Mozart's Sister Read Online Free PDF Page B

pig noises. I preferred Sebastian's rooster and could
not rightly tell it from the feathered form.
    When we began we were all in great spirits, and after a few
hours of riding Mama started us singing songs. Wolfie sang very
loudly and didn't care much about the right notes. He sang beyond the melody, making up harmony. At first it was annoying, but I
eventually chose to like it, for it allowed me the melody. I found
Papa smiling, even though he didn't join in.

    Then suddenly, the coach dipped to the left, sending me into
Wolfie's lap! Papa and Mama fell toward us, making our arms and
legs bump and pinch.
    "Whoa! Whoa!" the driver yelled.
    There was a horrible sound of wood splintering and metal hitting rock. The carriage stopped but was tipped precariously.
    "Oh no ... Leopold?" Mama said.
    "What happened?" I asked.
    Papa helped Mania back in her seat and held on to the door of
the carriage to keep himself in place. "This is not what we need.
Not when we've only just begun."
    "What broke?" Wolfie asked.
    "The wheel. Obviously the wheel." Papa looked mad, but I
knew he wasn't mad at us. He flung open the door on the low side
and jumped out. Wolfie and I crowded together to look out the
window.
    "It's gone, completely broke to pieces," Sebastian said.
    Papa rubbed the spot above his eyebrows. "One of my friends
warned me the wheels were not in good shape, but since I'd just
bought the carriage . . ." He sighed. "Expenses. Unforeseen
expenses. This is not an auspicious beginning."
    Sebastian and the driver looked down the road. "We passed a
null a ways back. Perhaps we can find help to-"
    Papa waved them away. "Go. See what you can do"
    I heard their footsteps on the road, running back the way we'd
come. Papa looked at us and blinked, as if only now remembering
we were there.
    "Come. Come out." He helped Mama down first, then me,
then Wolfie. Mama and I held our skirts above the dust of the road.
    We looked at the wheel. All that was left were little pieces
attached to the metal hub.
    "What are we going to do?" Mama asked.
    Papa knelt beside the carriage, looking underneath. "We wait."
    "Yippee!" Wolfie ran off the road into the brush and picked up a stick. He pointed it like a sword. "En garde!"

    I looked to Papa. "Can we play?"
    He nodded and Mama said, "Don't get dirty, and stay close."
    I found my own sword and defended myself.

    What started out as an adventure wasn't fun at all. We had to
wait by the side of the road for over an hour until Sebastian and the
driver returned with help. Then the wheel they brought was too
small and too long in the hub. Papa and Sebastian had to fell a small
tree to bind in front of the wheel so it would not run away. They
broke up the smashed wheel to take the metal with us to the next
town of Wasserburg, where we could get it fixed properly, but even
that they had to tie underneath. And Papa and Sebastian had to walk
so as not to strain the carriage.
    We didn't get into town until midnight. Papa left us at an inn
while he and Sebastian went to find a smithy and a cartwright to
forge the iron and form the new wooden wheel. Mama helped us
out of our traveling clothes and we fell into bed. It smelled of perspiration-not ny own.
    The next morning at breakfast, Papa told us one of the other
wheels was also in bad shape and would have to be replaced. As he
drank his coffee, I noticed he was wearing the same shirt as yesterday
There were dark circles under his eyes and his hair was mussed.
Hadn't he slept? He hadn't been there when Mama got us up.
    Mama answered my unspoken question. "You must rest,
Leopold."
    "I will." He ran a hand over his hair, smoothing it. "Although
this is a bad start, and having to board the horses and Sebastian during the delay is a bothersome expense, by heaven it is better to lose
ten wheels than a foot or a few fingers"
    Mama nodded. "When will it be ready?"
    "We've been told tomorrow morning," Papa said. His voice
echoed his