London Art Chase (5 page)

“I knew your suitcase wasn't stolen,” Mia said, and then when Maddie shot her a
be-careful
look, she threw up her hands in innocence. “What?”

“The suitcase showed up?” Mom asked.

“Yes.” Lulu looked more like a wilted tulip than her usual, radiant self.

“The airline delivered it this morning just after you left,” Miss Julia said. “Apparently, they accidentally sent it to Paris rather than to London.”

“Lulu, your suitcase visited the Eiffel Tower!” Mom said. “That's fantastic.”

“I want to visit the Eiffel Tower!” Lulu wailed.

Clearly, the situation was going downhill.

“You know what, Lulu?” Mom said, “We may not have time to prep a song for you girls to sing with me
while we're in London, but maybe you can sing with me in a concert another time. It might be a lot of fun, actually. We should try out a song with the band to see how it feels. Want to?”

“Right now?” Lulu's eyes went wide.

“Yes, yes, yes!” Mia said, pumping her fists.

Maddie's stomach twisted into a knot. Even though everyone in the room was a friend, she couldn't imagine singing, right here, right now. Maybe Mia and Lulu thought it would be fun to jump around and sing when they weren't ready, but to Maddie, that sounded like the most embarrassing thing in the world. Even when she'd prepared for weeks for her piano concerts, her hands still shook on her way to the stage.

“I think we should sing ‘This Little Light of Mine.' ” Mom turned to her band. “What do you all think? Can we rock out that old-school children's song, Glimmer girls' style?”

Richie beat out a rhythm in response. Everyone scurried to hook up instruments, pick up guitars, and adjust amps. Miss Julia and the three backup singers headed out to the theater seats. Dad handed Mia, Lulu, and Maddie wireless microphones.

“You can do this, Mads,” Dad said. “Just sing like no one's watching.”

The trouble was, everyone was watching.

Dad counted everyone in, and started the first chords on the piano. As the music started up, the
drums, guitars, and piano all rumbled through Maddie's body, making her feel full and tingly and ready to dance. Mia and Lulu danced in time with the music.

“This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine,” Mom started.

Mia and Lulu sang along. The sound filled the entire room, and Maddie could hear each distinct voice—Mom, Mia, Lulu. She stared at the microphone in her hands. Opening her own mouth to join in seemed impossible.

“Come on, Maddie,” Mia called, bumping her with her hip. “Sing with us!”

With effort, Maddie opened her mouth and began singing along. At first, her voice sounded like a rusted old gate, squeaky and awkward. She was sure that as soon as anyone heard it, they'd laugh. But as the song continued, she realized everyone was smiling and having fun. No one was laughing at her. Mia caught her eye and grinned, nodding encouragement. Maddie let go inch by inch, and soon she was truly singing out loud—she could hear her own voice weaving together with the others. Truthfully, she had to admit that singing with her mom and sisters was fun. She couldn't keep her feet still, thanks to the way the drummer kept beating out the rhythm. The band played the familiar song in a funky way, with the keys and bass taking the lead, making the song feel more like a party than anything else. As the last round of the chorus wound down,
they all moved to center stage and sang their hearts out. Then, Miss Julia and the backup singers jumped to their feet and clapped and whistled and yee-hawed. Mom pulled all the girls into a giant hug and then they all bowed and bowed again.

Laughing, Mom went down to the auditorium to talk to Miss Julia about the day.

Maddie took Mia's hand and squeezed it. “Thank you.”

“For what?” Mia asked.

“For making me sing, even when I didn't want to. It was fun.”

“So does that mean you want to sing in a concert?” Mia asked.

“I can't wait to sing in a concert!” Lulu announced.

“No way!” Maddie said, not even having to think about it. “Not me.”

“You never know,” Mia said. “You might change your mind.”

“Girls, are you ready to go to the National Gallery?” Miss Julia asked. “We have until seven tonight—that's when the concert starts.”

“And we'll sing with Mommy!” Lulu shouted.

“Not tonight, Lulu,” Mom said. “But maybe sometime soon. We'll see.”

It was finally time to go see the paintings. Maddie checked her bag one more time to make sure she had her sketchbook and pencils. Hopefully she would have
time to sketch a few of the paintings. Lots of artists did this, sitting in galleries and learning from famous painters by drawing versions of their images. Sitting with sketchbook and pencils in hand, Maddie felt the exact opposite of how she felt when she walked onstage to perform. Instead of the spotlight being on her, her own eyes were the spotlights. When she was drawing, she could see people and places clearly, much more clearly than she saw when she hurried by on her way somewhere. Especially with people. She'd see something inside of them, something absolutely unique to them, something you could draw but not necessarily put into words. Maybe what she was seeing, actually, was their glimmer. Maddie twined her pencil from finger to finger, thinking.

“What do you say we ride on a double-decker bus to the gallery?” Miss Julia asked.

“Is that like a double-decker ice cream cone?” Lulu asked.

“Similar. It's a bus with two floors. We can ride on the top, which is a little like sitting on the roof,” Miss Julia said.

“Seriously?” Mia asked.

“Seriously,” Miss Julia said.

“See you soon, girls,” Dad called from the piano.

“I hope you have a spectacular day.” Mom gave Mia and Lulu hugs. When she pulled Maddie in tight, she whispered in her ear, “I'm proud of you.”

Maddie hugged Mom back. Her sisters and Miss Julia were on their way out the door, so she ran to catch up.

“Bye!” they all called, and headed out of the hall for the day's adventure.

EIGHT

W
hen they stepped outside, the wind whipped their hair every which way. Maddie was glad she'd worn her hair up in a ponytail, so at least it was out of her eyes.

