Free Daphne's Book by Mary Downing Hahn

about you. He asked me to come out here." Now that she was acting so cold, I certainly wasn't going to tell her that it had been my idea.
    "Wait here. I'll get them for you." Shutting the door in my face, she left me alone on the porch. The cats had dashed inside the second the door opened.
    I felt like turning around and going home, but I hesitated, not wanting to leave without the pictures. Then a movement at one of the windows caught my eye. Through the glass I saw Hope, smiling and waving at me.
    Yanking the door open, she stuck her head out. "Hi, Jessica! Did you walk all the way out here?"
    I nodded and smiled at her, reminding myself that it was her rude sister, not Hope, that I was mad at.
    "Is that door open?" The old woman I'd seen on the road stepped into the hall behind Hope. Seeing me, she frowned. "Who are you?"
    "This is Jessica," Hope said. "She goes to Daphne's school." Seizing my hand, Hope pulled me into the house, letting the door slam shut.
    I looked at their grandmother apprehensively. "Daphne went upstairs to get something for me," I said.
    The old woman didn't look at all pleased to have company. She stared at me out of sunken, red-rimmed eyes. Her mouth twitched and she rubbed one hand against the other, making a dry rustly noise.
    "You're from Adelphia, aren't you?" The woman stepped a little closer, her sharp old eyes taking in every detail of my appearance.
    I nodded and glanced toward the stairs, wishing Daphne would come back. I wanted to go home, I wanted to get away from Daphne's grandmother. I didn't like the house; it was dark and cold, full of trash and stinking of cats. But I was too scared to move.
    "You've got that Adelphia look," the old woman went on. "Everybody there looks the same. Little cardboard houses popping up everywhere, everybody driving those cheap little cars, throwing their trash all over the place." She glared at me, her hands rubbing together faster and faster. "You won't see me selling my land to any fast-talking developer. I won't have any of those flimsy things on my farm. You hear?"
    I looked desperately at Hope, but she just stood there, twirling her hair around one of her fingers and gazing out the window. I wanted to tell her to go get Daphne, but I was afraid her grandmother would become even more agitated.
    "What's the matter with you, girl? Haven't you got anything to say for yourself?" The old woman shoved her face so close to mine that I could see the pores in her skin.
    "Here are the pictures." Daphne thumped down the stairs and thrust a brown envelope at me. Turning to her grandmother, she said, "This is Jessica Taylor."
    The old woman nodded. "She's from Adelphia."
    "Jessica, this is my grandmother, Mrs. Woodleigh." Daphne grabbed her parka from a coat tree in the corner. "Come on," she said to me. "I'll walk down the drive with you."
    Reaching for her jacket, Hope said, "I want to come, too."
    Mrs. Woodleigh grabbed her arm. "No, no, it's too cold outside for my baby. You stay here with Granny."
    The door thunked shut, cutting off a disappointed cry from Hope. Daphne hurried down the steps ahead of me, her hair billowing in the wind, and I ran after her, glad to breathe in the fresh, cold air.
    When we reached the driveway, Daphne slowed down to a walk and I caught up with her. "Are you coming back to school Monday?"
    She glanced at me, then gazed off into the distance, where the houses of Adelphia seemed to be marching over the hills toward Mrs. Woodleigh's farm. "I don't think so," she said, her face hidden.
    "You don't seem sick." I stared at her. "What's wrong with you?"
    She shrugged. "I don't know. I think I probably have mononucleosis."
    "What's that? Is it contagious?"
    "Only if you drink out of a glass I drank out of." She turned toward me then, her face worried. "Will you tell Mr. O'Brien that I have mononucleosis?"
    "Sure." I said it over a few times in my mind, so I'd be sure to remember it. "When will you be back?"
    "Not for a long time. It