The Penderwicks at Point Mouette by Jeanne Birdsall Page B

be annoyed if she didn’t return soon with the groceries. She made her way back toward the road, stopping only to pick up a few smooth stones that were the right sizefor paperweights. But when she reached the slope, she found that going up was more difficult than coming down had been. Her sneakers couldn’t get a grip on the pebbles, and the few tufts of weeds she grabbed tore away under her weight. Jane stubbornly persevered, however, and was almost to the top when she heard the rattle of a skateboard. Eagerly she looked up, and yes, there was Dominic, waving regally to her as he sailed by.
    “Hello,” Jane called to him, and if she’d been content with calling, all would have been well. But she just had to wave back, and what with the paperweight rocks in her left hand and her right hand now flailing around at the rapidly departing skateboarder, Jane lost her balance, teetered for a panicky moment, then was spinning and falling, arms and legs and paperweights flying everywhere.
    Her first thought upon landing was that she hoped Dominic hadn’t seen her be so clumsy. Her second thought was that someone nearby must be in pain, because that someone kept saying “Ouch,” except that it was more like “Ouuuuuch.” Jane would have liked to help the person, except that she herself was having difficulty with her nose, mixed up as it was with sand and paperweights and something else that was warm and sticky—and then Jane realized that she was the one making all the noise.
    So she stopped. Sabrina Starr never said ouch.Even with a nose that, Jane realized, hurt as much as any part of her ever had, including the time Skye had accidentally stabbed her with a barbecue fork. At least the damage seemed to be limited to her nose. Jane tested her limbs one at a time. All was well there, which meant she should be able to stand up. But because she was dizzier than she would have liked, it took a while to get upright, and once she was there, the pain got worse.
    “Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch,” she said because she just had to, Sabrina or no Sabrina.
    The next task was to climb up to the road. But if it had been tricky before, it was close to impossible now. She kept getting partway up the pebbly slope and sliding backward again. Maybe Jane would have done better if she’d had the use of both hands, but she’d lost most of the paperweights in her fall and wasn’t thinking straight enough to throw away the one she had left. Once, twice, three times she tried, and was about to give up and go beg old Neptune for help when a car stopped on the road above her, and soon after that a man was lifting her up as easily as if she were Batty. He gently set her down beside his car.
    “I can stand,” she said, wobbling.
    “Not very well,” he said. “Sit.”
    So Jane let her legs collapse under her, and the man guided her to the ground. A minute later, he was handing her a water bottle.
    “Drink,” he said.
    She drank half the bottle of water, which did nothing for her hurting nose but did ease the dizziness enough to let her focus on her savior. He was a dark man, tall and strong, with kind eyes and no hair at all. Not having hair suited him, Jane thought, and made him look even stronger. No wonder he could lift her so easily.
    “Thank you,” she said. “You rescued me.”
    “What happened?”
    “I think I smacked my nose with this,” she answered, showing him the paperweight rock. “Not on purpose.”
    “Do you know you’re covered with blood?”
    Jane looked down at her shirt, which was indeed a mess. “Oh, boy. My sister is going to be furious, especially if my nose is actually broken. Do you think it is?”
    “Can you breathe through it?”
    “Yes.”
    “It looks straight, so unless it used to be crooked, I’d say it isn’t broken. Come on, I’ll drive you to this furious sister of yours.” He stopped and frowned. “But of course you don’t know anything about me, so you can’t get into my car. What a