Free Left Behind by Laurie Halse Anderson Page A

sees the first one. “Over there!” She points to the trees at the edge of Dr. Mac’s property. We sit in easy silence for a while, pointing on occasion to the nearest group of flashing bugs.
    Maggie sighs. “Did we get too old to chase them?” she asks.
    â€œNot too old. Too hot,” Brenna says.
    â€œI wonder if it’s hot in the Adirondacks tonight. Do you think David is too hot to catch fireflies?”
    â€œNot David,” Brenna says with a laugh. “Heprobably has jars of trained fireflies by now. A whole firefly circus.”
    â€œHe’d be the one who could do it,” Maggie says, running her hand along the grass. “I miss that goofball.”
    â€œHe’ll be gone all of next week. Josh and Jules come back this week, though,” I say.
    â€œGood,” Brenna says. “We could use them at the clinic.”
    I grab my pillow from the tent and use it to fan myself. “What about Zoe? When does she get back?”
    â€œWho knows,” Maggie replies, pulling grass tufts from the ground. “Her mom is likely to change all the plans at the last minute anyway. I’ve learned not to expect much. Zoe will be here when she’s here.”
    I glance at Brenna. She raises her eyebrows but doesn’t say anything. Maggie is missing Zoe. It’s easy to recognize now.
    â€œDo you think it’s going to rain again tonight?” I ask. I put the pillow down. Fanning myself with it isn’t helping a bit. “Maybe a lightning storm?” I suggest. We’ll have to go in if it looks like a lightning storm. Dr. Mac wouldn’t want us in a tent. I cross my fingers and search the sky.
    â€œI try never to check the weather,” Maggie says.“Well, at least not during summer. Since there’s no school, it doesn’t really matter what the weather is like.” She pauses a moment, then adds, “It’s great that the next school year is so far away.”
    This is one thing that Maggie and I will never agree on. I love school. The projects, the structure, the organization, the chance to learn new things—all of it makes me happy. But I don’t want to burst Maggie’s bubble, especially since she was so angry earlier.
    â€œBut school will start eventually,” Brenna says, picking a blade of grass and pulling it through her fingers. “And we three could be in great running shape by then. Has either of you given my idea of cross-country any thought?”
    â€œAre you kidding?” Maggie says. “With the day we’ve had? All I can think about are all the changes that Gran is making at the clinic. I’m not ready to think about school, too.” Maggie rips up another clump of grass and dirt with her left hand and then tries pushing it back into the ground.
    â€œMaybe we should go back to thinking about how nice it is that we still have weeks and weeks of summer left,” I say. It’s getting darker and the fireflies have moved out from the trees and up from the ground and are blinking all around us now.
    â€œYeah, but who knows what things are going to be like. I don’t want to be standing around in the clinic watching Melissa doing all the stuff we used to do,” Maggie says, hissing out the “liss” in Melissa. She pulls up the same clump of grass.
    â€œCome on,” Brenna says. “You heard your grandmother. And you’ve seen how the clinic is getting busier and busier. No one is doing much standing around.” Brenna tries fanning herself with her hand. When that doesn’t work, she leans forward, unzips the tent, and pulls out the big envelope with the running information in it. She fans herself and then turns to Maggie and me and fans us, too. The breeze feels great.
    â€œMaggie,” I say as gently as I can, “Dr. Mac mentioned to Brenna and me that she’s been thinking about hiring a vet tech for a while. She said that she’s talked