Black and Blue Magic Read Online Free PDF Page B

was about a half inch deep and getting deeper. It was only warm though, so the fire must have gone out some time before. I waded over to the pantry, and sure enough, the whole bottom was out of the water heater, rusted clear through. I knew the thing couldn’t last much longer, but I had so hoped it would hold out until after our vacation trip. I was so mad about having to spend some of our trip money on a water heater, and so worried about the water getting out into the hall, that I forgot all about Miss Thurgood. I found the little wheels that shut off the water, and I was just getting out the mop and pail, when Miss Thurgood stormed through the door. She had on that long old wool bathrobe she wears, and she had her bath brush in one hand and her bar of soap in the other. She just had time to say, ‘Mrs. Marco! Where is my hot water?’ when she stepped in it and her feet slid out from under her.”
    Mom started to giggle again. “She looked so funny sitting there in the water, with her bath brush still in her hand like a scepter, or something, that I ... it was awful of me, but I just couldn’t help it ... I started to laugh.”
    By now Harry was laughing, too. “But that wasn’t all,” Mom said between snorts and splutters. “I said something, too. I said, ‘You’re sitting in it.’ ” At that Harry and Mom both broke down and laughed until they were weak.
    After a while Mom sobered down and wiped her eyes. “It’s really not so funny, though,” she said. “Miss Thurgood has gone. She dripped right up to her room and packed a bag and left. She said she’d been insulted and that she’d send for the rest of her things tomorrow. So after she’d gone and I’d finished mopping up the floor, I sat down here and started thinking about how I’d ruined our chances for a trip, after I’ve been promising you one since you were seven. We might have managed a short trip, even with a new water heater to buy, but with Miss Thurgood’s leaving ... Mom shook her head sadly.
    “Look, Mom,” Harry said. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve got plenty of things to do this summer. As a matter of fact, a trip might interfere with some of my other plans.” Of course, that was a big fat lie, if there ever was one; but Harry said it so convincingly, that for a moment he almost believed it himself. The realization that the last of his summer plans had fizzled was just beginning to take hold of him when Mr. Brighton came in.
    The kitchen door swung open, and Mr. Brighton’s head appeared. “Well,” he said, “if it isn’t Mr. Harry Marco in conference with his chief assistant.” Mr. Brighton was always kidding Harry about running the boarding house. He made a big joke out of it most of the time, but once Harry had overheard him telling Mom what a great job she’d done raising Harry. Mr. Brighton had said it was unusual and refreshing to meet a kid who shouldered responsibility so cheerfully.
    Mom had said, “I know. Sometimes I worry that it’s too much responsibility. But when I started the boarding house I had so much to learn, and Harry just seemed to learn right along with me.”
    “That’s what I get such a kick out of,” Mr. Brighton said. “Sometimes I think he knows more about running a boarding house than you do.”
    So Harry knew what Mr. Brighton really meant by that sort of kidding. But right now, Mr. Brighton didn’t say any more about Mr. Harry Marco’s boarding house. He seemed to have something else on his mind. He pulled out a chair and sat down. “I was wondering if there’s any coffee available down here,” he said. Harry got a cup and Mom poured some coffee from the percolator that she always kept filled on the kitchen table. “But to tell the truth, I’m also just curious. A little while ago I looked out my door to see if Miss Thurgood had finished marinating in the bathroom, and I was just in time to see her come stomping out of her room all dressed up and carrying a suitcase. Is