In Search of Goliathus Hercules Read Online Free PDF Page A

understand them! And then, just as suddenly as he had felt fearful, Henri felt excited. It was as if a haze had been lifted from his eyes and he could see properly. The whole riverbank was alive!
    Now he understood that the sound he had heard the day before at Mrs. Black’s house was the sound of a cricket, crying and begging for its life. Instantly Henri tensed. He realized that if he shifted his body, he might well hurt someone or something. He felt like an elephant or “a bull in a china shop” as Great Aunt Georgie probably would have said.
    Slowly and carefully, Henri stood up. Then, with a great leap over an anthill, he raced back to the house, socks and shoes in hand, to tell Great Aunt Georgie of his discovery!

    Henri ran into the house, full of excitement and out of breath. He dropped his socks and muddy shoes by the back door. As he walked along the hallway, the polka dotted walls of buttons gleamed in the sun. He had come to think of the buttons as being a bit like books in a library. Henri could point to one, and Great Aunt Georgie would tell a story. He passed the black pearl button that had adorned a Japanese emperor’s robe and then the turquoise button that came from deepest, darkest Peru. It was supposed to be lucky because it was believed that turquoise had healing powers that strengthened the wearer against sickness and disease.
    “Henri, is that you?”
    Henri stopped. He heard the ominous rustling of a stiff silk dress. He turned toward the parlor to see Great Aunt Georgie and…Mrs. Black. Henri shuddered, but he pulled himself together and said, “Good day, Great Aunt Georgie and Mrs. Black.”
    All thoughts of telling Great Aunt Georgie of his discovery left his mind. Instinctively Henri knew he did not want to share this information with Mrs. Black. There she sat in the armchair near the fireplace in her starched black dress. Her hair was drawn tightly back and wrapped in a bun that most unusually was held together with a very long, ornate hatpin. Despite the warm weather, she wore black gloves, and her bony hands made Henri think of claws. The rustling of the black silk dress seemed to create a charged, brittle energy in the room, and without knowing why, Henri felt nervous. He always felt nervous under her disapproving stare—guilty without having done anything.
    Aunt Georgie smiled and Henri felt encouraged. “How are you today, Mrs. Black?”
    “Adequate, I suppose,” she said, which was followed by a little cough.“But the more pertinent question is: how are you? That was a nasty fall yesterday. I didn’t mean to frighten you.”
    “I wasn’t frightened!” Henri said a little too forcefully.
    “Of course not,” she replied with a knowing smile to Great Aunt Georgie. Then she turned to Henri and her eyes fell to his bare feet.
    “Mrs. Black is taking refuge from her home while the farm workers burn off the straw stubble in the fields,” Great Aunt Georgie said. “The wind shifted, and all the smoke is blowing directly at her house. Very bad for the respiratory system and constitution. And, of course, she was concerned about you, Henri.” The latter was said in such a way that Henri knew he was being warned to remain polite to Mrs. Black.
    “Surely you should be recuperating in bed,” Mrs. Black pointed out. “What have you been up to? Where are your socks and shoes?”
    Henri gulped. He was starting to feel guilty, but then he reminded himself that he hadn’t done anything wrong. The problem was, he had a secret, and Mrs. Black seemed to suspect that he was hiding something. Though it made no sense at all, Henri decided to lie. He knew it was wrong, but he couldn’t stop himself. “I just polished my shoes, and I didn’t want to scuff them up, so I took them off.”
    Great Aunt Georgie smiled as if he were the perfect little gentleman she was training him to be, but Mrs. Black said, “I see. Are you going to a fancy gathering this evening?”
    “Well, no. I just like