R. L. Stine_Mostly Ghostly 07 Read Online Free PDF Page B

spun around. “Are you talking to me, young man?” she asked.
    “Uh … no,” I said. “I was talking to myself. Just rehearsing a magic trick.”
    “I think you'll be cute as a chimp,” Tara teased.
    “You
look like a chimp!” I shouted.
    The woman in the top hat gasped. “Young man, what is your problem?” she snapped. “How dare you talk to me like that?”
    “You're getting yourself in trouble,” Tara said.
    “Just shut up!” I cried.
    The top hat woman gasped again. “Someone needs to teach you some manners!” she shouted. “If you were
my
son, I'd slap you in the face!”
    She flashed me an angry scowl and stomped away. The chain of handkerchiefs flew out of her pocket and trailed behind her.
    “Well, that's
one
way to move up in line!” Nicky said.
    “Can't you two disappear or something?” I said.
    Tara slid her arm around my shoulders. “Come on, Maxie. Admit it. We've made your life exciting.”
    “Maybe I don't
want
an exciting life,” I said.
    “Then why are you in line?” the man ahead of me asked.
    “I wasn't talking to you,” I said.
    He pulled an egg out of his mouth, then turned his back on me.
    “Listen, guys, I can't do it,” I said. “I can't switch brains with a chimp. I'm sorry. But I don't look good in red spandex shorts.”
    “Max, you heard what Dr. Smollet said,” Nicky replied. “He said it will only last a few minutes.”
    “A few minutes is a long time!” I cried. “What if Mr. Harvey has fleas?”
    Tara squeezed my hand. “You have to do it, Max,” she said softly. “Don't you want my family to be alive again? Do you really want Nicky and me to be dead
for the rest of our lives?”
    “Please—go away,” I said. “I have to thinkabout my card tricks now. I have to impress Ballantine.”
    Nicky and Tara vanished. The line moved up pretty quickly.
    Finally, a man dressed in black stepped up to me. He had a badge around his neck, white with red letters: MAGIC STAFF . He put his hand on my shoulder.
    “Okay, next victim. Kid, you can go in the store now.”
    Would Ballantine like my card tricks?
    I took a deep breath. And stepped into the magic shop.

T HE TINY STORE WAS jammed with people. Everyone wanted to get a glimpse of Ballantine the Nearly Amazing.
    Magicians filled the aisles between the display cases of magic tricks. They were all talking at once. Talking about how their performances had gone and what Ballantine had said to them. Some looked happy. Some were shaking their heads sadly.
    “Better luck next time,” a chubby bald man said to another chubby bald man. He squeezed the other man's shoulder—and a pigeon flew out from under the guy's coat!
    Weird crowd, huh?
    I gazed around quickly. Was I the only kid?
    Yes!
    That has to be good, I told myself. At least Ballantine will notice me.
    The line of magicians waiting to perform snaked around to the back room. I peeked ahead. I saw a small stage with a dark blue curtain behindit. A magician in a red cape stood on the stage doing a trick with three big, silvery rings.
    And seated across from the stage on a tall chair that looked like a throne—Ballantine himself!
    Several people huddled around Ballantine, including Mr. and Mrs. Hocus, the owners of Hocus Pocus. They all stared straight ahead in total silence, watching the magician do his ring trick.
    “My two-year-old can do that trick!” a magician in line ahead of me whispered. A few people snickered at that.
    “Silence!”
a voice boomed through the store. Ballantine's voice. “We must give these performers every chance.”
    He stood up, and I got a better look at him. He was very lanky. He wore a glittery rhinestone turban on his head. He glowed in an aqua suit, very shiny and tight-fitting.
    Ballantine's skin was deeply tanned. He had a narrow face with a thin black mustache. His eyelids drooped so low, I couldn't tell if his eyes were open. In fact, everything about him drooped. He had the saddest, droopiest expression I'd ever seen