Philip and the Superstition Kid (9781452430423) Read Online Free PDF

Leon
insisted in a panic.
    Emery shook his head in worry and in the
saddest voice he could come up with said, “You’ve been wearing
those rabbits’ feet just like that, right? Three. An odd
number.”
    “ And with sneakers on your
feet,” Philip added.
    “ With white laces,” Emery
said.
    Leon inspected himself.
    “ Well, yeah.”
    “ It’s bad luck,” Emery
announced.
    “ Real bad luck,” Philip
put in. “Especially the odd number of rabbits’ feet.”
    “ I’ll take one off. Here,
I’m taking it off.” Leon fumbled with the tiny chain that clipped
the rabbit’s foot to his belt. “There, it’s off.”
    “ Oh, no, Leon. You
shouldn’t have done that,” Emery advised.
    “ Why didn’t you stop him,
Emery?” Philip cried.
    “ He did it too fast,” said
Emery.
    “ What? What?”
    Emery put his hand on
Leon’s shoulder. “You should only add to rabbits’ feet and never take one off. That
doubles the bad luck you’re going to get.”
    “ Achh!” Leon burst. “Do
something. Do something. I already fell down the steps. The bad
luck already started. Do something.”
    Emery and Philip looked sadly at one
another.
    “ What? What?” Leon
demanded.
    “ The only way to fix the
bad luck is . . . ” Philip stopped and shook his head.
    “ Tell me!”
    “ You tell him, Emery,”
Philip said.
    “ Why me?” Leon moaned,
tilting his forehead into his raised right hand.
    “ You’re family,” Philip
continued his argument.
    “ Yeah, you’re my family,
Emery. You gotta help me.”
    “ It’s hard to do,” Emery
warned. “Getting rid of the bad luck, I mean.”
    “ I don’t care. The bad
luck’s coming. I can feel it. I can feel it.”
    Philip smacked Emery lightly on the
shoulder. “Tell him, Emery. He should have a fair chance.”
    Leon nodded vigorously. “Fair chance. Fair
chance.”
    “ Okay, Leon. Here’s what
you gotta do.”
    “ I’ll do it. I’ll do it.
Whatever it is, I’ll do it.”
    Emery explained. “You have to take off the
rabbits’ feet and hang one over each ear.”
    Leon scurried to detach the other two
rabbits’ feet. He connected the chains again and slipped a rabbit’s
foot over each ear.
    “ Now what?” Leon asked,
looking around warily. “Hurry, before the bad luck gets
here.”
    Philip saw Emery was about to burst out
laughing so he took over.
    “ You gotta wear your jeans
inside out and pull your shirt up over your ears and let it hang
backward off your head like an Egyptian headdress.”
    Leon tore off his pants and turned them
inside out. He jumped back into them and lifted his shirt over his
head.
    “ A little more,” said
Emery. “The rabbits’ feet have to hang out.”
    Leon obeyed.
    “ One last thing,” said
Emery. “You have to take off your sneakers and wear them on your
hands.”
    Leon sat on the floor, took off his
sneakers, changed them into gloves.
    “ Now if you stay like that
all day,” Emery said, “you’ll be safe from any bad
luck.”
    “ You forgot the last
thing,” said Philip.
    “ Ohhhhh. You’re right,”
Emery nodded.
    “ What is it?
Hurry.”
    “ You have to sit on a rug
until it gets dark.”
    “ A rug? A rug? What kind
of rug?”
    Emery pointed to the living room.
    “ You sit there,” said
Emery, “and Philip and I will stop back once in a while to see how
you’re doing.”
    “ Not,” Philip whispered to
himself.
    “ I can’t go out with you
guys?” Leon said sadly.
    “ You wouldn’t want people
seeing you like that, would you?” Philip asked sympathetically.
“And where would you get a rug to sit on outside?”
    The boys turned at the sound of babies
crying, and Mrs. Wyatt appeared, a baby in each arm. She took two
steps and stopped.
    When Leon saw his aunt staring at him, he
gave a shy wave of one sneaker and stood up.
    “ I gotta stay in all day,
Aunt Shirley.”
    “ What are you doing,
Leon?” Mrs. Wyatt asked wearily. “Why do you look like that? Why
are your pants inside out?”
    “