Maude March on the Run!
Page 23
“It looks fine to me,” Maude said. “We haven't been here long.”
I said, “Let me know if you decide to really like it.”
While the conversation going on behind us didn't miss us, Maude said, “You have to take things as they are and just go on living, that's what Aunt Ruthie used to say.”
I said, “Do you think of Aunt Ruthie very often? Think about what she taught us and how useful those things are?”
“Every day,” Maude said.
“I wish I could tell her how smart she looks to me now.”
“That would give her a laugh,” Maude said.
“Likelier she'd make that little ‚hmph' sound, like she was holding down a sneeze.”
“Same thing,” Maude said.
Well, it was, since we were talking about Aunt Ruthie.
The full moon hung above us, low and large in the east, and made it nearly as bright as before the sun went down. I could see my shadow.
“I dreamed once that she laughed out loud,” I said. “It looked good on her.”
“Sallie, I feel like I'm making myself new.”
I walked barefoot out into the grass. I liked the feel of grass between my toes. On the porch, one of those fellows lifted up his fiddle and began to play a reel. The music looped through the air like a hawk in flight.
Maude followed me, saying, “It's all right with you, isn't it?”
“It's all right,” I answered, putting into my voice lilting tones I had copied from her. Maude had many a good point, and the lilt that showed up in her voice now and again was one of them.
She must have liked hearing it. She led me into dancing ring-around-the-rosy under the moon. A light rain began to fall, pit pat, and in a minute, settled into a gentle mist, just enough to cool the skin.
Marion stood leaning against a porch post. He tipped his hat back and watched. Ellie sat with Uncle Arlen, but she got up from the couch that was only big enough for the two of them and came to join hands with us, so we were me and Maude and Ellie weaving in a circle, heads thrown back, laughing.
Acknowledgments
A great big WAVE and an even bigger THANK-YOU to Brittany and all her gang at Drauden Point. You have no idea how long a compass was on my wish list.
Thank you, too, to the readers, reviewers, and booksellers of The Misadventures of Maude March for their generous reception of and enthusiasm for two girls gone kinda wrong. 'Preciate it.
Let me express unflagging gratitude to the staff at the White Sands Chicken Ranch for their warm welcome of two city dudes. Thank you Richard and Arnola Hall in Accommodations and Pat Dannemann, chief lookout and border guard.
And hey, Kirby, your name is in this book.
Shana Corey and all the hardworking people at Random House are fast becoming my usual list of suspects, acknowledgment-wise. This is a warm blanket and a big comfort to a writer sleeping under the stars, and most writers are. I am so lucky to have you all as pardners, and I know it.
I have an ever-deepening well of appreciation for my husband, Akila, who makes this easy for me. I thank him a thousand times a week; I hope he knows it.
Ditto the friends who help me and put up with me and, I am grateful to say, know how hard this is. May they be equally fortunate.
Last, not least, still thanking Jill Grinberg and the friend who drew me the map to find her.
About the Author
AUDREY COULOUMBIS'S first book for children, Getting Near to Baby, won the Newbery Honor in 2000. She is also the critically acclaimed author of Say Yes (2002), an IRA Children's Book Award winner, and The Misadventures of Maude March (2005), a Book Sense 76 Pick and a National Parenting Publications Award Winner. Before becoming a full-time writer, Audrey worked as a housekeeper, a sweater designer, a bookseller, and a school custodian. Today she lives in upstate New York and Florida with her husband, Akila, and their dog, Phoebe. Audrey and Akila have two grown children. You can visit Audrey's Web site at www.audreycouloumbis.com.
Published by Yearling, an imprint of Random House Children's Books
a division of Random House, Inc., New York
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the
author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead,
events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2007 by Audrey Couloumbis
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage
and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher, except where permitted
by law. For information address Random House Books for Young Readers.
Visit us on the Web! www.randomhouse.com/kids
Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at www.randomhouse.com/teachers
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Couloumbis, Audrey.
Maude March on the run!, or, Trouble is her middle name /
Audrey Couloumbis
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-0-307-48805-3
[1. Adventure and adventures—Fiction. 2. Frontier and pioneer life—Fiction.
3. Robbers and outlaws—Fiction. 4. Sisters—Fiction. 5. Orphans—Fiction.]
I. Title: Maude March on the run! II. Title: Trouble is her middle name. III. Title.
PZ7.C8305Mau 2006 [Fic]—dc22 2005036133
May 2008
v3.0