Lost and Found (5 page)

Madison glanced away from the computer for a moment to collect her thoughts. From where she was sitting in her bedroom, she had a full view of the window looking out on the street. Some kids were sledding on a slope in her neighbors’ yard.

She noticed something. Big fat flakes were just starting to fall again onto the windowsill and glass pane.

More snow.
Already!

Madison smiled to herself. No one would be meeting at three o’clock today…and maybe not even tomorrow. She had an extra day or two to prepare herself for skating, Hart, and Ivy.

The second storm was moving in.

Seventh-grade snow days were about to get
really
interesting.

“R
OWRROOOOO!” PHIN WAS STANDING
on Madison’s stomach, panting. The clock next to her bed said 8:23
A.M.

Madison leaped out from under the covers and ran to the window. The blanket of snow across Far Hills was at least a foot deeper than the day before—and it was still snowing, snowing, snowing.

She donned her monkey slippers and shuffled down the stairs to breakfast. The smell of pancakes filled the air.

Mom had made a superbatch of silver-dollar cakes. She’d even warmed up syrup in the microwave. Madison felt special. The last time Mom ever did that was for Dad when they were still married. She put fruit slices on top of one pancake for the face: strawberry eyes, banana nose, and orange mouth.

“Mom, you haven’t made me smiley pancakes since I was little,” Madison said, taking her first enormous bite. “These are so yummy.”

Mom sat down at the table. “Isn’t this fun, the two of us stuck indoors?”

“Do you think it will ever stop snowing?” Madison asked, taking another big bite of breakfast.

“Doesn’t look like it,” Mom said, gazing out the kitchen window. “I’m going to get lots of film editing done today, that’s for sure. I remember when we had bad storms like this in Chicago, growing up.”

The house rattled with the wind.

“Just like that.” Mom laughed. “Windy, snowy, really miserable. Your grandmother always sent your aunt Angie and me into the yard to make snow angels. Of course Angie usually beaned me with
snowballs
instead.”

Mom told a few more weather-related Chicago stories that made Madison laugh.

When Mom was finished telling stories, Madison called Fiona to see how she was feeling. But she sounded hoarse, so Madison could barely hear her.

“I have a fever of a hundred and one,” Fiona said. “I’m all clammy.”

“That means the fever is going away, though, right?” Madison asked.

“Mom says I can’t even get out of bed. I’m so sick of watching television, and I read my English reading through next week’s assignments already,” Fiona said.

Madison realized she’d been out of school for a day and a half and she hadn’t done any homework yet. She’d have to deal with that later.

“Is Aimee still helping her dad at the store?” Fiona whispered.

“Yeah,” Madison said. “But she’s not working all of today. We were going to hang out. Can we come over to see you?”

“My mother says I’m still too sick to have visitors.” Fiona sighed. “I feel like I’m quarantined from the rest of the planet.”

“Well, as soon as she says it’s okay, we are totally coming over.”

“Is everyone out skating and playing in the snow and all that?” Fiona asked. “My stupid brother won’t tell me anything.”

“Not really,” Madison answered. “Not yet, anyway. The lake was closed yesterday. It’s been too stormy.”

Fiona giggled a little bit. “I really miss you guys.”

“I miss you, too,” Madison said. She wanted to tell Fiona all the specifics about the skating party and then the cancellation of the skating party and the rescheduling of the skating party…but she decided not to tell her anything. She didn’t want Fiona to feel any more “out of it” than she already did. Being sick was the worst feeling in the world, especially when your head felt woozy with cough and cold medicine.

After they said their good-byes, Madison called Aimee. Aimee wasn’t going to the bookstore after all. They made a date to walk their dogs in the middle of the blizzard. Madison secretly hoped they could make angels in the snow, too. Just like her mom and Aunt Angie had done when they were her age.

Mom was waiting upstairs in the attic to resume the big clean. She’d torn into a few other boxes and recovered many of the papers she’d been looking for yesterday.

