Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little Read Free Page B

said Sam.
    “Hello, Pansy,” said Mother.
    “Hi, Mom,” said Pansy.
    Sam, who was always polite, took the great daisy cake in the big white cake box from Mrs. Maxwell’s arms and set it on the counter.

    Here is the photograph Mark took of three-quarters of the great daisy cake
.
    “Sam, would you be kind enough to take Rosie outside and get my dahlia fertilizer from the car …” is as far as Mrs. Maxwell’s sentence got before it stopped.
    “Is that Moxy out there swinging in the hammock?” she asked.
    Sam paused.
    Pansy paused.
    The
pad, pad
of Ajax typing on his laptop upstairs turned back to thunder.
    “I believe that is Moxy swinging in the hammock, Mrs. Maxwell,” Sam said.
    “Oh,” said Mrs. Maxwell, “was there a fire in her room?”
    “Not that I know of, Mrs. Maxwell,” said Sam.

chapter 23
In Which Moxy’s
Mother Slams the
Door Behind Her,
Which Is Very
Unlike Her
    When Moxy’s mother went out to work in her prize dahlia garden, she was always very careful not to slam the screen door. Everyone else in the family, including Ajax, who was a grown-up, let it slam behind them. But Moxy’s mother always turned back around and closed it quietly. This time she let it slam.

chapter 24
In Which
Moxy Realizes
Her Mother
Is Home
    Moxy had been frightened before. The first time she and the seven petals had linked arms and dived off the diving board to practice their Daisy Dive, Moxy had been petrified.
    But when she heard her mother slam the screen door, she thought,
This must be what “terror” feels like
. It reminded her of when she was eight and her mother told her she couldn’t keep a (very small) portion of the money she had made selling Girl Scout cookies (ten percent).
    Let it never be said that Moxy Maxwell did not think quickly. Even before her mother’s sandals came into view, Moxy’s right hand was reaching for
Stuart Little
. She groped for him among the peach pits and paper towels and the hammock pillow and a little pink summer blanket I forgot to tell you about that Pansy brought out to Moxy ten pages ago, when Moxy mentioned that the ever so slight pre-September breeze was beginning to chill her knees.

chapter 25
In Which It Dawns
on Moxy That
STUART LITTLE
Is Not with Her
    And now, as she thought about it, Moxy realized she had not seen
Stuart Little
all day or the day before or the day before that. She wasn’t sure about the day before that. She might have seen it then.
    Moxy’s mother was so close that she was blocking the sun. Moxy had never seen a full solar eclipse before, but she suspected it might look a little like this. At least Moxy no longer had to squint.
    Maybe this is what “shock” feels like
, Moxy thought. It was a little like having a heart attack and a little like what it mustfeel like to be serene. (Moxy loved the word “serene” because it sounded like what it was, which was calm and clearheaded.)
    Or maybe she was not in shock or having a heart attack or even serene. Maybe this was the end of the world.
    “Was there a fire in your room?” her mother asked.
    “A fire in my room?”
    Was a fire in her room a good thing? Was a fire better than not reading
Stuart Little
?
    “Not that I know of,” said Moxy.
    She could see her mother clearly now. Her mother’s eyes were quite nice, though Moxy had long felt they would benefit from a pair of aquamarine contacts. But as with many of Moxy’s suggestions, her mother had not followed up on it.
    “I guess you must be taking a little rest after reading
Stuart Little
,” her mother said.
    Moxy didn’t say yes, but she didn’t say no.
    “Did you cry when Stuart Little died?”
    “He dies! Stuart Little dies?” Moxy exclaimed. “I wish you hadn’t told me the end.”
    Moxy’s mother leaned in closer. “You haven’t even started to read
Stuart Little
, have you?” She held Moxy’s chin and studied Moxy’s eyes.
    Now, Moxy was fond of the truth. But the truth was not as simple as people