Free The Charm Bracelet by Melissa Hill Page A

about. Finally she watched the shadows on the wall and ceiling as all the lights in the courtyard started to expire, and once the building and her apartment were completely dark, she managed to drift off.
Chapter 5
     
     
    The next morning, she felt nervous and jumpy. She walked Danny to school, trying not to let him see how last night’s conversation had caused her so much worry. But, he seemed OK. She stood for a while across the street from the school building, watching him and the rest of the kids make their way in. The sky was grey and heavy with snow today; it felt as if it was five o’clock, the way the clouds blocked out the sun. The children were made to line up in an orderly fashion before being let inside. A teacher blew a whistle and they all started marching in, quietly. Holly watched her child shuffle in with the rest, his back stooped a little with the load of books that seemed too much for a fourth grader. She wanted to run across the street and pull him out of the line, take the day off and go to the zoo and watch the penguins, and eat hot dogs off a cart, which she never allowed him to do.
    She clenched her fists in her black wool pea coat – at least she had had the sense to dress warmly today. She snuggled her chin firmly into her scarf and started walking back up Sixth Avenue. Hot dogs , she thought, I'll stop at the grocery store and pick up some hot dogs later. That would cheer them both up. Summer food on a cloudy day. Maybe next summer she could take him camping? She shuddered a bit at the thought – no, maybe three days at the beach was enough.
    Having been born and raised in the city, Holly felt a little short on some of the experiences that other people had had. She hadn’t even learned to drive: it was embarrassing actually. But she had never been able to afford a car, and her mother didn’t drive, so Holly had never bothered to take a course or test. When she took Danny to the shore, there was always a train out of Penn Station, and New York City was loaded with public transportation and cabs. And of course there was no parking, or at least that’s what it looked like to her. Every street in Manhattan seemed to be crammed with cars parked so tight she wouldn’t even know how to manoeuvre one out of the space. And wasn’t that the excuse for almost every New Yorker running late? ‘Sorry, couldn’t find parking’, or, ‘Sorry I hit traffic’?
    Having to get up early to move a car that she might only use on weekends seemed ridiculous.
    Anyway, Kate drove, so on those rare occasions that Holly had needed a car, she simply called on her friend. Like when she found, on the street, the amazing big armchair that now sat in her living room. It had been too big to carry home. Danny had been eight at the time and appalled when his mother had come to a screeching halt on Tenth Street to inspect the chair. She had then eagerly pulled out her cell phone to call Kate and have her meet them.
    ‘We’re picking up someone else’s garbage ?’ he had asked, mystified. Holly laughed. ‘Remember, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.’
    ‘But it’s in the street , who knows who owned it?’ he had said, eyes wide.
    ‘Exactly!’ Holly had said, pinching his cheek. ‘Who knows? Maybe it belonged to that guy who played Wolverine.’
    ‘Really?’ Danny asked, looking around. ‘He lives around here?’
    ‘Oh yeah,’ Holly told him. ‘All those celebrities get apartments downtown after they make it big. They think no one cares down here, that we won’t notice them.’ She had leaned in close to Danny and pointed to a tall passer-by with a black baseball cap pulled tightly down over his eyes. ‘So keep your eyes peeled.’
    Kate had appeared in less than five minutes, and the two women hauled the chair into the trunk of her Volkswagen, tying it down with twine. Kate never complained. She was always there for her. Thinking about it, Kate had been raised in Minnesota, so she probably