Secret in the Woods

The Noise THE SEVENTEEN PUPILS in Mr. Tallant's school were quietly studying arithmetic problems, reading, or creating drawings to show at the upcoming open house for parents and friends. Nine-year-old Mandie Shaw was sketching her kitten when she heard the door open and looked up to see Dr. Woodard enter the schoolroom. "Mr. Tallant, how are you?" the doctor said as he walked toward Mr. Tallant's desk. Mandie tried to listen to their conversation, but the two men spoke in tones too low to understand. She glanced at Joe Woodard, the doctor's son, and saw that he was smiling at her. Then Dr. Woodard turned and motioned for Joe to follow him out. Joe hurried by Mandie's desk. "Got to go to town," he whispered. "See you in the morning." He grabbed his coat and hat from the pegs at the door and left with his father. Mandie sat there for a moment, twirling her pencil as she pondered Joe's remark. What were they going to town for? she wondered. Joe had not said anything to her that morning when they had walked to school together. Joe Woodard had walked Mandie to and from school every day since she had begun three years before. Mandie couldn't remember a single day when he hadn't been there. Now she would have to walk home by herself. Charley Gap in Swain County, North Carolina, was a small community. None of her other classmates lived out on the road where she and Joe did. Mandie's inquisitive nature wouldn't let her rest until she met him the next morning and found out what his journey into town was all about. At least her friend Faith could walk with her for a few minutes before turning off on the road to her home. Faith Winters and her grandmother, Mrs. Chapman, were living with Miss Abigail while their house was being repaired. When the going-home bell rang that afternoon, Mandie rushed to get her coat. "I'm ready," Faith told her as she put on her coat and hat and reached for the books she had laid on the bench nearby. Her long brown hair spilled over her shoulders. "Let's go," Mandie replied with a big smile, leading the way out the front door. As soon as the two reached the road and all the other pupils had gone in the other direction, Mandie asked, "Did you see Dr. Woodard come in and get Joe? Joe whispered to me that they were going into town. Can you imagine why his father would get him out of school to go to town?" "Of course I saw Dr. Woodard," Faith replied. "They probably went shopping," she added as they walked down the road. "Shopping? Do you think Dr. Woodard would get Joe out of school just for that?" Mandie asked as they hurried along in the cold wind. "Mandie, doctors don't have normal schedules and lives like the rest of us. They have to do things whenever they have a break," Faith replied. "I know," Mandie answered, pulling her collar up around her neck. "But I can't imagine what they would be shopping for." "Whatever the stores in Bryson City sell," Faith reminded her. "That's what they'll be buying." "There aren't very many stores in Bryson City," Mandie remarked. "I suppose you could ask Joe tomorrow about what they bought," Faith said as they came to the crossroad where she turned off. She suddenly stopped and looked at Mandie. "Are you not taking any books home? What about homework?" Mandie stopped too and looked down at her hands. She stomped her feet. "Oh, Joe Woodard is the cause of that! I forgot my books!" "How can Joe be the cause of your forgetting your books?" Faith asked. "Because he always carries my books and I forgot to get them," Mandie said. "Well, I suppose I'll have to go back." She turned back up the road. "Better hurry or Mr.Leppard, Lois Gladys is the author of 'Secret in the Woods' with ISBN 9780553487176 and ISBN 0553487175.