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

It’s to keep bad luck
away. That’s why I fell down the stairs because of odd rabbits’
feet. I’m gonna sit on the rug in the living room all
day.”
    Philip thought he saw tears rise into Mrs.
Wyatt’s eyes.
    “ No, no,” she said softly.
“No, you can’t . . . you have to go out with the other boys. Be still,
Amy.”
    “ I can’t, Aunt Shirley!”
Leon said in a panic. “I got to stay in. Bad luck will get me. It’ll be an
awful day. I’ll fall down all the stairs in the world. I’ll . .
.”
    “ Leon!” Mrs. Wyatt
shouted.
    Both Leon and the two babies were stunned
into silence.
    “ Emery, hold Amy. Philip,
hold Tina.”
    She gave each of the boys a baby. She went
into the kitchen and came back with her purse.
    “ Leon, I was shopping
yesterday and guess what?”
    “ What?” Leon asked
doubtfully.
    “ I found a brand new
penny. Heads up !”
she said in voice filled with momentary joy and excitement. “Take
it. I give it to you. It’s guaranteed to bring good luck no matter
what. Isn’t that good news? Now you can go out ,” and she pointed at the
door.
    “ Is it true?” Leon asked,
taking the shiny penny and looking hopefully at Philip and Emery,
both of whom declined to answer.
    “ Oh, thank you, thank you,
Aunt Shirley,” Leon cried gratefully. He shook his hands and his
sneakers dropped to the floor. Then he pulled his shirt off his
head.
    “ Close your eyes, Aunt
Shirley. I gotta take my pants off.”
    Mrs. Wyatt rolled her eyes, took back her
babies, and started toward the kitchen.
    Leon pulled his pants off.
    “ Thanks, Aunt Shirley.
Thanks a lot!” he called after her. Then as Leon dressed himself,
he began to sing. “I’m goin’ out with yo-u. I’m goin’ out with
yo-u.”
    Philip and Emery stomped to the front door
and left the house, Leon hopping behind with one shoe on and one
shoe off shouting, “Hey, wait for me, guys.”
     
     

Chapter Seven
     
    “ Boy, you guys were great
yesterday,” Leon said with a smile next morning. “You really tried
to keep my bad luck away. And see, only two rabbits’ feet today.
Even.” Then he sang, “You guys were so-great. You guys were
so-great.”
    Philip and Emery stared at Leon as he walked
past the kitchen where they were sitting. They heard him go
carefully up the stairs, counting out loud to be certain he didn’t
take thirteen steps. Then they looked into each other’s eyes as his
singing continued from upstairs.
    “ We gotta do something,”
said Philip.
    “ I know. I know. He
spoiled everything yesterday.”
    Philip nodded agreement. When they reached
the playground the day before, anyone who knew Leon headed the
other way. That left no one for Philip and Emery to play with but
each other . . . and Leon. Philip tried to get their friends to let
them into the baseball game they started, but the friends had seen
Leon play baseball too often in the schoolyard. They knew he
couldn’t hit. He couldn’t catch. And when he threw, somebody had to
go and chase the ball and the runner always scored. So Philip and
Emery had to sit morosely on the swings while Leon ran all over,
laughing and screaming about booga woogas chasing him as he
gleefully used the sliding board, the swings, and every other
contraption the playground offered to escape the booga woogas.
    “ So what are we gonna do?”
Emery asked.
    “ We gotta convince him of bad luck. If I
hear him screaming again about the booga woogas, I may stay in the
house all day myself . We gotta get him to stay inside.”
    “ We tried that,” Emery
reminded his friend.
    “ Yeah, and it would have
worked except for your mother. But she’s not here now so we gotta
try again.”
    Philip had heard Emery’s mother muttering,
“I’ve got to get out of here,” under her breath repeatedly when
he’d arrived at Emery’s that morning. A short while later she’d
taken the babies out in the double stroller for some air.
    Emery moaned when he heard Leon singing his
way down the