Audrey's Adventures

By Leanne Van Vossen

Come follow Audrey, a courageous ten-year-old girl with an hilarious sense of humor, as she hunts ghosts, spies on her sisters new boyfriend, and befriends a monkey at circus camp. After sharing just one of her adventures, you will want Audrey as your BFF.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 4, 2012
• ISBN: 9781465388049

Leanne Van Vossen

Leanne is a full time writer. She lives with her daughter and husband in a southwest suburb of Chicago, IL. She is also the trained companion of her miniature, longhaired, black and tan dachshund.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

Have you ever been somewhere and your mother sees another kid around your age and expects you to make friends? What is she thinking? Do I expect her to make friends with every mother that’s her age? Of course not! I’ve explained this to her several times, but she still insists on pushing me.

You would think that because this time the kid she wanted me to befriend was somewhere between my age and my sister’s it would be a tossup. But did my sister have to make friends? No. She got to lie on the beach and show off her new bikini.

I learned several years ago that it is no use trying to go against my mother’s wishes. So I went over to the neighbor kid’s beach house in my swimsuit with my towel around my neck.

Hi, I’m Audrey, I said as nicely as possible.

Yeah, hi, he mumbled.

Okay, not a great start, but at least it’s something. I turned around quickly hoping to escape before he noticed I was on his lawn.

Hey, he yelled to my back, how long are you going to stay at the Cooley House?

About two months, I said, turning to face him again, my Dad is doing some repairs on their attic and we get to stay until they’re finished.

The boy wiped the sweat of his brow with his arm and glanced at his watch.

OH Jeesh! I gotta go. I’m late for practice, the nameless boy said. He ran back to his house.

Well that was easy. I turned my back on his skinny body and headed to the beach where Emily was talking some teenager into re-applying sunscreen to her back. She had been doing this with so many teens that if you laid her on her back and gave her a push she would have slid all the way down the beach.

Hi Em, I said, You want to go inside and play a board game with me?

Ah, no, she whispered with a tilt of her head towards her current teen slave.

I really couldn’t blame her. He was the best looking one yet and I know she wanted to catch a boyfriend this summer. I heard the hum of our cottage air conditioner beckoning me inside.

Everything would be perfect if I could find my Nintendo in my room.

CHAPTER 2

After a breakfast of pancakes and bacon I helped my Mom bring all the sticky dishes to the dishwasher. She began to rinse them the old fashioned way, with the faucet.

The supper dishes are your chore for tonight, she said.

Are you sure? I asked, creeping towards the door.

Yes, I distinctly remember fighting with Emily about dishes last night… by the way, do you know the boy she was talking to on the beach yesterday?

Which one? I asked, grabbing my skateboard and rushing out the door. I was fast on my board and was able to get to the street before my Mom could respond.

Now it was time to have some fun with my three friends; me, myself, and I. That’s one of Dad’s jokes. It means that I have to use my imagination and be creative. It’s not hard for him to be creative because he’s an artist. Dad is in a rock band and can play any instrument he spends a little time tuning. He draws and paints anything on our birthday cakes. He can write music and has a beautiful voice. And don’t get me started on all the sports he plays well and even coaches me on. He wants me to try everything and I always do my best.

The streets in this beach town are not the smoothest. I hit more bumps and holes than there are in an English muffin. I skated along the street until I came to a large park. The grassy area was marked off for soccer and my heart skipped a beat. Soccer is the only sport where I can hold my own. I flipped my board up and carried it to the center of the playing field. Maybe I could start a pick-up game and turn this summer into something bearable.

I was in the middle of imagining my first goal when a small hand grasped my arm. The slender fingers were ice cold with bloody fingernails. I wanted to run away from this kid, but my feet were stuck in the grass like it was green quicksand.

Don’t be afraid, she said in a clear high pitched voice.

Don’t be afraid? Okay I’m no fraidycat, but I draw the line with people that pop out of nowhere and pinch my arm with ice pick fingertips. When I turned to see what this girl looked like, all I could see was a skinny arm with a hand and fingers holding my arm.

CHAPTER 3

For the first time in a long while I didn’t spend my suppertime trying to think of an excuse to get out of dishes. My family was mumbling about their boring day and my mind kept going back to the soccer pitch. I glanced at my arm a little too long and my Mom caught me.

Boo, she asked, did you hurt your arm today?

Not exactly, I replied. It slipped out before I could stop it.

Emily? Mom asked.

No, I said.

That boy next door? she said with her hand over mouth, Oh babe and it was my idea to send you over there.

"No Mom, he was actually almost nice and ran off before anything physical happened."

Emily hid a giggle behind her hand and tried to distract Dad.

I better not hear of anything physical happening with either of you girls, Dad said.

How about some dessert? I piped up. I am one of the greatest distracters in the world. Of course you can’t just make a suggestion; you have to move on it. I slid off my chair and pulled the doublewide freezer door open to expose an assortment of ice cream treats. Dr. Cooley really knew how to stock a freezer.

How about we eat these out on the deck? Mom suggested. She grabbed my shoulder and guided me towards two chairs on the opposite side of the porch from Dad and Emily.

Just leave it Boo, I think your Dad wants some time to lecture Emily on the ‘Birds and the Bees.’

I didn’t want to burst her bubble, but Emily was already teaching the class and I was her assistant. You wouldn’t believe the weird stuff that the other kids at school get from their parents and other teenagers.

"Audrey this ice cream is delicious, but now I want to know how