“Do you think you could help me organize some of this information on the computer?” Mom asked Madison. “Like, could we put information on a graph chart together?”

Madison wasn’t a hundred percent sure she knew how, but she was eager for a new computer challenge. She knew a lot about using the PowerPoint program from Mrs. Wing; and on that she could design charts, slides, and graphs. Mom would be impressed! Even if Madison got stuck working on it, she could always ask Mrs. Wing for extra help. If Madison beefed up her computer skills over the next few months, by summer she’d be ready once and for all to start up her very own Web page.

“I can totally help, Mom,” Madison said. “But can I walk Phinnie and go over to Aimee’s for a little while first?”

“Sure. Have fun,” Mom said. She was sitting cross-legged in a pile of paper that spread all around her like a puddle. Rubber-banded stacks of slides were piled in between her legs. “I really need to hire an assistant to help me archive these materials.”

“I’ll help later, Mom,” Madison said again. “I promise. Okay?”

Mom beamed. “You look cute this morning, honey bear. Are you wearing those pajamas over to Aimee’s or what?”

Madison made a face and then skipped down into her bedroom. She pulled on a new pair of corduroys with patches on the pockets that had been a Christmas present from Dad’s girlfriend, Stephanie. Before leaving her room, she decided to log on to her laptop to see if Egg had sent e-mail with more news on when and where the “new” skating party had been planned.

To her surprise, Madison found her e-mailbox bursting with mail.

Madison read Egg’s note first. He had sent it to a lot of people.

From: Eggaway


To: Chet Wetwins; Fiona Wetwinz; Aim BalletGrl; Rose Roseanl6; Ivy


Flowr99; Hart Sk8ingboy; Susie Peace-peep; Joan JK4ever; Lance Bossbutt; Suresh Suresh00; Maddie


MadFinn; Dan Dantheman; Drew W_Wonka7


Subject: SK8ING!!!!!


Date: Wed 17 Jan 10:33
AM


ok sooo this is the deal we’re NOT meeting today b/c Drew sez the lake is STILL closed from storm and it’s still snowing n e way. My mom calld school & she thinks they’ll close it Thursday too so let’s mt tomorrow instead @ 3 at the lake. bye!!!!


Madison looked over the list of “to” names on Egg’s e-mail to see who was invited skating and who wasn’t. Unfortunately, she saw Ivy, Rose, and Joan’s e-mail addresses on the list.

But she also saw another e-mail address.

Hart.

Without thinking, Madison selected Sk8ingboy and added it to her own address book. She figured it was good to have, just in case she ever needed to send him e-mail.

Just in case.

Then Madison moved on to the other mail, deleting the Boop-Dee-Doop “special offer” because she knew Mom wouldn’t let her get anything, anyway, and deleting the note from TweenBlurt’s Webmaster. She knew the server had been down. She didn’t need to read about it anymore.

The next message was from Dad, which was very short and sweet.

From: JeffFinn


To: MadFinn


Subject: Have You Heard This One?


Date: Wed 17 Jan 12:13
AM


What do you get when you cross a witch with a glacier?


A cold spell!


LOL. Thought that was sort of cute.


Miss you, Maddie.


Love,


Dad


Dad had told that one at least three or four times already. It was one of his winter “regulars.” Luckily the message from Bigwheels wasn’t something she’d already heard. Bigwheels had actually typed the e-mail the day before.

From: Bigwheels


To: MadFinn


Subject: Re: Ice-Skating Trauma


Date: Tues 16 Jan 8:09
PM


School is same as always. My parents were doing really well except Dad moved out again for a temporary separation. Don’t ask. I told my mom I didn’t care, but of course I do.


How do you deal with your parents?


I LOVE SKATING, by the way. I agree that it can be a little scary. That sounded so weird that you almost got cut on a skating blade. But it’s really not so scary on regular rinks. I used to skate on a lake. That was way scarier. I remember those times when I was very little. I didn’t actually skate, but my dad did, and he carried me. There was one time the lake ice cracked. Dad almost fell in.


