Thanks for Nothing (From the Files of Madison Finn, 5) (8 page)

The next morning at breakfast, Mom was
still
pulling out Thanksgiving decorations. Inside an old, ratty shopping bag she’d rediscovered orange and brown grosgrain ribbons and cardboard turkeys with tears along the edges and faded spots where they’d been used over the years.

“I pulled this down from the attic,” Mom said, smiling. “Turkeys, pumpkins, you know the stuff we always put up when you were a kid.”

Madison took a big swallow of cereal. “Mn-hhuhh,” she said, chewing and nodding at the same time. “Mn-hhuhh, I know.”

“Can you believe we still have this?” Mom said, pulling a plastic Pilgrim out of the bag. One foot was almost eaten off.

Phin got up on his hind legs when he saw the chewed-up Pilgrim and started to growl. Madison nearly spit out her mouthful of cereal.

“He’s still mad at it?” she asked.

The plastic Pilgrim had been a decoration that was part of a Plymouth Rock set Dad bought when Phin was just a puppy. He had been afraid of the set at first, but then he’d munched on each plastic figure one by one. The Pilgrim Mom was holding was the only one rescued from the bunch.

“Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrooooof!” Phinnie yapped again. “Rowrrororooo!”

Mom and Madison started to laugh. It felt so good to laugh.

“Phinnie,” Madison said, grabbing for his collar. But he didn’t pay attention. He scooted over and jumped onto Mom’s lap instead.

“Hey, there, wiggler,” Mom teased, scratching his head.

Madison slurped down the rest of her cereal. Putting up decorations was not what she wanted to do, but the idea of telling Mom the truth about Dad’s invitation was something she wanted to do even
less.
What was there to celebrate? She thought of the devastated look on Mom’s face when the Thanksgiving truth was revealed: Madison wanted to spend Thanksgiving with Dad. This decision was final … right?

Mom’s work phone rang, and she went into the office. Phin followed her inside with his nose in the air. Normally he would have stayed close to Madison and begged for a cookie.

“Phinnie?” Madison watched the dog follow Mom. She sighed and went upstairs to open a brand-new file on her laptop.

Thanks for Nothing


Rude Awakening:
I’ve decided to quit Thanksgiving cold turkey.


First of all, I’m mad at Egg. And Mom and Dad are about to get really mad at each other because of me. Even Phin is moping around! What do I have to be thankful for?


Thanksgiving should be way easier than it is. Why do I feel a whole lot of thanks for NOTHING? YUCK.


As Madison hit SAVE, a brand new e-message marked
priority
popped up on the screen. It had a red exclamation point next to it, which meant “read me now.”

From: Bigwheels


To: MadFinn


Subject: NOW IT’S UR TURN!


Date: Sat 18 Nov 9:25 AM


How is the animal shelter? What kinds of dogs are there? Other animals, too?


I have a funny story to tell. I ALMOST CAME TO NEW YORK for Thanksgiving! Instead of our big family thing we almost decided to go visit my other grandma on the East Coast. What if we came there? I wonder if you and I would ever be able to meet F2F. My mom says someday we will. She knows all about you BTW. Does ur mom know about me? It’s so funny b/c usually you write and say I miss you b/c I am the lame one who hasn’t e-mailed. But now it’s me who misses you like you’re a new part of my family or something.


Where r u?


Yours till the autumn leaves,


Bigwheels


P.S. Whatever happened to your crush? Write back soon. I’m waiting.


Since the note had just been sent, Madison typed back a message quickly, hoping to catch her buddy online. “Bigwheels, where are you?” she asked aloud, typing as fast as her fingers would go. She scanned the alphabetical list of names in the TweenBlurt.com waiting room.

Amazing23


andrew_mac


AngelFace


Bethiscool


BryanSarah


Email_BOY


f2f2f2f2f


Jessica_01


LittleKevin


MARKIEhockey


Nowhere!

Madison’s keypal had vanished as quickly as she’d arrived. Madison reread Bigwheels’s e-mail and thought about everything she’d said. Then she went back to the Thanks for Nothing file and reread everything
she’d
said.

There had to be a better way to see things.

Madison just didn’t know where to look.

She clicked back to Bigwheels’s original e-mail and punched REPLY.

From: MadFinn


To: Bigwheels


Subject: Re: NOW IT’S UR TURN!


Date: Sat 18 Nov 10:06 AM


I can’t believe you aren’t coming to NY. I wonder if we ever really will meet. That is so weird. I wish sometimes that you lived next door.


The social studies project is better, I guess. My partner isn’t taking it as seriously as me, but I think we’ll be ok. I wish my family felt more ok, though. What is your family really like? And I mean all the time and not just on Thanksgiving. You know how sometimes people act so different during the holidays? At least my family does. What do you talk about with your family?


BTW my volunteering @ the clinic is awesome. I am soooo close already to this one dog I named Sugar. She is a mixed breed and very friendly. It tickles when she gives me kisses on the hand.


Please write again soon.


Yours till the pork chops (because I had those for dinner last night),


MadFinn


p.s. I still think my crush likes this other girl who happens to be my enemy @ school. I told you that, right? I don’t know for sure. Bye!


Late on Saturday afternoon, after walking Phin around the block and working for an hour on a school essay, Madison headed over to the animal shelter and clinic with Mom.

The sky was beginning to cloud up like rain was on the way. Madison brought her raincoat and umbrella just in case. She was always prepared for bad weather, even drizzle. Madison liked to be prepared for as many things as possible.

“I’ll pick you up later on,” Mom said before driving off. “In a couple of hours, okay?”

“Thanks, Mom,” Madison said. “See you later.”

