The Treehouse

By Maren Dille

Ten-year-old Artie and his friends love two things: Molly Martin, and baseball. They are terrified of exactly two things: Molly Martin, and Old Lady Farnsworth, Artie's crochety elderly neighbor. When their baseball is stolen by Old Lady Farnsworth, Artie and his friends embark on a secret mission to steal it back. But they can't do that without the help of Molly Martin, and she's got her own set of likes and dislikes. Join Artie and his friends on the greatest summer adventure of their ten-year-old lives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Maren Dille
• Release date: Feb 16, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301600731

Maren Dille

Maren grew up in Rochester, NY, which is why much of her work is set in the East. She moved to Provo, UT to attend Brigham Young University in 2004. Meanwhile, she received a license in cosmetology in 2006, and graduated with a B.S. in Home and Family Living-Clothing and Textiles in 2009. After graduation, Maren worked as a cosmetologist/barber, while her husband finished his own degree in Special Education. After he graduated, they settled in Spanish Fork, UT, where they plan on staying for a long time. Now Maren is a stay-at-home mom, part-time piano teacher, cosmetologist, and writer. Amidst the buisiness of being a housewife, she loves reading, writing and playing music, vacationing, going on dates with her hubby and friends, throwing dinner parties, and sewing. She really enjoys collecting books, and hopes someday to have a library big enough to fit all of them. Currently, her two pretty-enough-to-be-displayed-bookshelves are overflowing, and she's got books stashed all around her house. Open a random drawer, you'll probably find one. Maren's published work includes a short comedy titled "A Tale of Two Cemeteries," a middle-grade reader titled *The Treehouse,* and *The Faith and Fate of David Ghent,* a Young Adult novel. Find out more about Maren at www.marendille.com.

Book preview

The Treehouse

Maren Dille

Copyright 2013 Maren Dille

Cover Photo/Designer: Kati Ellis

http://www.ellislanephotography.com/

Smashwords Edition

ISBN: 9781301600731

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This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. The characters are products of each author's imagination and are used fictitiously.

All rights reserved

http://www.marendille.com

Chapter 1

No girl in the world compared to Molly Martin.

No one.

She was as bright as sunshine, as sweet as candy. She was the type of girl that made you forget to breathe, and when you remembered, you wondered why you had ever wasted a breath on anyone else.

She never tried to be pretty, but just was because that’s how God made her. A smattering of freckles ran across her cheeks. Her lips beamed the color of summer. Locks of hair shined so bright that you could never tell exactly what color they were. It was her eyes that really got you, if you ever dared looking into them. They were green and sparkly, and always smiling.

Molly Martin was ten.

And she was terrifying.

In the summers I sat with my friends, high up in my neighbor’s tree and camouflaged by the leaves, and watched Molly Martin ride her bike up and down our street. Freddie Sims, who always commandeered the highest branch, was our lookout. We’d saved our allowances for two whole months, just so we could buy him a pair of binoculars for the purpose of watching Molly Martin. We figured it was fair that Freddie Sims got to use them the most, because he lived the farthest away and didn’t get as many sightings of Molly as we did.

Molly Martin lived five houses down from me, two houses diagonal from Shep Jensen, and bumped backyards with Duke Byers. It was my neighbor’s house we perched from. I lived