I can’t wait for the Olympics to start because I want to watch the ice skaters do triple-Lutz jumps. I think the ice dancing is my favorite part. They all look so romantic dancing on the ice like that, don’t you think?


I don’t skate now, but I think you should. It really doesn’t matter if you fall. Don’t worry about your crush, either. He will NOT fall, either, and definitely not for that Ivy girl. She sounds mean. Trust me.


Write back again soon.


Yours till the snow caps,


Bigwheels


Madison looked over at the clock and gasped.

It was way later than she thought.

Aimee was waiting.

She closed her computer down quickly (saving the Bigwheels message for further reply), grabbed her coat, and headed out the door.

The weather outside was nippy. More fat snowflakes were falling, and she stuck out her tongue to lick one out of the air. It tasted like ice cream, but that was no surprise to Madison, who had always believed that snowflakes were naturally sweetened. She ran to Aimee’s in less than five minutes.

“Where have you been?” Aimee said when she opened her door. She was in her slippers and jeans.

“You’re not even dressed?” Madison asked.

Aimee twirled around and got into some ballerina poses. “No, I’m not dressed. But I look pretty good, don’t I?”

“Quit posing and
get dressed
!” Madison said, exasperated. “Please?”

Aimee burst into laughter and ran inside. Madison followed her.

It took Aimee only half an hour to get on all her gear, and in no time, she and Madison were stomping around in the Gillespie backyard. A little while later, Aimee’s brothers Billy and Dean came out to join them for a game of snow Frisbee.

Ker-splat!

As Madison reached to catch the Frisbee, she lost her footing. She fell hat over boots into a snowdrift.

“Nice one, Maddie.” Billy snickered.

Aimee rushed over to help her up out of the snow, but Madison was laughing so hard, she couldn’t even stand.

“I—can’t—get—aaaaaaah—help!” Madison cried as she bent forward and fell back again.

Aimee started to giggle, too.

“Hey, did you see that?” Dean said, looking up at the sky. He pointed to a cloud. “I swear I just saw a lightning bolt.”

“No way,” Aimee said, punching him in the side. Her face was flushed pink from running around in the cold air.

Madison finally stood up, patted the snow off her pants and back, and walked over to her friend. “What are you guys looking at?” she asked.

The sky looked ominous, grayer than before. Another bolt of lightning
did
crack against the winter sky. Evening was on its way.

“I’ve never seen anything like that before,” Billy said.

The four stared and stared, as if staring would make another lightning bolt appear. And then, in the middle of all the dark sky, it began to snow once again.

Madison felt wet drops on her eyelashes. She gazed at other snowflakes as they landed on the front of her hand, examining the crystal shapes up close.

“What time is it, Dean?” Madison asked Aimee’s brother.

He looked at his digital watch. “Five-oh-six,” he said.

Aimee frowned. “You have to go? Already?”

“I have to walk Phinnie!” Madison shook the snow off her green gloves and ran toward home.

Mom was standing on the porch when she got there, shoveling some of the snow that had collected near the front door.

“Well, look at you, the Snow Queen!” Mom said, smiling at Madison’s approach.

“Very funny, Mom,” Madison replied.

“I ordered pizza for dinner tonight,” Mom added. “And Phin has already been for a walk.”

“Sounds good,” Madison said, heading for the house.

“And I want you to help me move some of those boxes in the attic,” Mom said. “I discovered a whole bunch of stuff up there from grade school.”

“From
my
grade school?” Madison asked.

“Yes,” Mom answered. “Journals, books, even an old photo album. They’re in a box that’s half open. You were so cute back then…”

“What do you mean, ‘back then’?” Madison laughed.

Mom grinned. “You know what I mean, honey bear.”

Madison grinned back and stepped inside the front hallway. She tugged off the rainbow hat, which made her hair stick out in a bouquet of static electricity.