It was twilight when Annie and Jack stepped backout into the street.
"Where's the tree with the tree house?" askedAnnie.
"Somewhere over the bridge beyond the big dome,"said Jack.
They kept their eyes on the dome as they threadedtheir way through the streets of Florence. When theycame to the cathedral, the square was quiet. Thecathedral's great doors were open. Jack and Anniecould see candles burning inside.
114Jack and Annie kept walking and soon came to themarket. The hundreds of tents and stalls were allclosed for the night. The square was empty.
Jack and Annie returned the way they had comethat morning. Walking down the same narrow lanes,they saw that all the shops were closed now, too.
They crossed the covered bridge and walked alongthe flowing river, past quiet houses where smokecurled from chimneys into the darkening sky.
Finally Jack and Annie came to the hedge that hidthe tree with the tree house. In the gray light of dusk,they climbed up the rope ladder.
"Before we go home, I want to look something up,"said Jack. He pulled their research book out of his bagand looked in the index forMona Lisa. He found it and turned to the right page.
"Look! It's Lisa!" said Annie.
Jack and Annie stared at a picture of Leonardo'spainting. It looked exactly the same,115except now there was a smile on Lisa's face, thesame smile they'd just seen in real life. Jack readaloud:
Leonardo da Vinci's painting of Mona Lisa isperhaps the most famous painting in the world. It isbelieved to be a portrait of Lisa del Gioconda. (TheItalian wordmonameans "my lady.") Leonardo da Vinci never sold theportrait of Lisa. He took it with him everywhere hetraveled until he died.
116Jack closed the book. "He kept his promise," he said.
"I knew he would," said Annie. She sighed. "Goodbye,Leonardo," she whispered. Then she picked uptheir note from Morgan and pointed at the wordsFrog Creek. "I wish we could go there," she said.
The wind started to blow.
The tree house started to spin.
It spun faster and faster.
Then everything was still.
Absolutely still.
****Sunlight flooded through the tree house window.
No time had passed in Frog Creek. The school bellwas still ringing, announcing that class would start inten minutes. Jack and Annie were wearing theirschool clothes. Jack's cloth bag had changed back intohis backpack.
"We have to hurry," said Annie.
"I know," said Jack. He looked inside his pack.
117He was happy to see the Wand of Dianthus. As hepulled out their research book, a piece of paper fellout. It was the sketch of Leonardo's angel.
"Oh, I forgot all about this," said Jack. He andAnnie looked at the sketch.
"It shows he was really a good drawer," said Annie.
"Yep," said Jack. "And it will remind us aboutLeonardo's secret of happiness.""He was curious about everything," said Annie.
"Angels, noses, birds.""Feathers, flowers, wolves, and spiders," added Jack.
"Shadows, light," said Annie.
"Bells, clouds, the moon," said Jack.
"And every time he was unhappy about something,his curiosity seemed to make him happy again," saidAnnie.
Jack took the angel drawing from Annie andcarefully put it back into his pack. "Come on," he118said. "We don't want to be late for school." Jackstarted down the rope ladder, and Annie followed.
Jack and Annie walked together through the sun-bright woods. "I wonder where my new class will be,"said Annie.
"Yeah," said Jack, "and I wonder where my deskwill be. Close to the window? Or the door?""And will Randy and Jenny be in my class againthis year?" said Annie.
"Will Joe be in mine?" said Jack.
"Whatever happened to Raymond Johnson?" askedAnnie. "Is he coming back this year?""I hope so," said Jack. "And who's the newlibrarian? And the new music teacher?""Yeah, and what kind of noses do they have?" saidAnnie.
Jack laughed. All the questions about school didn'tmake him nervous anymore. Now he was eager tofind out the answers. He quickened his steps. "Andhow long will it take us to get there, if we walkreally, really fast?" he said.
119"What if we run?" said Annie.
Jack and Annie started running, as the wind blewthrough the trees and the leaves fluttered through theair and the birds sang from the branches in theMonday-morning woods. |