Melinda On Her Own

By Porsche Ray and Nicole Wolf

An entire day with no supervision... What could go wrong?
When Melinda’s father gets sick, it’s up to Melinda and Teensie, her talking fish, to run the house.
Things don’t go according to Melinda’s plan.
A small white lie quickly balloons into a small fire and an investigation by the police.
Will Melinda be able to pull the day together and give her father the day of rest he needs to get better?
Don’t miss the adventure in Melinda On Her Own!
Melinda On Her Own is book 2 of the Melinda series.

Melinda books feature a large vocabulary, but shorter chapters to keep younger readers engaged. Melinda herself is a socially awkward 10 year old girl, however, books are suitable for both a younger and older audience, and the problems she encounters have nothing to do with her gender.
Every Melinda book centers around a safe, wholesome adventure where Melinda must use tools and skills she has previously developed to fix the problem.

NO catty girl drama

NO boy-crazy idolizing

NO children doing adult jobs

Clean. Safe. Fun.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fallen Leaves Publishing
• Release date: May 31, 2022
• ISBN: 1777171369

Book preview

Melinda On Her Own

Porsche Ray

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Fallen Leaves Publishing

Copyright © 2022 by Fallen Leaves Publishing

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address the publisher: Fallen Leaves Publishing.

First Printing, 2022

www.FallenLeavesPublishing.com

This one is for you Windy...

No matter what situation you find yourself in,

I know you have the skills to succeed!

Contents

1. Late!!

2. Dad?

3. Sick Day!

4. Excused

5. Breakfast

6. The BIG Idea

7. Wind

8. Shop'n'Drop

9. Dash!

10. The Shadow

11. The Law

12. Money Wall

13. Rewind

14. Beep! Beep!

15. The Crash

16. Flat Tire

17. Pumped Up

18. The Cashier

19. Success

20. Blurp prulB

21. Alone.

1

Late!!

The light was bright. It made the backs of Melinda’s eyelids glow, and her eyeballs roll around, searching for cover. She thought it should be against the law for the sun to shine on someone sleeping.

With a start, Melinda sat up. The sun should not be shining on her. She started her day when the sun was sleeping, and only when she was ready to go to school did it make an appearance.

The cool autumn wind was starting to shake the trees and push the sun’s arrival back even further. Sun in her eyes, on a school day, was not something that should be happening. Her heart raced.

Melinda put a hand over her eyes and peeked at her alarm clock through cracked fingers.

9:15

No, no, no, no, no! squealed Melinda, throwing her warm blanket from her legs and swinging her feet down to the floor.

Dad? she called, Teensie?

She felt the ice-cold floor with the tips of her toes and slid them around until the warm lambskin of her slippers said hello.

Dad? Teensie? she called again, louder this time. She slammed her feet inside her slippers and pushed off out of her bed.

She looked at herself in the mirror on her closet door before she yanked it open and started shuffling clothing around. Today was a special day. She was presenting her project on great white sharks to the class, and her presentation would count for half of her project grade. It was the first real presentation and real assignment of the school year.

She couldn’t be late.

Her eyes drifted to her clock again.

9:17

She was already late. School started at 8:16, and her presentation was supposed to begin at 8:45.

Da-ad!! she cried out again. How could he let her sleep in like this on such an important day? What was her teacher going to say when she didn’t show up? Would she get another chance?

She pushed her legs into her pants and pulled up a pair of fuzzy socks. A button-up violet blouse was sitting on her desk. She had laid it out the night before. It wasn’t her favourite shirt, but it was her fanciest. This was an important presentation, and her teacher had instructed them all to dress up.

Punching her arms into the sleeves, she grumbled and groaned with each button as they slipped and wobbled in her fingers.

Come on! she said, giving them a foot stomp to encourage their cooperation.

The buttons listened and started to cooperate. They slipped cleanly into their slots and drew the edges of her shirt together.

Melinda was dressed, but she still wasn’t ready. Her hair was everywhere. Pieces that belonged on the left stuck out on the right. Pieces that belonged on the right stuck out and covered her forehead. The backside was one big snarl and her bangs, well! Her bangs stood straight up.

Grabbing her brush and her leave-in conditioner spray, she attacked the fly-away strands chunk by chunk. It wasn’t the first time she had wondered if having a completely shaved head would be such a bad idea.

Dad? she called out again, looking at her still closed door.

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She had no idea what was going on outside her door. For a moment, she wondered if her father was alright, but just for a moment. Her father was always okay. If something were going on, Teensie would tell her.

Melinda decided that they must have forgotten about her. This made her angry. She used that anger to detangle most of the back snarl with just a few sharp pulls of her brush.

On a typical day, Melinda took the bus.

Today, that bus would have driven by her house while she was still snoring.

That same bus would have had her at school in time for her presentation. Now, she didn’t have the bus as an option, so her father would have to drive her himself.

She bit at her lip as she looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair was passable.

Good enough.

Her stomach rumbled to remind her that she still needed to figure out breakfast before heading out. She thought slamming some toast into the toaster was a good plan because she could eat it while her father drove.

Dad? Teensie? she called out again, opening her room door and starting to search the house.

Where was everyone?

2

Dad?

O h, Melinda! You’re awake! wailed Teensie as he swam toward her in his water tube. His fins fluttered with excitement. "It’s been an awful morning! Nobody to talk to… I’ve had to spend