The Missing Book by Lois Gladys Leppard

1
    Where Is It?
    â€œLET’S SEE NOW,” Mandie said to herself as she placed her books on a table in the parlor. “I think I’ll do my reading assignment first.”
    Mandie had come home from school that March afternoon and had immediately sat down to begin her homework. Her mother was at Miss Abigail’s house helping the neighbor women finish some needlework for Mrs. Chapman. Her father was outside working on the split-rail fence around their property. And her sister, Irene, was nowhere to be found.
    Mandie shuffled through the books, looking for her reading book. It was not there.
    â€œOh, shucks!” she exclaimed. “I don’t have my book. I wonder where it is.” She thought for a moment and then said aloud, “Joe must have it. He must have forgotten to give it to me when he carried my books home from school.”
    The nine-year-old girl pushed back her long blond braid and tried to figure out how she could get her reading assignment done without the book. She couldn’t borrow Irene’s; her sister was two years older and did not have the same book.
    At that moment Mandie’s yellow cat, Windy, came in from the kitchen and began purring and rubbing around her ankles. Mandie picked her up. “Lucky you, you don’t have such things as homework,” she said to the cat, rubbing her head.
    Mandie had never failed to do her homework, and this problem had her worried. Maybe she could go over to Miss Abigail’s house and read her lesson out of Faith’s book. Faith and her grandmother, Mrs. Chapman, were still staying with Miss Abigail because their house had not been completely repaired yet because of bad weather. But how would she get over there?
    â€œI’ll go ask my father if he will take me,” Mandie said to herself. She quickly set the cat down. “You can’t go, but I won’t be gone long,” she told Windy.
    Windy looked up at her and let out a loud purr.
    Mandie went to the front door, looked back to be sure Windy was not following her outside, and quickly slipped out. She hurried around the yard, searching for her father. She hadn’t seen him when she came home, so she guessed he was at the back of the property.
    Spring of 1898 was coming early in western North Carolina, and Mandie happily breathed in the fresh, warm air. Soon Charley Gap would be budding out all over with new leaves, and wildflowers would begin appearing in the woods. Mandie had hated wearing all her heavy winter clothes during the terribly cold winter they had had. Today was warm enough for her to come outside without her coat.
    â€œDaddy, where are you?” Mandie yelled. She hurried toward the back property line.
    Just as she passed the barn, her father suddenly appeared in the doorway. “Here I am,” he called back to her.
    â€œOh, Daddy, I didn’t even think about you being in the barn,” Mandie said as she walked over to him.
    â€œI’m repairing a harness,” Mr. Shaw told her. “What was the rush all about?”
    â€œI don’t have my reading book and I need to do my homework so I was wondering if you would take me over to Miss Abigail’s so I could use Faith’s,” Mandie quickly explained in one long breath.
    â€œIf you had homework in it, why didn’t you bring it home?” her father asked.
    â€œI thought I did—I mean, I was supposed to, but somehow I don’t have it,” she explained. “Either Joe didn’t give it to me with my other books when I came home or I left it at school. But I think I remember putting it in my stack to bring home, so most likely Joe has it.”
    â€œAnd you want to go to Miss Abigail’s just to use Faith’s book?” he asked.
    â€œYes, sir. You see, Mama is over there and I can come back home with her if you will take me now,” Mandie told him.
    â€œI’m sorry, Amanda, but it’s not possible right now for me to