Mia fought the wind to wrestle her jacket closed. “You said it would rain all the time, Miss Julia, but it hasn't rained at all since we've been here.”

Miss Julia checked the sky. “We'll see what happens. I'm carrying my umbrella, just in case.”

“Mommy says carrying an umbrella makes it so it
won't
rain,” Lulu said.

“Well, her theory has turned out to be correct so far,” Miss Julia said, trying to keep her big yellow hat on her head and finally giving up. She took it off and juggled that, the umbrella, and her purse in her arms, letting her frizzy, red hair fly wildly.

“Too bad you can't carry something to make the wind go away,” Mia said.

“I like the wind,” Lulu said, jumping up and holding out her arms. “Look, it can almost pick me up.”

“Careful, or you might get blown out into the street,” Miss Julia said.

Lulu frowned at Miss Julia. “But I'm a long way from the street.”

“She's teasing you,” Mia said, putting an arm around her little sister.

Lulu wrinkled her nose at Mia and then ducked away, turning her attention to hopscotching along the sidewalk, avoiding the cracks. She was so busy watching her feet that she nearly missed the bus station.

“Lulu,” Mia called. “Come back!”

“Huh?” Lulu stopped and looked back, her face registering surprise that they were all so far behind.

Maddie laughed. “You were about to walk away into London and leave the rest of us behind.”

Lulu tip-tapped her toes. “Wouldn't it be fun to have a giant hide-and-go-seek game in London, like I could go hide and you all could come find me?”

“You wouldn't think that was so fun when we couldn't find you,” Miss Julia said.

Lulu tilted her head, thinking. “No, I guess not, at least not after a little while. But at first it would be fun. All on my own, on the streets of London, having an adventure . . .”

Maddie shuddered. To her, being alone on the streets of London sounded the opposite of fun . . . terrifying, even.

The double-decker bus pulled up the curb, every bit as red as the telephone booths.

“To the roof!” Lulu said, leading everyone upstairs.

It was the strangest sensation, climbing stairs on a bus and coming out on top. Maddie felt the slightest bit
dizzy as they made their way to some open seats near the front. Even though she was sitting on the inside aisle, she could see down to the street. Looking down on the tops of all the cars made for an odd perspective. As the bus engine roared to life and they started moving, the buildings began zooming past. Up here, she felt like she was on a cloud ship, sailing through a foreign landscape, with the buildings rising above her head and extending down, down, down. Now the gargoyles and stone faces seemed close enough to reach out and touch. All around her, people snapped photos, pointing this way and that, making her feel she should look here and there and everywhere. Miss Julia snapped photos too, but Maddie was sure most of the picture would be taken up with her wild, red hair, rather than whatever she was trying to photograph.

Mia pointed out a pigeon who had landed on the railing. “Look, he's along for the ride!”

Just then, one of Lulu's favorite songs started playing over the speakers. She jumped up and started to dance and sing along.

“Lulu,” Mia said, glancing back at the rest of the bus. “I don't think . . .”

Across the top level of the bus, everyone turned to watch and clap along with the music. Lulu wasn't going to stop now with so many people egging her on. As she always did when she had a captive crowd, Lulu turned on her extra-special charm. She pranced up and down
the aisle, singing specifically to one group and then to another.

“Aren't you going to stop her?” Mia said.

Miss Julia snapped a photo. “She's not bothering anyone.”

“She's . . .” Mia said, and then she looked over at Maddie and shrugged.

The song rose to a crescendo, and Lulu's voice rose along with it all the way to the end. Then she dropped into a low curtsey and started blowing kisses at everyone.

“Tips, tips?” she called.

“And that's the end of that,” Miss Julia said, jumping up and sweeping Lulu back to their seats.

“What?” Lulu asked. “What did I do?”

“You can't ask random people on the bus for tips, Lulu,” Mia said, eyebrows raised in what she probably hoped was an
I'm serious
face.

Even so, Maddie could see a smile threatening to break through. Lulu got away with things by leaping into them so quickly that no one had time to stop her. And who knew? If Miss Julia hadn't pulled her back to her seat, someone might even have given her a tip. That was just the way things went with Lulu—all part of the fun of having her for a little sister.

Lulu climbed onto her seat, scooting close to Miss Julia. “How much longer?”

“We're almost there,” Miss Julia answered. “I think we're just a few blocks away.”

“What are you drawing, Maddie?” Lulu asked.

Maddie turned her sketchbook so Lulu could see. She'd drawn her little sister, arms stretched up to the London sky, her mouth open as she sang, and the other bus passengers clapping along.

“Can I have that one?” Lulu asked.

“I don't think she should pull out pictures from her sketchbook. Her drawings should all be together—a record of our trip,” Mia said.

“Like a travelogue,” Miss Julia said.

“I want one,” Lulu said, and then grinned at Mia. “A sketchbook, I mean, not the picture.”

“You want to draw?” Miss Julia asked.

Lulu bit her lip. “Well, no. I don't know. Maybe.”

“If you want a sketchbook, we might be able to find you one at the National Gallery. But maybe your travelogue could be different than Maddie's. Yours could have photos with captions, for instance.”

“Oh, yes, let's do that!” Lulu said.

“There's an app I've been thinking about using,” Miss Julia said. “We could use it on my phone to take pictures and keep some notes about our trip.”

For the next few minutes, Lulu and Miss Julia were busy with her phone, installing and trying out the app.

Mia scooted over close to Maddie to look at her drawing again. “I like the way you sketched the faces—loose, but you can still see their expressions. Well, actually, it's like you can see what they're feeling, if you know what I mean.”

“Really?” Maddie asked, warmth spreading through her despite the wind. “That's exactly what I was going for.”