Fabulous Five 026 - Laura's Secret Read Free

forget I need that shirt ironed, hon," her
dad said, dabbing his mouth with a napkin.
    And the shirt!
    It was a good thing she'd already finished her homework.
    The dull pain in her abdomen increased a little, and she
leaned toward the table and sighed heavily.
    "You okay, babe?" her dad asked.
    "Yeah," answered Laura. How do you tell your dad
you have cramps? It wouldn't be hard to tell your mother.
    "You look a little pale."
    "Oh, I'm okay," Laura assured him.
    He reached over and felt her forehead. "You don't seem
to have a fever," he offered. "But maybe you're coming down with
something. Why don't you go to bed a little early tonight?"
    Fat chance!
    "Maybe," Laura said.
    If only she could talk to her dad! She'd seen a medication
advertised on TV that was supposed to help with cramps. She wished she could
ask her father to go to the drugstore and buy some for her.
    Laura got up from the table and carried her plate to the
sink. When she heard her father stroll into the living room to watch
television, she breathed a deep sigh. Then she cleaned up the kitchen and got
out the mixing bowl, flour, sugar, chocolate chips, and other ingredients she
needed. She turned the oven on to 350 degrees.
    By now the cramps were awfully uncomfortable. She crossed
the living room and walked into the bathroom. Behind the closed door she took a
couple of aspirin. That should help, she thought.
    When she left the bathroom and reentered the living room,
her father looked up from the TV. "Laura?"
    "Yeah?"
    "You really aren't feeling well, are you?" he
asked, frowning with concern.
    "Well, not really great, I guess," answered Laura.
    "What's the problem?" pressed her father.
    Dare she tell him? Had any girl on the face of the earth
ever told her father she was having cramps?
    "Well—"
    "What's wrong, sweetie?" he asked.
    "Oh." She shrugged, pretending it was nothing. "Just
some, uh—cramps, I guess." She said the last three words very quickly and
very softly.
    Her father's eyes darted away, and Laura could have sworn he
turned a little pink. Was he embarrassed? She turned quickly and fled into the
kitchen.
    Why did I tell him , she scolded herself. I'm an
IDIOT!
    She furiously tossed ingredients into the bowl. Turning the
mixer on high speed, she worked the spatula around the inside of the bowl.
    "Hon?"
    She suddenly realized that her father was right beside her.
    "What?" she said loudly, partly to be heard over
the mixer, partly out of nervousness.
    "I thought this might help."
    He held up a bottle of milk of magnesia. A LAXATIVE! Her father held it up near his face as if he were selling it on a TV
commercial.
    If Laura hadn't been so embarrassed, she would have exploded
with laughter. Her father was hopeless!
    "Thanks, Dad," she murmured, her cheeks hotter
than the oven. She grabbed the bottle, put it down on the table, and stared at
the floor.
    "Uh, well," her father said, rocking nervously
from foot to foot. "I brought a lot of work home from the office. I guess
I'd better get at it."
    "Okay," Laura replied. The sooner, the better.
    Her dad left the kitchen, and Laura shook her head. Men!
They're pitiful. It's amazing how dumb they can be about women.
    She started to laugh quietly. Then she thought of the way
her father looked, holding up that silly bottle of milk of magnesia, and she
laughed harder. A laxative for menstrual cramps! What a riot!
    She finished baking the cookies, then started a batch of
brownies. When the brownies were finally in the oven, she hauled out the
ironing board and plugged in the iron, pressing and spray-starching her dad's
dress shirt.
    "Here's your shirt, Dad," she said when she'd
finished, standing in the doorway to his room and holding up the hanger so he
could see what a great job she had done.
    He looked up from the pile of papers on his desk. "Terrific.
Hang it in my closet, will you, hon?"
    Laura heaved a sigh of fatigue, trudged into her father's
room, and hung up the shirt. She was getting awfully tired.