Eileen was sitting at the front desk of the clinic with a juice bottle and an empty stare. She seemed tired today, but her shirt read
I’M FELINE GREAT!
It had an image of a giant, fluffy gray cat and a logo for the National Pet Adoption Service.

Madison walked up to the counter and grabbed the visitor and volunteer sign-in sheet. Dan’s name was signed for the morning, which meant he was around somewhere. He was probably in the back, taking care of Sugar the schnoodle or some other pup. She went back to search for him.

“Madison,” Eileen called after her. “I have to check in with Dr. Wing. Would you please go in back and help Mr. Wollensky with the cages?”

Madison started to walk away.

“Don’t forget, it’s the weekend,” Eileen called after her. “So we don’t have many appointments. It should be quiet around here. We just need to feed everyone. I’ll be back in a jiffy.”

As Eileen hustled out a side door, Madison looked for Mr. Wollensky and Sugar.

She glanced at the cages of animals lined against the wall. The dogs stared back. All of a sudden one howled. Then
all
the dogs started howling in unison.

“Hey!” Madison called out to them. “Shhh! Stop that!”

Then they howled a little louder—even Sugar.

Mr. Wollensky started to laugh. “They have something important to say, yes?”

“I wish they would stop.”

Madison begged the animals, “Shhh! Please? Pretty please?” As if they understood a single word she was saying!

“HOWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOO,” Sugar wailed at the fluorescent light on the ceiling. She wouldn’t stop baying.

Mr. Wollensky decided a feeding was probably in order. Maybe one cup each of Happy-Grow Kibble would quiet them? Madison tried to help him by grabbing an oversized container of food from the shelf. She started to measure the kibble out very, very slowly until—

CRASH!

The giant bag of dog food split open and kibble went streaming all over the floor. Madison stared as kibble rolled under counters and into corners of the room. She threw her hands up with despair.

Mr. Wollensky laughed again. “Oh, my! What mess!”

The dogs kept right on howling.

“Is everything okay in here?” A nurse from the front desk came back to the kennel area. She looked worried.

Mr. Wollensky had everything under control in moments. The dogs stopped howling, too, and started eating. “Everything good,” he said, waving the nurse back to the front. “We under control.”

Madison collapsed onto a nearby chair and put her head in her hands. “That was a close call,” she told herself. Suddenly she felt a wet nose on her hand.

“You have a friend who wants to play,” Mr. Wollensky said, handing Sugar’s leash to Madison.

Sugar
was
a new friend, Madison thought. Sugar prodded Madison with her paw like she wanted to be picked up.

“What are you doing?” Madison asked, petting the dog’s wiry-haired head. Madison stood up and stepped back to play. Unfortunately, she slipped right down, losing her balance on loose kibble that was still on the floor.

PLUNK!

Madison sat there on the floor in a kibble dust daze, a squiggling, wiggling schnoodle jumping on top.

Mr. Wollensky laughed at the sight of her.

“Hey, Mad-i-son!” Dan yelled, coming back into the kennel room. “What are you doing on the floor?”

“Madison! Is everything okay?” Eileen asked, walking in behind him. “Mr. Wollensky, what happened here?”

“She’s crying,” Dan said to his mom.

But of course Madison wasn’t
crying.
Madison was laughing—hard. Sugar’s dog kisses
really
tickled.

“We are fine now,” Mr. Wollensky said to Eileen. “Madison and I are cleaning up.”

Madison smiled at Mr. Wollensky.

“Your mom just called,” Eileen said. “She won’t be back in time to pick you up, so I’ll be giving you a ride home.”

But Eileen would do better than just drive Madison home. She offered to stop off at Freeze Palace for ice cream on the way.

While Eileen dashed to the supermarket, Madison and Dan waited outside Freeze Palace. They ate their ice cream on the curb.

“It’s cold out today,” Madison said.

“There is
never
a bad time for ice cream!” Dan laughed.

Madison walked on the curb like it was a balance beam. Dan tried, too, but he lost his balance. His ice cream scoop plopped into the gutter.

“Aw, no!” Dan cried, looking at his empty cone. “Good-bye, chocolate chips.”

A man was walking a giant sheepdog in front of the store.

“Nice dog,” Dan said to the owner as he bent down to pet it. When Madison petted the dog, he slobbered all over her arm.

“Look out!” Dan cried. He pointed to her opposite hand, but it was too late. All the dog petting had Madison off balance, too. And now her ice cream had dropped off, too.

“Whoopsie,” she said, giggling.

Dan shook his head. “Way to go.”

The sheepdog was happy about the accident, however. He was licking the ice cream off the ground.

Madison and Dan laughed. Madison was glad she and Dan were friends.

S
UNDAY MORNING MADISON GOT
up earlier than usual for a weekend. She had the social studies project on the brain. Today she and Egg had to finish their extra-credit project.
Finally.

Madison had been collecting a file and notebook of project ideas for almost a week. She’d found a list on the Web that showed the names of all 104
Mayflower
passengers from 1620. She had read up about storms at sea and sickness on the plantation. There was a separate list of crewmembers and ship passengers, some of whom had survived and others who had perished.

After eating breakfast, Mom drove Madison over to the Diaz house. It had been Madison’s idea to meet there. That way Egg wouldn’t be late and he’d
definitely
show up.

When Madison rang the doorbell, it took a moment for anyone to answer. She later found Egg’s grandmother, Abuela; his aunt, Tía Ana; his older sister, Mariah; and his mom sitting in the kitchen, reading the paper and talking.

Egg’s house was different than Madison’s in so many ways. It was smaller in size, but his place was packed with people.

“Hola! Cómo estás?”
Señora Diaz chirped when Madison arrived. She poured a tall glass of juice. “Walter
está arriba”

Señora Diaz taught Spanish at Far Hills Junior High and always tried to get Madison to practice her Spanish.