Taffy Sinclair 007 - Taffy Sinclair and the Secret Admirer Epidemic Read Online Free
Author: Betsy Haynes
That should make it easy to find out who he is. "
" Well, I just hope that he ' s somebody really cute who will make Randy Kirwan so-o-o-o jealous when he finds out that he will practically go berserk! " said Beth. " That would serve him right. "
" Yeah, " I whispered as a shimmery feeling went through me. It was getting more exciting by the minute.
My friends and I talked for a little while longer, making plans to be detectives at school the next day and find out who my secret admirer was. After I got home I spread the note on the kitchen table and studied it for a long time. I was thinking about all the detective shows I had seen on television where the bad guy types a note on a typewriter with a crooked letter, and as soon as they find the typewriter, they know who he is and arrest him. Unfortunately, there weren ' t any crooked letters in this note. All I could hope for was that he w ould stare at me a lot tomorrow.
CHAPTER FOUR
I could hardly wait for Mom to get home from work so that I could show her my secret admirer note. I wondered if she would have any suggestions for finding out who he was. I had been racking my brain and hadn ' t come up with one single idea.
When I heard her come into the apartment, I grabbed the note and went to meet her.
" Hi, sweetheart, " she chirped. " Wait until you see what I have. "
I couldn ' t imagine what she was talking about. As soon as she hung up her coat, she began pulling brightly colored brochures out of her purse and spreading them on the kitchen table.
" Just look at this. " She thrust a flyer toward me with a beautiful lady in a bathing suit on the front. " Bermuda! And here ' s one for Disney World in Florida. "
I stuffed my secret admirer note into my back pocket and took the brochure, but I didn ' t look at it. All these vacation flyers could mean only one thing. " Are you and Pink planning your honeymoon? " I said around the lump that was growing in my throat.
Pink is short for Wallace Pinkerton, and he and my mother are engaged. I like Pink a lot, but it ' s hard for me to think of him as part of our family since my father lives les s than one hundred miles away in Poughkeepsie, New York. Of course, he ' s an alcoholic and never comes to see me or very seldom writes, but still, he ' s the one who is really my father, not Pink.
Mom got a surprised look on her face. " Oh, no, honey, " she insisted. " These have nothing to do with Pink and me. We haven ' t even set a wedding date yet. They ' re for us. I should have explained. "
I was more confused than ever. " What do you mean, they ' re for us? We could never go places like these. They ' re EXPENSIVE! "
I shook my head. It was no secret that we had trouble getting by on what Mom made as classified ad manager at the Bridgeport Post , especially when my father didn ' t send the monthly support check. There was certainly no way that we could afford to go to a place like Disney World.
" I know, " Mom admitted. " But I walk by a travel agency every day on my way to and from work, and the pictures on their windows always look so exciting. I just thought it might be fun to look at some of their brochures and pretend that we were going on a big adventure. " Then she grinned sheepishly and said, " That was sort of silly, wasn ' t it? "
" Gosh, no. I ' d love to go on an exciting vacation. Maybe if we started saving change in an empty jar we could go someday. "
Mom laughed and gave me a hug. Then she picked up the brochures and dropped them into the wastebasket. " That ' s a good idea. I even have an empty mayonnaise jar we can use. Let ' s see how much we save before we start planning, " she said cheerfully. " Now you finish your homework while I get supper started. "
When I got back to my room, I opened my math book, but I couldn ' t concentrate on the problems. I was thinking about Mom. I had never realized what a boring life she led. No wonder she was crabby sometimes. She just went to work every day and then
" Well, I just hope that he ' s somebody really cute who will make Randy Kirwan so-o-o-o jealous when he finds out that he will practically go berserk! " said Beth. " That would serve him right. "
" Yeah, " I whispered as a shimmery feeling went through me. It was getting more exciting by the minute.
My friends and I talked for a little while longer, making plans to be detectives at school the next day and find out who my secret admirer was. After I got home I spread the note on the kitchen table and studied it for a long time. I was thinking about all the detective shows I had seen on television where the bad guy types a note on a typewriter with a crooked letter, and as soon as they find the typewriter, they know who he is and arrest him. Unfortunately, there weren ' t any crooked letters in this note. All I could hope for was that he w ould stare at me a lot tomorrow.
CHAPTER FOUR
I could hardly wait for Mom to get home from work so that I could show her my secret admirer note. I wondered if she would have any suggestions for finding out who he was. I had been racking my brain and hadn ' t come up with one single idea.
When I heard her come into the apartment, I grabbed the note and went to meet her.
" Hi, sweetheart, " she chirped. " Wait until you see what I have. "
I couldn ' t imagine what she was talking about. As soon as she hung up her coat, she began pulling brightly colored brochures out of her purse and spreading them on the kitchen table.
" Just look at this. " She thrust a flyer toward me with a beautiful lady in a bathing suit on the front. " Bermuda! And here ' s one for Disney World in Florida. "
I stuffed my secret admirer note into my back pocket and took the brochure, but I didn ' t look at it. All these vacation flyers could mean only one thing. " Are you and Pink planning your honeymoon? " I said around the lump that was growing in my throat.
Pink is short for Wallace Pinkerton, and he and my mother are engaged. I like Pink a lot, but it ' s hard for me to think of him as part of our family since my father lives les s than one hundred miles away in Poughkeepsie, New York. Of course, he ' s an alcoholic and never comes to see me or very seldom writes, but still, he ' s the one who is really my father, not Pink.
Mom got a surprised look on her face. " Oh, no, honey, " she insisted. " These have nothing to do with Pink and me. We haven ' t even set a wedding date yet. They ' re for us. I should have explained. "
I was more confused than ever. " What do you mean, they ' re for us? We could never go places like these. They ' re EXPENSIVE! "
I shook my head. It was no secret that we had trouble getting by on what Mom made as classified ad manager at the Bridgeport Post , especially when my father didn ' t send the monthly support check. There was certainly no way that we could afford to go to a place like Disney World.
" I know, " Mom admitted. " But I walk by a travel agency every day on my way to and from work, and the pictures on their windows always look so exciting. I just thought it might be fun to look at some of their brochures and pretend that we were going on a big adventure. " Then she grinned sheepishly and said, " That was sort of silly, wasn ' t it? "
" Gosh, no. I ' d love to go on an exciting vacation. Maybe if we started saving change in an empty jar we could go someday. "
Mom laughed and gave me a hug. Then she picked up the brochures and dropped them into the wastebasket. " That ' s a good idea. I even have an empty mayonnaise jar we can use. Let ' s see how much we save before we start planning, " she said cheerfully. " Now you finish your homework while I get supper started. "
When I got back to my room, I opened my math book, but I couldn ' t concentrate on the problems. I was thinking about Mom. I had never realized what a boring life she led. No wonder she was crabby sometimes. She just went to work every day and then
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