Jeanne Birdsall - The Penderwicks at Point Mouette

THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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v3.1

For Quinn

T HE P ENDERWICK FAMILY was being torn apart. The tearing wouldnt last longonly two weeksbut still it was uncomfortable. Mr. Penderwick was the first to go, flying off to England with his new wife, Iantha, for scientific conferences and a bit of a honeymoon. With them went Ben, Ianthas son, who was too small to be without his mother, honeymoon or not.

That had been two days earlier, and now the remaining Penderwicksfour sisters named Rosalind, Skye, Jane, and Battywere about to tear apart even more. Early the next morning, three of them would leave for Maine with the sisters favorite relative, Aunt Claire, while the fourth headed to New Jersey with her best friend. The girls had never been apart for an entire two weeks, and though all of them were nervous about it, the one going off on her own was the most nervous. This was the oldest, thirteen-year-old Rosalind, and she was having a terrible time accepting that her sisters could survive without her.

Right now she was waiting in her bedroom for them to arrive. She didnt want to be in her bedroomshe wanted to be with five-year-old Batty, getting her ready for bed just like she always did. But tonight Skye and Jane, the two middle sisters, were helping Batty with her bath and pajamas. Practice, Aunt Claire called it, or a dry run. Shed thought it would calm Rosalind to see that indeed she wasnt absolutely needed when it came to Batty. And Rosalind would have been calm, except that the others were supposed to come to her room as soon as they were finished, and that should have been at least ten minutes ago. How could a simple bath take so long? They knew she wanted to have one last MOPSthat is, Meeting of Penderwick Sistersbefore Batty had to go to sleep. One last MOPS before they were all separated for two weeks.

Two whole weeks, groaned Rosalind, then looked up hopefully, because she heard footsteps in the hall. They were here.

But it was only one of themtwelve-year-old Skye, the second sisterand she didnt have the look of someone whod just conducted a successful bath. Her blond hair was hanging in damp clumps, and there were wet spots on her T-shirt.

Its not as bad as it looks, she said. Battys fine. She didnt drown or anything.

Then what happened?

Hound got into the tub with her.

That explained why Skye was so wet. The Penderwicks large black dog was clumsy and enthusiasticgetting him out of a bathtub would make anyone wet. But it didnt explain why hed been in the bathroom in the first place.

Hound always tries to get into the tub, said Rosalind. Thats why hes not allowed near Batty at bath time. Didnt you know that?

Nope, and neither did Jane. But we know it now, and well clean up the bathroom later. I promise.

A dry run! The irony wasnt lost on Rosalind. She was determined not to scold, though, not this very last night. Where are the others?

Jane is helping Batty with her pajamas. Theyll be here soon. Skye shook her head violently, tossing droplets of water across the room. Wheres your Latin dictionary? I need to look up revenge.

On my bookshelf, though I wish you wouldnt. Rosalind knew why Skye was thinking about revenge, and that shed been thinking of little else for the last twenty-four hours. Which was absolutely not the best way to prepare for the next two weeks. With Rosalind off in New Jersey, Skye would be the OAPOldest Available Penderwickand she needed to concentrate on taking care of her two younger sisters, not on carrying out revenge. Daddy says the best revenge is to be better than your enemy.

Im doing that, too. Almost anyone could, said Skye, leafing through the dictionary. Here it is. Revenge: ultio or vindicta. Then it says: to take revenge on is se vindicare in. Se vindicare in Jeffreys loathsome mother. How do I say Jeffreys loathsome mother in Latin?

Skyes desire for revenge was justifiedRosalind knew that. Jeffrey was Jeffrey Tifton, a boy the Penderwicks had met the previous summer while renting a cottage at his mothers estate, called Arundel. By the time that vacation was over, Jeffrey was their excellent friend and honorary brother, and since then the sisters had seen him as often as they could, which was nowhere near often enough. He was always too far awayeither at Arundel, a couple of hours west of the Penderwicks home in Cameron, Massachusetts, or at his Boston boarding school, a couple of hours east of Cameron. It had been natural, then, for the younger three sisters to want Jeffrey in Maine with them, and with great hope theyd invited him.

After much dillydallying and back-and-forthing by his mother, permission had finally been granted, spirits raised, ecstatic phone calls exchangeduntil suddenly, just that morning, a mere twenty-four hours before departure for Maine, the permission had been withdrawn. Jeffreys mother had decided that he wasnt going with the Penderwicks. No reason had been given. He simply wasnt going anywhere. He was stuck at Arundel for the whole summer.

Even through their agonized disappointment, the sisters werent all that surprised. Jeffreys mother was capable of endless awfulnessthe real surprise was that she had a son as wonderful as Jeffrey. The Penderwicks only explanation was that Jeffrey had inherited his good qualities from his father, but this was guesswork, since Jeffrey had never met him, nor did he know his name, or even if he was alive or dead. Which was all sad and terrible enough, but in the last year hed also been saddled with a stepfather, the selfish and stupid Dexter Dupree.

Loathsome. Here it is: foedus, said Skye. Jeffreys foedus mother, Mrs. Tifton-Dupree, known to us as foedus Mrs. T-D. I like it.

You need to use the feminine accusative form of the adjective, said Rosalind, momentarily in the spirit of things.

An unimportant detail. Skye wouldnt study Latin until she started seventh grade in the fall. Maybe I should include Dexter. Help me translate this: To take revenge on Dexter and foedus Mrs. T-D, I consign them to a life of guilt-racked agony, like a serpent in their entrails.

Guilt-racked agony! Did you write that?

No, Jane did, after you shot down her idea about voodoo dolls.