Free Annie's Adventures by Lauren Baratz-Logsted Page B

know, out front. We'd hate to keep you, so..."
    "Goodbye again!" Zinnia said.
    We rushed out before Mrs. Simms could say anything else. Then we buckled ourselves in and waited for her to totally and completely leave, meaning the parking lot as well. Because of course she was parked in front, like any normal person would be, while we were in the back.
    "Some party that was for us, thanks to you," Rebecca said to Annie. "It was about as much fun as the one on New Year's Eve."
    "Okay." Annie ignored Rebecca and put the key in the ignition. "Everybody ready?"
    We said that we were, but when she turned the key, nothing happened.
    "Are you putting your hand on the gas hard enough?" Annie called to Durinda, down beneath her legs.
    "Of course I am!" Durinda said, annoyed. "You know, eventually we're going to have to devise a more efficient way of doing this. This can't be safe for everyone else, and it's certainly not safe for me."
    "Well, press harder," Annie instructed.
    But however hard Durinda pressed, and her grunts told us she was pressing very hard, it wasn't hard enough.
    "What are we going to do?" Georgia asked.
    "It's too far to walk." Petal's lip quivered. "We'll freeze to death."
    "There's nothing for it." Annie picked up the car phone, a device none of us had ever used before. "I'll just have to call Pete." She went through her usual routine-call Information, wait, impersonate Daddy, beg Pete to come help out for double the pay, call him "old chap," and ring off—after which she quickly changed back into her party clothes.
    "You look ridiculous," Rebecca said. "Have I mentioned that before?"
    "Pretty much," Annie said, "but we can't have Pete seeing me in my Daddy-driving-the-car disguise. He'll know something is up then."
    "Like he won't already." Rebecca snickered.
    "That's not helpful," Annie said, then as the snow started to fall gently, we all waited in silence for Pete to come.
    When he got there, we were hugely relieved. Kids' Castle had closed for the day, and soon it would be dark.
    "Hullo, Eights," he said as we all got out to greet him. "What seems to be the problem with the Hummer? And where, by the way, is your dad?"
    "In the bathroom," Jackie said.
    "Gone for coffee," Marcia said at the same time.
    "Huh," Pete said. "And here I thought you'd say he was in France."
    "That's Mommy," Zinnia said earnestly. "Weren't you paying proper attention that time you came to visit us?"
    "Right-o," Pete said. "Well, while we're waiting for your dad to reappear from ... wherever he is , why don't I look at the car for you?"
    Which is what he did, moving to climb behind the wheel, but first...
    "Huh," he said, the falling snow making his hair look like he had more salt than pepper in it now. "Has your dad shrunk since I last saw him? I don't remember him needing to sit on dictionaries to drive his own car."
    "They're reference materials," Jackie said. "Mommy's." Then she finished lamely, having run out of lies, "I don't know how they got there."
    "Never mind," Pete said, moving them out of the way. "But you must admit, it is all very strange: dictionaries appearing where they shouldn't be, your dad suddenly speaking with a British accent..."
    "Is there any reason why he couldn't be British?" Annie asked irritably. She was sensitive about her Daddy accent. "Couldn't we all be British?"
    "Sure," Pete said agreeably enough as he moved the seat back, "why not? I mean, we do all sound sort of British when we talk. For all we know, we are in England." He turned the key in the ignition, but nothing happened.
    "Huh," Pete said. "I was sure you were calling me out here on another false alarm, but there really is something wrong." He popped the hood, got out, and started rooting around where we thought the engine might be.
    A minute passed, two, three, the sky getting darker all the while. At last we heard a low whistle. Pete's head popped up, and then his hand. In it was a long piece of black rubber with copper wires sticking out of