Narrator 1 Narrator 2 Narrator 3 Narrator 4

Umbrella Summer By Lisa Graff

Narrator 1 Narrator 2 Narrator 3 Narrator 4 Annie Mr. L. Tommy

Narrator 1: If you squeezed your brakes right in the middle of heading down Maple Hill, just as you were passing old Mr. Normore’s mailbox, you could coast into the bike rack in front of Lippy’s Market without making a single tire squeak.

Narrator 2: That was the fastest way to go and the most fun, too.

Narrator 3: The wind whistling past your ears and your stomach getting fluttery and floaty, till you thought maybe you were riding quicker than a rocket.

Annie: I didn’t do that anymore.

Narrator 4: Now Annie hopped off her bike at the top of the hill and walked.

Narrator 3: It took longer but it was safer.

Narrator 2: When Annie arrived at the store at 7:58 the door was still locked.

Narrator 4: Mr. Lippowitz and his son Tommy were flattening cardboard boxes in the corner.

Narrator 1: Mr. L. saw Annie peeking through the window and held up two fingers.

Annie: So I sat down and waited and took off my biking gear real slow.

Narrator 2: (sighing) And Annie had gear to take off.

Annie: I slid off my elbow pads—left one first, then right. Next came the kneepads, which I tugged off over my sneakers, and last of all I unsnapped my bike helmet. I thought about taking off the ace bandages around my ankles, too, but decided it would take too long to put them back on. They were important for protecting against sprains.

Narrator 1: Mr. L. still hadn’t opened the store in the time it took Annie to remove her gear so she scanned the bulletin board out front to see if there was anything new.

Narrator 4: It was the same as usual. Papers were pinned up all over—advertisements and lost-and-founds, flyers about art lessons and people selling furniture and high school kids looking for babysitting jobs. Narrator 3: In the top right hand corner was a green flyer that said yard sale Saturday— 106 Knickerbocker Lane. Annie knew it had to be the Harpers next door because her house was 108.

Narrator 1: By the time Mr. L. unlocked the door, it was 8:09.

Mr. L: Well, if it isn’t my best customer! How are you doing today, Annie?

Annie: Pretty good. I checked our house for black widow spiders, and there aren’t any there.

Mr. L.: Good to know.

Narrator 2: There was a crash from the back room, which to Annie sounded like a carton of Good & Plentys, so Mr. L. left to investigate.

Narrator 4: While he was checking on Tommy and the crash, Annie wandered around.

Annie: I knew exactly what I was looking for, but I liked exploring. Lippy’s was one of my favorite places to be.

Narrator 3: Annie saw right away that Mr. L. had finally stocked up the toy aisle for summer—water balloons and Super Soakers, snorkel masks and plastic sunglasses.

Narrator 2: There was a pair of brown-and-pink polka-dotted flip-flops that were just Annie’s size and even though she wanted them real bad, she had more important things to spend her money on.

Narrator 1: Mr. L. was reading the newspaper behind the counter when Annie finished exploring.

Annie: Was it Good & Plentys? Is that what crashed?

Mr. L: Junior Mints. You find something worth buying today, Annie?

Annie: Yup.

Narrator 4: Annie slapped her purchase on the counter.

Mr. L.: Didn’t you just buy a box of Band-Aids yesterday?

Annie: It was Thursday and I’m out already.

Narrator 2: Mr. L. looked at Annie’s arms. She had two Band-Aids on the right one, where Rebecca’s hamster and scratched her, and five on the left one, covering up spots that were either mosquito bites or poison oak.

Narrator 3: Mr. L sighed deep. He was looking at Annie with his eyes big and sad, and a crease between the eyebrows. Narrator: 1: It was the same look almost everyone had for Annie now--Miss Kimball at school, her parents’ friends, even Rebecca sometimes when she thought Annie wasn’t looking.

Narrator 3: Everybody on the planet had been looking at Annie the same way since February—sad and worrying, with a bit of pity mixed in at the edges.

Narrator 4: Annie guessed that was the way people looked at you after your brother died.

Narrator 2: Annie slipped three dollars across the counter toward Mr. L. and he handed her seventeen cents change.

Narrator 1: Annie headed back outside and as she worked to get her kneepads back on, she noticed Tommy by the dumpster. He was gnawing on a handful of Junior Mints.

Narrator 4: Tommy had never really talked much, but it seemed to Annie he talked less than normal lately.

Narrator 3: Annie liked hanging out with Tommy even though he was two years older because he was the one person who never gave her that dead-brother look.

Narrator 2: It was probably because he had been Jared’s best friend, so he probably had people giving him enough dead-best-friend looks to know better.

Narrator 1: He must have seen Annie staring, because he held up a box of candy with a rip in the corner.

Tommy: They got damaged.

Annie: Can I have some?

Tommy: (shrugging) Guess so.

Narrator 4: Tommy shook some Junior Mints into Annie’s hand.

Narrator 2: And they stood in the parking lot and chewed and sucked the mints for a long time, just quiet.

Tommy: We were gonna go bowling this year.

Narrator 3: Jared and Tommy had their birthday party together every year since they were born only two days apart.

Narrator 1: They either went to Castle Park, where they had miniature golf and video games, or else they went bowling.

Annie: You still gonna go?

Tommy: Maybe. I guess. I don’t know. Narrator 3: He was about to go back inside the store but for some reason Annie didn’t want him to leave yet.

Annie: Tommy?

Tommy: Yeah?

Annie: Um, if you were writing a will, what do you think you’d put in there?

Tommy: (raising his eyebrow) A will?

Annie: Yeah. Like when someone dies and they leave you stuff?

Narrator 4: Annie hadn’t been planning to talk to Tommy about wills but she had been thinking about them for a while.

Narrator 3: If Jared had made one, Annie was sure he would have given his robot collection to her so it wouldn’t just sit shut up inside his bedroom where Mom said it should be.

Tommy: What do you mean, what would I write?

Annie: Like, what sort of stuff would you give a way and to who?

Narrator 1: Tommy was quiet for a while.

Tommy: I don’t know. Probably no one wants any of my stuff anyway. Why do you want to know?

Annie: I’ve been thinking about writing one. But I can’t figure out who should get which things.

Narrator 3: Annie wondered who should get her stuffed turtle Chirpy, the one Jared gave her for her birthday three years ago, and her snow globe from Death Valley.

Narrator 2: Should she leave that stuff to her parents? Rebecca? The Goodwill box at school?

Narrator 4: It was hard to figure out.

Tommy: Okay, well—good luck.

Narrator 3: Annie finished putting on the rest of her bike gear, checking three times to make sure her shoelaces were double-knotted, and then whacked up her kickstand.

Narrator 1: The whole way home, with the Band-Aid box poking into her hip as she walked her bike slowly up Maple Hill, Annie thought about it--her will.

Narrator 2: Annie figured the best thing to do was to make one as soon as possible because you never knew when you were going to need it and it was best to be prepared. Narrator 4: But Annie was having problems and the real reason was because most of the stuff she had, if she were to give it to anyone, was she’d want to give it to Jared.

Narrator 1: And Jared was gone.

Narrator 2: To find out what Annie does about her will…

Narrator 3: as well as what she discovers at the Harper’s next door…

Narrator 4: and who moves in to the haunted house…

Narrator 1: read Umbrella Summer by Lisa Graff, one of the books on this year’s Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List.