Thud, thud, thud.
Katie wrapped her pillow around her ears.
"What's that noise?" she asked.
Joy rolled over in bed and looked up at the ceiling. Thud, thud.
"Walnuts," Joy answered. "Walnuts are falling on the roof again."
"But I'm trying to sleep!" groaned Katie.
"Sunday morning," mumbled Joy.
Her eyes closed.
Then they opened wide.
"The fiddle!" she cried and threw back her covers.
"Grandpa and I are going to find the fiddle this morning!"
Katie pulled her blanket over her head.
Grandpa and Joy looked for the fiddle in the attic.
They looked in the spare-room closet.
"Have you checked the cedar chests?" asked Mom.
They looked in the chests in Mom and Dad's room—still no luck.
Then Joy raised the lid on the chest at the end of the hall.
Grandpa moved an old photo album and pulled out two faded quilts.
"There it is!" cried Joy.
Grandpa raised the black case from the chest and opened the lid.
"Oh!" said Joy. She touched the worn wood and broken strings of the violin.
"Poor old thing," she said.
"This fiddle has played a lot of music," said Grandpa.
He picked up a small wooden piece.
"The bridge is bent," he said.
He took out the bow.
"Something's missing," said Joy, pointing to the ragged hairs on each end of the bow.
She looked hopefully at her grandpa.
"What do you think?" she asked.
"I think that this old fiddle is happy to see the light of day," he said.
"It just needs a few repairs.
While you are at school tomorrow, I'll take it to the music shop in Bates City.
I'll find out about getting it fixed and ready to play again!"
"Oh, thank you!" said Joy.
She threw her arms around Grandpa and gave him a big kiss.
The next day, Joy could barely sit still in class.
When the last bell finally rang, Joy hurried to her bicycle.
"Wait for me," called Katie.
But Joy was already flying down the road.
By the time Katie got home, Joy had already disappeared.
Mom sat alone at the kitchen table, looking at the mail.
The violin case lay open on the table.
"Hi, Mom," said Katie.
She dropped her backpack on the floor.
"Hi, honey," said Mom. "You've got mail."
Katie's eyes lit up. "Mail? For me?"
"For you and Joy," said Mom.
Katie ripped open the envelope.
"Hey! What's this?"
She held a card with autumn leaves on the front.
"You're invited," she read.
She opened the card.
"A hayride," she said.
"AJ is having a birthday hayride, and we're invited."
Katie checked the calendar on the kitchen wall.
"It's two weeks away. I'll tell Joy."
"She's out in the garden talking to—," Mom began.
Just then Joy and Grandpa came through the back door.
"Guess what," said Katie.
But she stopped when she saw Joy's face. "What's wrong?"
"Joy has some bad news," Mom said to Katie.
"The fiddle needs more repair than we thought," said Grandpa.
"It will cost one hundred dollars," said Joy.
"Yikes!" said Katie. "Now what?"
"We can't afford to get the fiddle fixed right now," said Joy.
She looked at her mom.
"I'll just have to wait a while."
With a big sigh, Joy closed the violin case.
She picked it up and carried it up the stairs.
Nobody said a word.
Then Katie remembered the hayride.
"Wait, Joy!" she yelled. "There's good news too!"
She ran upstairs after her sister.