Waterfalls Read Online Free

comedian,” Meri said. “But don’t worry about it. I think Mr. Wartman nearly had a little cow, so that makes us even all around.”
    Kyle chuckled. “We better get out of here, then, before a barnyard brawl breaks out between all these sheep and cows.”
    “Moo,” Travis piped up from his princely perch.
    “That’s right, honey,” Jessica said with pride. “A cow says ‘moo.’ ”
    “We’re out of here,” Kyle said. “You ready, Jess?”
    “Sure. Do you have the diaper bag?”
    “You mean Trav’s duffel bag? Yep, it’s by the front door.”
    “Duffel bag,” Jessica repeated, shaking her head and looking toward the ceiling. “Oh, Lord, please let this next baby be a girl so we don’t have to name every piece of baby gear something masculine. Amen.”
    “Amen,” Meri repeated, siding with Jess.
    “It’ll be a boy,” Kyle said soundly. “Gordon and Teri had two boys. We have to keep up with the Allistars.”
    “It could be a girl,” Jessica said calmly as she placed some fruit and muffins in a wicker picnic hamper. “I’ll leave a quick note here on the counter and then meet you guys at the truck.”
    Meri followed Kyle out the back door and around the house to where Kyle’s pickup was parked. She noticed a shiny black Mustang convertible parked on the side.
    Mr. Wartman’s, no doubt. Flashy sort of fellow. I wonder what he’s doing here?
    “There you go, big guy,” Kyle said, strapping Travis into his car seat. Meri wondered if she should crawl into the after-cab now or wait until Jessica arrived. Travis fussed and arched his back as the seat belt came over his shoulders. “He hates this thing,” Kyle said.
    “It’s okay, Travis,” Meri said. She slipped onto the front seat next to him and left the door open. Picking up a squishy toy, Meredith said in a squeaky voice, “Let’s have a puppet show. Say hi to Mr. Duck. Quack, quack, quack.” Meredith made the bright yellow fellow dance for Travis.
    “I forgot the duffel bag,” Kyle said. “I’ll be right back.” He took off jogging to the house, and Meri assigned herself the task of keeping Travis entertained.
    “One day Wally the star was floating in the sky so, so high …” Meredith pulled the soft star figurine up, and Travisfollowed it with his eyes. “And Wally said to himself, ‘I’d like to go down there and see what it’s like on earth.’ So, do you know what Wally did?”
    Travis didn’t respond to the question, but he stopped whimpering.
    “Wally tumbled down, down to the earth, and there he met Mr. Duck. ‘Hello, Mr. Duck. I’m Wally. Do you want to play?’
    “‘Why, yes, I do. Quack quack,’ said Mr. Duck.”
    Meredith had both the toys merrily dancing now. Travis was enthralled.
    She sang a silly impromptu song in a little voice, and the corners of Travis’s mouth began to curl up. “‘Yay, yay, yay, we dance all day! We’re the happy little friends, and we like to play. Yay, yay, yay, we play all day!’
    “The two friends danced and danced all day long, and then do you know what happened?”
    Travis looked away from her, out at the driveway. Meredith thought fast, trying to get his attention. “Then Wally the star and Mr. Duck got so hot from all their dancing, they decided to go for a swim. With a great big splash, they dove into the water.” To demonstrate the dive, Meredith hopped off the seat and “dove” to the truck cab’s floor. She had Travis’s attention again.
    “The water felt so good that Wally the star said, ‘I think I would like to live here all the time. I’m going to stay here and never go back up to the sky.’ He settled right into the sand all nice and comfy.” Meri demonstrated by wiggling her backside into the cramped space.
    “Mr. Duck was swimming away on top of the water, happy as can be, and he said, ‘Where did Wally go? Where did Wally go?’ ”
    Travis stuck the first two fingers of his left hand into his mouth and with his right finger pointed down