The Importance of Wings Read Online Free Page A

looks like a moving truck. Two red-faced men are closing the back with a loud rumble.
    “The new neighbors!” Gayle exclaims.
    I’m not the kind of person who can just go up to total strangers, but Gayle jumps out of the car and races up to the men.
    “Are you them?” she asks brightly.
    The men eye each other in confusion. “What, hon’?” one asks.
    “Are you the new neighbors?” she asks, jumping up and down.
    The man chuckles. “No, hon’. We’re the movers.”
    “Oh,” Gayle says, sounding disappointed. “Then where are they?”
    The man checks his watch. “They should be here soon. We just finished moving everything.”
    Gayle watches as the two men climb into their truck and drive away. The truck belches black smoke as it rounds the corner.
    My father gets out of the car. “I get ready for work,” he says.
    “The new neighbors are going to be here soon,” Gayle says excitedly, pointing to the spot where the truck was parked a few seconds ago.
    Aba
looks over to where Gayle’s pointing. “Looks like I miss it,” he replies.
    I’m about to correct my father’s English, but I don’t.
    It occurs to me that
Ema
and
Aba
miss a lot of important things.

chapter six
    after my father leaves for the city, Gayle and I flip through channels, but Saturday afternoons are pretty bad TV-wise. There’s just too many sports. This is yet another American thing I’m not good at. Not only am I terrible at playing sports, but I get bored watching them, too.
    I think about ringing Kathleen’s doorbell, but her family is always busy with something on Saturdays. I have a ton of homework to do, but the thought of doing it is unbearable to me. Still, it looks like there isn’t much else going on. I’m about to go up to my room when Gayle yells, “Roxanne! Look!”
    She’s crouched in front of the living room window. I walk to the window and look out, but Gayle cries, “Get down or they’ll see you!”
    I lower myself next to her. Like a couple of bank robbers hiding from the police, we peek furtively over the top of the windowsill.
    A car is parked in the driveway of the Cursed House. It’s the strangest car I’ve ever seen. It’s a station wagon—the kind the Bradys have—but it’s covered with pictures. Except for the windshields and windows, not one inch isn’t painted with something—and all the pictures seem to be of plants and animals. There doesn’t seem to be any organization to it, either. There’s an animal that looks like a moose painted next to a cactus, and a palm tree next to a polar bear. The roof has a giant painting of snow-capped mountains.
    “Is that an anteater?” I whisper to Gayle, pointing to a picture on the right side of the car.
    “Hmmm,” Gayle replies. “Maybe an armadillo.”
    “Right, armadillo,” I say, then add, “Maybe you should bring down your animal encyclopedia. It looks like we might need it.”
    Gayle giggles. “Hey, that looks like an alligator. But why is it next to a penguin?”
    “I don’t know,” I answer. “Maybe it’s a riddle.”
    I hold my breath, waiting for the new neighbors to come out of their freaky car. The first person to get out is the driver. He turns out to be freakier than the car. He has long gray hair pulled back into a ponytail, and he’s wearing white pants, a white jacket, and a black shirt open down to his belly button.
    “These people are weird,” I murmur.
    Gayle turns to me. “Well, look where they’re living.”
    The passenger door opens and a girl steps out. A girl that looks about my age. She has thick black hair down to her waist and olive-colored skin. She isn’t wearing anything strange, just jeans and a sweatshirt with a picture of a unicorn on it. The man and the girl disappear inside the house. Gayle and I continue staring out the window, but nothing else happens.
    “Should we say hello?” Gayle finally asks.
    “No,” I say quickly. “They probably have a lot of unpacking to do. We shouldn’t bother