Free Leo the Lioness by Constance C. Greene Page A

with the pie?” or something equally clever. But I held my tongue. I have always liked that expression. Have you ever tried to hold your tongue? It is very slippery.
    â€œCome on over to my house,” Jen said. “I’ve got a fantastic new record.”
    â€œI look so ghastly,” Nina moaned. “I feel so ghastly.”
    I was going to suggest that she borrow John’s hat but I didn’t. She went anyway. Probably they took the back way through the garbage pails so no one would see them.
    I didn’t go. Instead I stayed at home and did something I have never done before. I got out the laundry basket and did the ironing that Mom had left for Nina. I actually did. Every time I think of it I am impressed. I never even said I’d done it. I never even got credit. It was my beau geste . I just took the pillowcases to the linen closet and put the napkins in the drawer, and I didn’t say a word.
    Nina didn’t thank me, either. But that was all right. She was in such a state when my mother asked her she probably didn’t remember she was supposed to iron.

24.
    I think I have changed a lot this summer. I have grown and matured and I am also a sadder and wiser person. This comes with age. My character is being strengthened by leaps and bounds, as Carla said.
    I know that people and things are not always what they seem. I know that people you think are strong are sometimes weak. I know that the first date in a long dress can turn out to be a bomb. I know that I am not as nice as I thought I was. I have always thought of myself as a fairly nice person. But when the chips were down, I turned out to be mean and small and almost didn’t go to Carla’s wedding.
    I hope I have learned not to sit in judgment on people. I hope I have learned not to think I am always right and the other guy is always wrong. I hope I have learned to take a broader view of the world. As long as my standards remain mine and I stick to them, then it shouldn’t matter what other people’s standards are.
    I hope I have learned not to contemplate my navel as much as in the past.
    I have finished reading The Deerslayer . I am in love with Natty Bumppo. He was nothing but good. He was kind, noble, soft-spoken, honest, and all good things.
    I intend to make a study of him. I would not be in the least surprised to find that Natty Bumppo was a Leo.
    My horoscope for today says: “Hope begins to make you optimistic. Your mind will expand now. New ideas bring exciting possibilities.”
    I hope this is prophetic.

About the Author
    Constance C. Greene is the author of over twenty highly successful young adult novels, including the ALA Notable Book A Girl Called Al , Al(exandra) the Great, Getting Nowhere , and Beat the Turtle Drum , which is an ALA Notable Book, an IRA-CBC Children’s Choice, and the basis for the Emmy Award–winning after-school special Very Good Friends . Greene lives in Milford, Connecticut.

EARLY BIRD BOOKS
    FRESH EBOOK DEALS, DELIVERED DAILY
    BE THE FIRST TO KNOW ABOUT
FREE AND DISCOUNTED EBOOKS
    NEW DEALS HATCH EVERY DAY!

All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
    This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
    Copyright © 1970 by Constance C. Greene
    Cover design by Connie Gabbert
    ISBN: 978-1-5040-0096-3
    This edition published in 2015 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
    345 Hudson Street
    New York, NY 10014
    www.openroadmedia.com