go, to take their minds off things. And I'll get more wood for the fire."
    So that's what we did, at Annie's bidding. We went off to prepare breakfast, feed cats, and clean litter boxes.
    As it turned out, to all of our wonder-filled surprise, Durinda was a fantastic cook. With Jackie's help, of course.
    "Yummy," Zinnia pronounced, surrounding her pancakes with maple syrup as we sat down to our Christmas / New Year's morning breakfast,