The Lost Mountain

Book One of the Series THE THREE LITTLE LIBRARIANS AND
THE BIG, BAD BROTHER
Copyright October 2008

[Part 2]

            “Oh, I forgot to tell you,” said Abby, “I asked my brother Avery about that.  He’s such a know-it-all, being in sixth grade.  He said there was a little girl just my age who got lost in the mountains years and years ago when the Indians lived here.  No one knows if she was ever found, but it’s possible that the Indians found her and adopted her.  The little girl’s blue-flowered calico bonnet was found in a blackberry thicket, but no other sign of her was ever found.  She must have worn clothes like Laura in Little House on the Prairie.”

            “That’s one of my favorite books!” said Emilee, “and I think the library just got another one about her, Little House in the Big Woods.”

            “Well, I’d better read it fast,” said Abby, “because Avery says if I don’t quit asking so many questions he’s going to take me out and lose me in the woods.”

            Emilee’s eyes danced.  “You know he’s just kidding, Abby.  Avery would fight Grizzly bears for you.”

            “I’m not so sure,” said Abby.  “He spends all his time rocking our baby sister, Anna, and pitching baseball with Daddy.  He’s locked me out of his room and won’t let me touch his Hardy Boys books.”

            “Well, you can say your Nancy Drew books are off limits,” said Megan who was just coming out of the church with a new box of crayons just fitting into her Lady and the Tramp Disney pocketbook. 

            “Hey girls,” said Avery, appearing out of nowhere, “I just saw Charlotte!”

            “Charlotte who?” the girls said in unison.

            “Just look over here,” said Avery, lifting up a branch of the crêpe myrtle near the church steps.

            “Ohhhhhhhh!” said the girls, in unison again.

            “See.  Here she is, and here’s her web.”

            “Oh, just leave us alone, Avery,” said Abby.  “We’ve got work to do!”

            The church bell was ringing, and it was time for “G.A.’s,” a short way of saying “Girls in Action” for missions, or—in the olden days—“Girls’ Auxiliary.”  As a service project, the girls were going to be helping out the church librarian, Mrs. Cloar, each Wednesday night.

(The Three Little Librarians and the Big, Bad Brother is a fictional book based on true events and real characters.)