Free The Mighty Quinn by Robyn Parnell Page B

stuff.”
    â€œSorry.” Neally sounded anything but sorry. “I’ve noticed how Tay acts tough with you and Sam, then he’s all loose and wiggly when Matt is around. It’s obvious he wants Matt to like him.”
    â€œSo?” Quinn turned from the window. “Let’s go downstairs.”
    â€œSo ...” Neally paused. “I guess it would make anyone’slife easier, to have Matt like them.”
    â€œTay’s having a sleepover at his house on Friday. Sam’s going too.” Quinn stopped at the top of the stairway, and Neally almost bumped into his back. “Last year Sam’s dad said that Tay was a ‘fair-weather friend.’ Sam’s dad likes the weather, but I don’t think that was a compliment.”
    â€œWill Matt be at the sleepover?”
    â€œTay had to invite Matt. His parents made him invite his entire Scout troop.” Quinn lowered his eyes, as if speaking to his shoes. “I’m invited, but I don’t know if I’ll go. I’ve never done a sleepover all the way. I tried a few times at Sam’s, but I had to call my dad to come get me. I can’t sleep at sleepovers. There’s too much noise, and ...”
    And Quinn missed sleeping in his own bed, but he wasn’t going to tell Neally that. He missed the way his blankets smelled, like the flowers his mother planted by the back fence. He missed the sound of the hamster wheel spinning in Mickey’s room. He missed knowing his parents were down the hall and would wake up if the house caught on fire. He even missed his sister’s snoring—a wheezy, chuckling sound, as if she were giggling in her sleep.
    â€œSleepovers are over , all right,” Neally declared. “Over-rated, if you ask me. I’ll show you a yoga breathing trick my dad taught me. I use it whenever Ineed to calm down or have trouble sleeping. Did I tell you the idea my dad has for the community service project?”
    â€œOnly about ten times while your dad was bagging the leftover muffins for us.”
    â€œWe’ll get to spend a day outside, digging in the mud. I’ll wait until Sam gets here to tell the details—oh, hold on, idea alert! Let’s put the muffins out with glasses of milk and act like we don’t know where they came from. We’ll tell Mickey that the muffin fairy visited your house.”

15
THE MUFFIN FAIRY

    â€œPa, did Ma tell you what happened?” Mickey waved her fork as if it were a magic wand. “We got visited by the muffin fairy!”
    â€œThe muffin fairy?” Mr. Andrews asked.
    â€œUh, Mickey? Pa? Ma?” Quinn looked across the table and tapped his fork against the side of his head.
    â€œWe’ve been reading Little House on the Prairie ,” Ms. Lee explained. She passed a platter of potato pancakes to her husband. “Try one topped with applesauce. I think it’s even better than with sour cream.”
    Mickey’s eyes widened. “’Scuse me.” She dashed into the kitchen and returned to the table, clutching a vial of green food coloring. “We do the funnest art projects at school. Watch.” She reached for the bowl. “I can turn applesauce into diarrhea.”
    â€œ Mic-key !” Jim Andrews whisked the vial from his daughter’s hand.
    â€œGross!” Quinn dropped his fork. “That’s potty talk. She has to leave the table, right?”
    â€œDiarrhea is not potty,” Mickey huffed. “It’s more like ...”
    â€œTime out!” Marion Lee lowered her head to the table. “Someone, anyone, start a new subject, please .”
    Mr. Andrews took the food coloring and the applesauce to the kitchen counter. He returned to the table with a bowl of sour cream. “Who here knows of any school subjects suitable for dinner conversation?”
    â€œI got one.” Quinn’s knees pumped enthusiastically under the table. “Mr. Standers has an