Murphy & Mousetrap Read Online Free PDF Page A

making him have to pee. Bad.

    He wished he could look up at Albert and the other boys and say something smart and tough, but his neck bent down deep, and he stared at the beach. He forced himself to stand and lifted his eyes just in time to see Albert fire the soccer ball directly at him. Without thought, Murphy lifted his hands and stopped the ball as it landed hard into his chest. He tried to hold on, but the ball was wet and slippery and fell onto the beach. Pain shot through his lungs and his breathing got mixed up so he had to gasp to get the air down.
    â€œNice save,” Albert said.

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    He wiped his hands across his chest, but it didn’t help. The ball had left a dirty splash of mud on the front of his jacket.
    What would Mom say?
    â€œYou better go home,” Albert said. “I can hear your mommy calling you.”
    Murphy listened for Mom, but all he could hear was the sound of the waves and a humming in his ears. So he wouldn’t make matters worse, Murphy ran up the path and straight home hoping to make it in time to pee.
    He hurried through the clutter in the basement and into the apartment.
    â€œHave a good time?” Mom asked.
    â€œYeah, okay,” he replied.
    â€œAre you sure everything’s all right?”
    â€œYeah,” Murphy said emerging from the makeshift bathroom. “Want some help?”
    Mousetrap leaped from behind a stack of boxes into his arms. Murphy buried his chilly hands in Mousetrap’s warm silky hair.
    â€œI don’t think Mousetrap will like the cats outside,” Murphy said. “They look mean and hungry.”
    â€œI don’t think they’re mean,” she said. “But we’ll keep him in the room.”
    Murphy wasn’t convinced that Mom was really thinking about Mousetrap. She was busy planning and organizing. Murphy thought it would be up to him to make sure Mousetrap was fine.
    â€œDo you like it so far?” Mom asked.
    The beds were against the wall near the bathroom. Mom had nailed blankets to the ceiling to make walls to make a little room for Murphy and to separate his bed from hers. It looked like pictures Murphy had seen of Arabian tents.
    â€œI like it,” he said. And he did. He pulled the blanket back. It was a little dark around his bed, but it was warm and safe. He put on sheets and his comforter. He covered his pillows and fluffed them up on his bed. Then he found Mousetrap’s velvet pillow, overturned a cardboard box and placed his cat’s bed on top.
    â€œThis is home, Mousetrap,” he said.
    He unpacked his stone collection and made space for the brightly colored stones he planned on bringing home from the beach. For a moment, it felt like he was home.
    Mom and Murphy left together in the morning, Mom to her new job, Murphy to his new school. In the evening, Mom worked at setting things in order. By the end of the week, the room looked almost like an apartment but without a bathtub or a kitchen.
    Mom bought a small fridge, a microwave and a hot plate. She set up the kitchen table, and they sat at the table and ate supper just like they used to.
    Mom plugged in a lamp beside Murphy’s bed so he could read at night. She set up the computer on a table just outside his blanket door. She laid rugs on the floor and squished plants into spots that were barely big enough.
    â€œIt looks like home, don’t you think?” she said.
    After she hung Murphy’s kindergarten paintings on the walls and covered the back of the door with the pictures that used to hang on the fridge, he had to agree. It was beginning to look like home.
    But it wasn’t just like home. Murphy and Mousetrap didn’t play hide-and-seek after school. One reason was he didn’t have a key for the door; Mom just left it unlocked. The other reason was there weren’t many places to hide in the new place. Other than the beds, the toilet and the shower, which were hidden behind blankets, you could see