The Romeo and Juliet Code Read Online Free Page A
Author: Phoebe Stone
awkward like a great bear’s paw, and one of my braids got caught on his cuff link. “Okay, then, Fliss?” he said. “Okay? Fine?”
I went off into the parlor without exactly answering him. I was listening instead to a lovely song in my head that reminded me of England. I stood by the velvet curtains, halfway humming and standing on one foot. Aunt Miami was in there. She was all dressed up in a purple taffeta dress with a rose pinned in her hair. Aunt Miami was reading Romeo and Juliet again.
After a while, even though I was switching from one foot to the other, both feet were getting ever so tired. Auntie nodded at me and patted the cushion on the sofa next to her. I finally gave up and went over and sat beside her.
She was reading aloud the scene in which one night Romeo stands in the courtyard below Juliet’s bedroom. Aunt Miami read those words with great feeling.
Then Uncle Gideon came barging in, saying, “See what I mean about being stuck, Flissy? She just keeps reading Romeo and Juliet over and over again. There are other wonderful books in the world. What do you say, Fliss? Do you agree? Isn’t it so?”
Aunt Miami sighed and held the book up, covering her face.
“Alas,” said Uncle Gideon, “we Bathburns are a lonely lot. All we know is the wind. None of us have gotten mixed up with life. Your aunt Miami is a frustrated actress. She wants the stage! She wants lights! Applause! But does she do anything about it? No. Typical Bathburn.”
“What about my dad, Danny?” I said. “He’s a Bathburn.”
Uncle Gideon didn’t answer. He looked down at his feet instead and then he looked away altogether.
Aunt Miami said, “Oh, Danny’s different. He’s the daring, brilliant one. It’s always been like that.”
“I see,” I said to myself.
“Anyway, you mustn’t listen to him ,” Miami said, pointing to Uncle Gideon. “He’s a big tease and doesn’t know beans. If you hang around with him, by the time your parents get back you will be completely confused.”
By the time my parents get back . That’s what Auntie Miami said. It was lovely to hear those words.
Dear Winnie and Danny,
I was outside today even though it was still raining. I made huge letters out of sand, ones that you can read from high up. The letters said “I Love You, Winnie and Danny” stretched across the beach, so if you happen to fly over in an airplane, look down and see it.
Love,
Fliss
P.S. That’s what Uncle Gideon calls me. I can’t get used to it at all. Miami says Gideon thinks he’s hot potatoes cause he’s got the same name as the Gideon Bible .
The smokestacks were painted gray; in fact, the whole enormous ship was painted gray; even the windows were painted out, covered in gray and sealed shut. That was how I came to America, on the HMS Queen Anne ’s maiden voyage and it had to be secret because the waters were full of German U-boats. They had to sneak the Queen Anne over the ocean to New York City. The windows were painted over so no light would escape, so no bomber at night, flying overhead, could spot the Queen Anne sailing along in great silence. Winnie and Danny and I were some of the few passengers on that boat. It had been built to be a luxury liner, but it was now being moved to an American harbor for safekeeping.
And the whole enormous dark boat was empty except for us and a handful of other passengers and a small crew. There were long empty dining rooms, tilting dark corridors, vacant lonely staterooms with their portholes painted over.
We got on the boat at night. Danny had talked to an officer friend for a long time, trying to convince him to let us board. “We are American citizens and we need to go home,” he said. We waited in the small dimly lit office with some other people. We hadn’t been able to find any boat that would take us to America. We heard about another British boat, the SS Athenia, that had been full of Americans going home and had been sunk by a German U-boat.
But
I went off into the parlor without exactly answering him. I was listening instead to a lovely song in my head that reminded me of England. I stood by the velvet curtains, halfway humming and standing on one foot. Aunt Miami was in there. She was all dressed up in a purple taffeta dress with a rose pinned in her hair. Aunt Miami was reading Romeo and Juliet again.
After a while, even though I was switching from one foot to the other, both feet were getting ever so tired. Auntie nodded at me and patted the cushion on the sofa next to her. I finally gave up and went over and sat beside her.
She was reading aloud the scene in which one night Romeo stands in the courtyard below Juliet’s bedroom. Aunt Miami read those words with great feeling.
Then Uncle Gideon came barging in, saying, “See what I mean about being stuck, Flissy? She just keeps reading Romeo and Juliet over and over again. There are other wonderful books in the world. What do you say, Fliss? Do you agree? Isn’t it so?”
Aunt Miami sighed and held the book up, covering her face.
“Alas,” said Uncle Gideon, “we Bathburns are a lonely lot. All we know is the wind. None of us have gotten mixed up with life. Your aunt Miami is a frustrated actress. She wants the stage! She wants lights! Applause! But does she do anything about it? No. Typical Bathburn.”
“What about my dad, Danny?” I said. “He’s a Bathburn.”
Uncle Gideon didn’t answer. He looked down at his feet instead and then he looked away altogether.
Aunt Miami said, “Oh, Danny’s different. He’s the daring, brilliant one. It’s always been like that.”
“I see,” I said to myself.
“Anyway, you mustn’t listen to him ,” Miami said, pointing to Uncle Gideon. “He’s a big tease and doesn’t know beans. If you hang around with him, by the time your parents get back you will be completely confused.”
By the time my parents get back . That’s what Auntie Miami said. It was lovely to hear those words.
Dear Winnie and Danny,
I was outside today even though it was still raining. I made huge letters out of sand, ones that you can read from high up. The letters said “I Love You, Winnie and Danny” stretched across the beach, so if you happen to fly over in an airplane, look down and see it.
Love,
Fliss
P.S. That’s what Uncle Gideon calls me. I can’t get used to it at all. Miami says Gideon thinks he’s hot potatoes cause he’s got the same name as the Gideon Bible .
The smokestacks were painted gray; in fact, the whole enormous ship was painted gray; even the windows were painted out, covered in gray and sealed shut. That was how I came to America, on the HMS Queen Anne ’s maiden voyage and it had to be secret because the waters were full of German U-boats. They had to sneak the Queen Anne over the ocean to New York City. The windows were painted over so no light would escape, so no bomber at night, flying overhead, could spot the Queen Anne sailing along in great silence. Winnie and Danny and I were some of the few passengers on that boat. It had been built to be a luxury liner, but it was now being moved to an American harbor for safekeeping.
And the whole enormous dark boat was empty except for us and a handful of other passengers and a small crew. There were long empty dining rooms, tilting dark corridors, vacant lonely staterooms with their portholes painted over.
We got on the boat at night. Danny had talked to an officer friend for a long time, trying to convince him to let us board. “We are American citizens and we need to go home,” he said. We waited in the small dimly lit office with some other people. We hadn’t been able to find any boat that would take us to America. We heard about another British boat, the SS Athenia, that had been full of Americans going home and had been sunk by a German U-boat.
But