Eugenia Lincoln and the Unexpected Package Page 3

  “We will do great things together,” said Gaston. “We will work together. But first, the pig and I must go to the woods in search of truffles.”

  “Truffles?” said Eugenia.

  “Truffles!” said Gaston. He put his fingers to his lips and kissed them. “The mushroom of our dreams. Mercy will find them. We will go together in pursuit of the truffles, and when we return the accordion lessons will commence.”

  “I am not pursuing truffles,” said Eugenia.

  “I want to go!” said Stella.

  “So do I!” said Frank.

  Soon, everyone was gone. And it was just Eugenia and General Washington and the accordion.

  Eugenia stood in a patch of sun. She put her face up to the light.

  What if it had been a mistake? A random occurrence? What if she couldn’t play the accordion?

  She squeezed the box. She depressed the keys, and she felt the song, again, lifting her up. It was still there!

  Eugenia Lincoln stood in the kitchen and played music. Dust motes danced in the air.

  She was happy.

  It was the most astonishing thing.

  Gaston taught Eugenia all the songs he knew.

  And Eugenia Lincoln played the accordion in the evening, and the people of Deckawoo Drive clapped and sang and tapped their toes. Sometimes they danced, but Eugenia did not care for dancing. Dancing was too chaotic. Lamps got overturned. Drinks got spilled. Picture frames were knocked off-center.

  “Please contain yourselves,” she shouted over the music.

  Sometimes, they contained themselves.

  And sometimes, they didn’t.

  One winter morning, months and months after the arrival of the unexpected package, Frank was sitting on the Lincoln Sisters’ couch perusing the encyclopedia. He turned the page, and encountered the letter J. He turned the page again, and a piece of paper fluttered out of the encyclopedia and fell to the ground.

  He bent to pick it up.

  It was an ad from the Blizzintrap Schmocker Company. It said, Great joy can be found in the accordion.

  Someone had underlined the word joy. And then in a shaky, hopeful hand, that someone had written: Perhaps for Sister?

  “Oh,” said Frank.

  From the kitchen came the sound of accordion music: a low, sweet tune.

  “Miss Lincoln!” said Frank. “I’ve solved the mystery.”

  The accordion music stopped. Eugenia came into the living room. “Did you say something?” she said.

  “Never mind,” said Frank. “It doesn’t matter.”

  “Very well,” said Eugenia.

  She sat down in the chair across from Frank.

  “What are you learning from the encyclopedia?” she said.

  “This and that,” said Frank.

  Eugenia nodded. She began to play the accordion again, and outside the Lincoln Sisters’ house it started to snow.

  Kate DiCamillo is the beloved author of many books for young readers, including the Mercy Watson and Tales from Deckawoo Drive series. Her books Flora & Ulysses and The Tale of Despereaux both received Newbery Medals. About Eugenia Lincoln and the Unexpected Package, she says, “I, like Baby, believed that there was something wondrous hiding inside Eugenia Lincoln. It was a delight to witness Eugenia’s (partial) transformation.” A former National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, Kate DiCamillo lives in Minneapolis.

  Chris Van Dusen is the author-illustrator of The Circus Ship, King Hugo’s Huge Ego, Randy Riley’s Really Big Hit, and Hattie & Hudson, and is the illustrator of the Mercy Watson and Tales from Deckawoo Drive series as well as Mac Barnett’s President Taft Is Stuck in the Bath. About Eugenia Lincoln and the Unexpected Package, he says, “If I were to send Eugenia Lincoln something to cheer her up, it probably wouldn’t be an accordion, mainly because accordions are hard to draw (I simplified!). But it must have worked, because in this book Eugenia is actually smiling in three different illustrations. I think in the original six Mercy Watson books I only painted her smiling twice!” Chris Van Dusen lives in Maine.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously.

  Text copyright © 2017 by Kate DiCamillo

  Illustrations copyright © 2017 by Chris Van Dusen

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, taping, and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.

  First electronic edition 2017

  Library of Congress Catalog Card Number pending

  The illustrations in this book were done in gouache.

  Candlewick Press

  99 Dover Street

  Somerville, Massachusetts 02144

  visit us at www.candlewick.com