Chapter One

 

“Philip, why don’t you go out and play? The rain stopped half an hour ago.”

Philip lay on the sofa reading The Sorcerer’s Stone. He looked over to the window then up at his mother. “Do I have to? Harry Potter’s in trouble.”

“Yes, yes, yes. You have to or pretty soon you’ll be in trouble. Here.” She took his book and spread it open upside down on the coffee table to save his page. “Get some air. You haven’t been out of the house all week except to go to school.”

“It’s been raining all week. Are you trying to get rid of me?”

“I have to clean and you’re always in the room I’m cleaning next.”

Philip sighed. Emery, his best friend, had called earlier to say he had a secret to show him. He couldn’t simply tell him about it, so Philip shouldn’t even ask.

Philip did ask, but no matter how many times Philip begged his friend to stop being so mysterious, Emery wouldn’t. He kept a secret better than anybody Philip knew.

“I’ll go see what Emery’s doing. He’s got something to show me.”

“Good idea,” said his mother as she bustled out of the living room.

Philip swung his feet to the floor and put on his sneakers while he listened to his mother doing the housework. It didn’t look like much fun being a grown-up, but then fourth grade wasn’t all that much fun, either. School would be over in another month, though, and then summer. He finished tying his sneakers and left.

The wet grass glistened and puddles shimmered everywhere. The sun felt good. Plus a rainbow arced across the sky! Philip walked along toward Emery’s house and studied the rainbow, a really colorful one, a rainbow better than any Philip remembered ever seeing. He followed it across the sky until it disappeared behind the house in front of him. He noticed someone in the window of the house waving to him. Philip waved back before realizing it was that girl again.

The girl’s forehead pressed against the living room window screen.

“Hi,” she called.

Philip stopped walking. Who was this girl? She’d moved to the neighborhood a while ago, yet he never saw her in school. He’d only seen her at different windows of her house staring out at the neighborhood. She’d begun waving to him, and he waved back. Now, she wanted to talk to him.

“Wait,” she called and disappeared from the window. A moment later she came out the front door. She looked about the same age as Philip and had long blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. As she stood there in her jeans and pink T-shirt looking at him, Philip felt nervous.

“I’m allowed out a little today,” the girl said.

“Because the rain stopped?” Philip asked.

“No. No. I feel better today.”

“Were you sick?”

“I’m always sick.”

This confused Philip.

“Where do you go to school? I never see you at my school.”

“I don’t go to school. I have a teacher who comes to my house on mornings when I feel all right.”

“You never go to school?”

The girl shook her head, and the ponytail waggled behind her. “What’s your name? I know where you live. The white house down there. Your father drives the blue car.”

“Philip. I’m Philip Felton.”

“Hi, I’m Angel.”

“Angel?”

The girl shrugged. “It’s what my parents named me. Angel. We moved here a little while ago.”

“I know,” said Philip. He remembered being awakened one Saturday morning by the noise of a giant truck unloading furniture.

A woman appeared at the front door. “Angel. Don’t stay out too long. Come on back now.”

“My mom. Thinks I’m made of glass or something. Gotta go. I’ll watch you from the window,” said Angel, and she turned and walked back inside the house.

Philip continued on to Emery’s house. She didn’t go to school because she was always sick? She doesn’t look sick, Philip thought. And her mother lets her out for five minutes at a time? Weird.

Emery’s voice interrupted Philip’s thoughts. “Philip, don’t turn around. Don’t turn. Don’t turn.”

Philip froze. “Why can’t I turn, Emery?”

“I have my surprise with me.”

There was a small noise. “Erf.”

“Okay, you can look.”

Philip turned and saw Emery walking a tiny black and brown dog with a long body and short legs.

“What’s this?” Philip asked in surprise.

“It’s a dog.”

“I know it’s a dog.”

“A dachshund.”

“Why do you have it?”

“That’s my surprise. My dad got it for me. It’s my new dog.”