Making wishes on snow, dandelions, and shooting stars is perfectly normal for Polly's family. But when Polly decides to try a different kind of wish, everything changes. Now she is spending her entire family vacation thinking she has lost her mind. Maybe Polly should have stuck with throwing a penny into a wishing well. While visiting Thomas Jefferson's home, she uses a nickel instead, silently wishing she knew interesting facts about President Jefferson to share with everyone on the trip. What happens next is something beyond Polly's imagination. In a matter of hours, Polly suddenly realizes that no one else in her group can hear the strange voices relaying fascinating historical facts. Unfortunately, her family thinks she is crazy. Could her wish really have come true? Or are the mysterious voices part of a clever practical joke? The Jefferson Wish is an entertaining tale that integrates little-known facts about one of our nation's founding fathers with the adventures of a girl about to find out what happens when a wish becomes reality.
The Jefferson Wish
By Wendy TackettiUniverse, Inc.
Copyright © 2011 Wendy Tackett
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-1-4620-3768-1Chapter One
Another Wish
"I can't believe you're going to be gone for a whole week and miss school," whined Allie as she traced a circle on the carpet with her shoe. Allie is my best friend in the whole world. I'm totally going to miss her while we're on our vacation. I wish she could come with us.
I smiled and said, "It isn't that long. We can still text all the time. Remember, there's so much learning that's going to happen on this trip too. It's not all fun and games. I'm still excited, though!"
"You're just so lucky, Polly," said Allie. "Yes, I'm jealous, okay. I wish I could go on vacation. Virginia is so far away from Michigan!"
"I've wanted to go to Monticello for as long as I can remember. Monticello is this mysterious, magical place they go visit every year. Then there's this `conversation' that they like to go to, which is why we're going now and missing school. It must be really amazing because they keep going back," I explained.
"I just don't see what's so exciting about visiting the home of Thomas Jefferson. I mean, the guy's been dead for like two hundred years. But your aunt and uncle are lots of fun, so I'm sure the trip will still be a blast," replied Allie.
Jason came running into the living room with his duffle bag dragging behind him. "I'm all packed. Are you? I'm ready first!"
I hate it when he beats me at things. We're always competing, and it's pretty even. I'm better at some things, and he's better at other things. I guess it's a twin thing. There was a time, over a year ago, when we stopped competing for a while, but that was a very strange time. Lots of weird things were happening in our family, especially with Tayleigh, our older sister, and our older brother, Bryant, who left for college sooner than students usually do. It was definitely a strange year.
"You may be packed first, but I call shotgun!" I yelled back.
"You can't call shotgun. Aunt Leigh and Uncle TJ will sit in the front seat," argued Jason.
"Well, if one of them wants to take a break and stretch out in the far back, I get shotgun whenever it comes available," I interrupted.
"Whatever," Jason said. Then he turned to Allie. "Bye. Hopefully you can survive without Polly for a week."
"You just wish you had a best friend as awesome as I am," sassed Allie. Allie and Jason got along fairly well. Sometimes the three of us did stuff together, as long as it didn't make Jason look too uncool in front of his other friends. Sometimes his friend Scott, who we called Scooter, joined us, but he kind of bugged me.
"Don't forget to pack your raincoat!" shouted Mom from the kitchen. "May in Virginia can mean sunny and eighty degrees or rainy and fifty degrees. You need to be prepared for anything."
Jason took off running up the stairs back to his room. Obviously he forgot his raincoat. I already had mine packed, but I still needed to get a few other things like my iPod. I started to walk toward the front door with Allie as I said, "I'll miss you tons, but you'll survive. I'll even text you some pictures of whatever we're doing. I have to finish packing. We're leaving in just a few minutes. Have a great week at school."
"A lonely rest of the week is more like it. See you on Sunday," said Allie as she gave me a quick hug. "Oh look, there's your uncle's Jeep coming down the street. I guess you'd better hurry."
I waved at Allie as she got on her bike to ride home and waved at Uncle TJ as he pulled into the driveway. "I'll tell everyone you're here!" I shouted as I ran back inside. "Come on, guys! Uncle TJ and Aunt Leigh are here!"
I walked up the stairs to my room to finish packing, thinking about how lucky I was. I looked into the mirror and caught a glimpse of my long, messy hair. Mom always called it dirty blonde, but it looked light brown to me. I probably should've brushed it, but I had to hurry. I was so glad I didn't have to pack any homework, and I got to miss almost a week of school. Even though I liked school okay, it would be a blast going on the trip, and I knew we'd learn a lot. I'd get to see what was so special about Thomas Jefferson. We were even going to meet Thomas Jefferson. I wondered how the person playing President Jefferson knew how to act. It's not like they had video cameras to record what Jefferson was like. Maybe he wasn't really like Jefferson at all. I hoped I had everything I needed packed. It was hard to know what to pack for when we didn't know everything we were going to be doing. I mean, I knew we were going to Virginia, but I wasn't sure of what we'd be doing when we got there. I packed extra things just in case. Luckily Tayleigh and I wore almost the same size, so I could use some of her things if I didn't have the right stuff. She always packed too much.
"Are you daydreaming again?" asked Mom as she stood in my doorway.
"I guess I was. I was just thinking about the trip," I replied smiling.
"Well quit thinking and get started on that trip," ordered Mom. "Everyone is downstairs waiting for you." She walked over, grabbed the brush off my nightstand, and started brushing my hair. "I'm going to miss your messy hair while you're gone. Call me every night and tell me something special about the day. I'll look forward to those calls."
"As will I," added my Dad, standing behind her.
I hugged them both and lugged my duffle bag downstairs. Jason was already leaning against the Jeep, acting all superior since he got there first. "Wait!" Jason shouted. "Is it a jersey week?"
Uncle TJ laughed, looking first at Aunt Leigh's Chicago Cubs jersey and then at his own University of Michigan football jersey. They both loved sports and sometimes argued about which team was better. Recently, Uncle TJ had been wearing a different jersey every day of the week. "No jerseys on this trip, except on the drive down. We'll try to look like normal adults for you." I didn't mind them wearing jerseys. I thought it was fun. They were really like two big kids anyway. I figured because they didn't have any kids, they didn't have to act like adults all the time. Aunt Leigh almost looked like one of the kids, if it weren't for some wisps of gray hair. Bryant and Tayleigh were both taller than her, and I was getting close. I was pretty sure Bryant was almost as tall as Uncle TJ now. I'd have to make them stand back to back next time Bry visited from college.
Uncle TJ grabbed my bag and threw it into the back of the Jeep. "Two down, one to go," said Uncle TJ.
"Where is Tayleigh?" I asked. Tayleigh, Jason, and I were going on the trip together. Bryant would have gone with us, but he had his final exams that week. He and Tay had gone to Virginia before with Aunt Leigh and Uncle TJ, but that was a long time ago. I was glad Tay was going with us, even though she'd been before, because I really liked hanging out with her. We'd been spending more time together at our church's youth group. Last year, Mom made Tay go back to youth group even though she didn't want to. She was elected to a leadership role at her first meeting, and I think she'd even have admitted that she was having fun with it. At least I got to see her more often. I could only stand so much of Jason because we were together all the time at home and at school.
"She's out on the back deck saying good-bye to Leo," said Jason, making gagging sounds. Leo was Tayleigh's boyfriend. He wasn't too bad. I wasn't really into the "boy...
