Next came the kneepads, which I tugged off over my sneakers, and last of all I unsnapped my bike helmet.

I slid off my elbow pads-left one first, then the right-and stacked them on the step next to me in a pile. saw me peeking through the window and held up two fingers, so I sat down on the front step and waited, trying to soak up the whole two minutes by taking off all my biking gear real slow. Lippowitz and his son, Tommy, were flattening cardboard boxes in the corner. I got to the store at 7:58-that’s what it said on the clock inside. It took five times as long but it was lots safer. Now I hopped off my bike at the top of the hill and walked it. That was the fastest way to go, and the most fun too, with the wind whistling past your ears and your stomach getting fluttery and floaty, till you thought maybe you were riding quicker than a rocket. Normore’s mailbox, you could coast into the bike rack in front of Lippy’s Market without making a single tire squeak. If you started to squeeze your brakes right in the middle of heading down Maple Hill, just as you were passing old Mr. When we got back home, there was a leaf stuck… The instant I woke up Sunday morning, my brain reminded… That night I woke up all of a sudden, and…

Finch opened her front door with a…ĭad dropped me off at the Bowling Barn Friday evening,…Ībout ten o’clock Saturday morning I strapped on all my… I didn’t know what was going to be in that… The next morning I still had that headache, and my… I peeled off all my Band-Aids careful slow-off my arms… When we were finished with the singing and the official…Īs soon as I opened the front door, Mom called… The next day was the Fourth of July, which meant… When I got home, I started reading right away, flopped… Monday morning after Mom left for work and Dad started… Rebecca stayed at my house the rest of the afternoon,… “Annie?” my mom called from out in the hallway. When I woke up Sunday morning, there was a word… I read the big green book for almost two hours,… I stayed at that table the whole rest of the… When I got home, I sat down on the porch… If you started to squeeze your brakes right in the…

Umbrella Summer by Lisa Graff