If Uncle Paul stuck around, Dad would do his best to keep him disaster free. I had another shot with Cody too. Unless I’d lost my summer job.
I hoped I hadn’t.
Early August
Cass
With Ben out of commission, the Floyds enrolled Cody in the first session of Nature Day Camp down the street at the Tallahassee Museum. By the second session Ben, Justin, Jemmie, and me were down there too, as volunteer junior counselors. According to Ben, he now had a dozen “little bothers” to keep track of. We all complained about the mosquitoes, but mostly we shined ourselves up with spray-on repellent and had a great time.
In the evenings when it was cooler we were back on the street, shooting hoops.
“Shotgun! Over here!” Uncle Paul would wave his arms. “I’m open!” And Ben would pass the ball to him—unless Jemmie intercepted it. Some things never changed.
But plenty had.
We didn’t play Girls vs. Guys anymore since Uncle Paul had been added. And Cody. Some nights Ben’s dad would play too.
Uncle Paul wasn’t big on following the rules. He liked making up his own. It got even more confusing when he brought a second basketball home with him from his part-time job at Sports Authority (my sister said he got the job because of the great haircut she gave him). Next paycheck he came home with a third ball.
Sometimes we had all three balls in play, stealing and shooting nonstop. Uncle Paul wasn’t a good player, but he would try anything. He invented new games and made up rules on the spot, like the double-man rule that let Cody sit on someone’s shoulders when he was trying for a free throw. Doing that, Cody made his shots most of the time. He said it was better than a magic hat, which was lucky because the magic hat was gone.
And so was Nowhere—I mean, the building was there, but we weren’t. That secret place of our own was beginning to feel like something out of a story I’d heard a long time ago. Once upon a time, in a deep, dark woods…
Summer was almost gone too and all of us were thinking about what would come next. But that was okay.
Maybe it was time for a change.
About the Author
Adrian Fogelin is the author of several novels for middle readers and young adults, including Crossing Jordan and The Real Question. She lives in Florida.
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 © 2015 by Adrian Fogelin
Cover design by Nicola Carmack
Book design by Melanie McMahon Ives
ISBN: 978-1-5040-5166-8
Peachtree Publishers
1700 Chattahoochee Avenue
Atlanta, Georgia 30318-2112
www.peachtree-online.com
Distributed in 2018 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
180 Maiden Lane
New York, NY 10038
www.openroadmedia.com
ADRIAN FOGELIN
FROM PEACHTREE PUBLISHERS
AND OPEN ROAD MEDIA
Peachtree Publishers is an independently owned trade book publisher, specializing in quality children’s books, from picture books to young adult fiction and nonfiction; consumer references in health, education, and parenting; and regional guidebooks about the American South, where the company is based. Our mission is to create books that captivate and educate young and old readers alike, with well-crafted words and pictures.
FIND OUT MORE AT
WWW.PEACHTREE-ONLINE.COM
FOLLOW US:
@PeachtreePub and Facebook.com/PeachtreePub
Peachtree Publishers is one of a select group of
publishing partners of Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
Find a full list of our authors and
titles at www.openroadmedia.com
FOLLOW US:
Some Kind of Magic Page 18