Philip and the Case of Mistaken Identity and Philip and the Baby (9781597051095) Read Online Free PDF Page A

Emery’s driveway so he
didn’t bother to stop.
    At home he read Stowaway to the Mushroom
Planet until his mother called him for dinner. After dinner he
went up to his room. He looked out his window to see whether
Emery’s car was back, but it wasn’t. He played in his room, looking
for Emery’s car every once in a while, and when it was finally
there, he went downstairs to the phone and called Emery.
    “Emery, is that you?”
    “Yeah. And I have news.”
    “What?” Philip asked.
    “I saw that girl when I was shopping with my
mother. She’s visiting her grandmother and her grandmother knows my
mother a little. The grandmother came over to say hello to my
mother, and I had to talk to the girl. She usually lives in
Juniata. You know where that is?”
    “How could you meet her? She was in
the library with me. I talked to her and she knew my name.”
    “She knew you were Philip?”
    “No, no. She called me you.”
    “Emery?”
    “That’s your name, isn’t it?”
    “How’d she know?”
    “She said she heard the library lady say it
when I returned your books. And you still owe me twenty cents.”
    “I know. I know. Wow! She asked me my name.
Good thing I told her I was you.”
    “You said your name was Philip?”
    “That’s your name, isn’t it?” Emery answered,
putting some attitude into his voice. “I thought it would be
trickier. I couldn’t slip into my disguise, so I told her a fake
name. Good thing, too. She wouldn’t believe she could meet two
Emerys in a row, would she?”
    “No, I guess not.”
    “She said her name was Janie and that she has
a sister.”
    “Joanie.”
    “She told you her sister’s name?”
    “No.”
    “So who’s Joanie?”
    “That’s the girl’s name.”
    “No, she told me her name was Janie.”
    “Joanie!”
    “Janie!” Emery insisted.
    “You sure?”
    “ I’m sure. Are you sure? You
didn’t have your big ear on, did you? Maybe you didn’t hear
right.”
    “No, I didn’t have my big ear on. I gave it
back to you, remember? But how could she be where you were when she
was where I was? I don’t get it. We both went to some talk about
gardening in the library. She said...”
    “She said she was on school vacation and she
was going back to her grandmother’s to meet her sister.”
    Philip took the phone away from his ear and
stared at it. Everything he was planning to tell Emery, Emery was
telling him.
    “When did you see her?” Philip asked.
    “When my mother was shopping. I told you
that.”
    “But what time?”
    “Mmm, about four-thirty.”
    “Four-thirty! She was at the library until
four. You sure it was the same girl?”
    “I’m sure. She was dressed the same and
looked the same.”
    “Blue T-shirt?”
    “Yes. It said ‘Little Angel’ on it,
right?”
    “Right. But she couldn’t get all the way
where you were by four-thirty, could she?”
    “Did her grandmother pick her up with the car
at the library?”
    “No, I followed her outside and watched her
walk away,” Philip said, hoping Emery would notice what a thorough
job he’d done spying on the girl. “There was no car.”
    “She and her grandmother must both be able to
fly then,” said Emery. “Maybe they’re both witches. She wasn’t
carrying a broomstick, was she?”
    “No!” Philip said loudly into the phone.
    “I guess we picked the right person to
follow. She is mega-suspicious.”
    Philip silently agreed. “We better keep after
her and find out more.”
    “Good idea.”
    “Shall we do it tomorrow?”
    “Can’t. It’s Easter. I have to go over my
aunt’s.”
    “Oh, yeah. I forgot it’s Easter. My aunt is
coming here.”
    “Janie is probably busy, too, tomorrow.”
    “Joanie,” Philip insisted.
    “She said ‘Janie’.”
    ‘“Joanie’ to me.”
    “We’ll investigate that.”
    “Right. Monday morning then?”
    “Yeah. We’ll get into our disguises and track
her down. What time?”
    “I’ll come to your house at nine.”
    “My mother says not