A Matter-of-Fact Magic Book (8 page)

“Maggie’s not home. I couldn’t warn her. Can you get into her apartment? She keeps an extra door key on the glass tray on her dresser top. If we had her key, we could get in and at least clean the apartment.”

“Henry’s in there,” said Nora. “He nearly got me before.”

Mrs. Cooper came back into the room with a broom. “Take those shoes out of the closet, Tad,” she said. She took a look at a high-heeled shoe with a sparkly buckle. “Where did that come from?”

“It was Maggie’s,” said Tad.

“Mrs. Brown, Tad.” Mrs. Cooper forgot about the mouse and started to examine the contents of the closet. “Are you
sure
Mrs. Brown gave Nora these
things? They look too good to give away.”

Nora knew that her mother didn’t like her to take things from people. She had always told her to say, “No, thank you,” when anyone offered her anything.

“Where is Nora, Tad?” Mrs. Cooper was saying.

Nora ran off down the mouse trail away from the closet.

Nora wandered along in the half darkness. When she came to a crack or a hole in the wall, she put her head to the opening and looked out. One hole gave a fine view of a mousetrap set under the radiator in the bathroom of Nora’s house. Another one opened into the hall in Maggie’s apartment. Nora could see Lew the lizard
sleeping in a doorway. She wondered if mice talked the same language as lizards. She put her mouth to the crack. “Lew,” she said as loudly as she could. “Lew, wake up!”

The lizard opened his brown eyes and stuck out his forked tongue. “Nora,” he said, “where are you?”

“Behind the crack in the wall,” said Nora. “Lew, I want you to help me.”

The big lizard walked over to the crack. “How did you get in there, Nora? It’s not big enough for you.”

“I turned into a mouse,” said Nora. “Lew, can you get the door key off Maggie’s dresser?”

“I don’t think so,” said the lizard. “That’s more of a job for Henry.”

“See if you can get him to do it, Lew. It’s terribly important. Tell him it’s to help Maggie.”

“All right,” said Lew. He went down
the hall to the bedroom. In a very short time he came back with the key. “No trouble at all,” he said. “That cat is such a show-off.”

“Push it through the crack, Lew,” said Nora. “And thank you, thank you.”

Nora grabbed the door key in her teeth and started back the way she had come. The key was very heavy. Soon she had to put it down and rest.

It was darker now in the space behind the walls, but the cracks glowed brighter. It must be evening, and the lights are turned on, thought Nora.

Once a big mouse bumped against her as he went down the trail. Nora almost dropped the key.

Nora was afraid of getting lost. Then she had an awful thought. What if the magic wore off and she became her old self here between the walls? There wasn’t nearly enough room. She’d be squashed.

She tried to hurry, but the key was too heavy. Her teeth were beginning to ache from carrying it.

At last she came to the hole under the bathroom radiator. Nora wiggled through. She kept as far as she could from the trap. She didn’t want to stay under the radiator either. It would be a bad place to suddenly become large.

The bathroom door opened, and Mrs. Cooper came in with some clean towels. Nora moved as quickly as she could. She ran out of the bathroom and down the hall, keeping close to the wall. Her mother came out of the bathroom. “Tad!” she cried. “Here’s another mouse. Oh, I wish we could have kept that cat!”

Tad came down the hall. He bent over and took the key. Nora ran to her own room and hid in the closet. She could hear Tad saying, “It got away.”

“Did you see which way it went? I’ll
have to get some more traps.” Mrs. Cooper went downstairs.

Tad came into Nora’s room. “Nora,” he whispered, “where are you?”

“In the closet.”

Tad sat on the bed. “Come on out. The coast is clear.”

Nora came out. “Put me on the bed. I’m tired.”

Tad lifted her onto the bed. Nora burrowed under the covers. “Just don’t sit on me,” she said.

“Mother’s pretty mad at you for taking all that stuff from Maggie. She says some of it’s better than what she has herself. And she’s looking for you to set the table.”

“Couldn’t you do it for me? Please, Tad,” Nora begged.

“Will you take out the garbage for me?” asked Tad.

“Yes, of course,” Nora said.

“OK. I remember now you said you
were going to the library.” Tad went out of the room and downstairs.

Nora closed her eyes. It felt so good to be in her own bed. In a minute she was fast asleep.

Mrs. Cooper was angry. Nora had not come to the supper table at all. After supper her mother found her asleep in her bed. The supper was cold. Mrs. Cooper made Nora eat it anyway.

While she ate, her mother sat at the table across from her and scolded her for taking so many shoes and hats from Maggie Brown.

“But, Mother, she was
glad
to give them to me. They were just cluttering up her closet.”

“And now they’re cluttering up yours. Tomorrow you are not to go anywhere. I want you to stay home and tidy your room.”

“I’ll do it in the afternoon, Mother,”
said Nora. She had to go over to Maggie’s apartment and tidy
that
in the morning.

Mrs. Cooper got up from the table. “No, Nora,” she said, “I want you to clean your room before you do anything else.”

Nora’s room was quite small. It was full of all sorts of things. Nora almost never threw anything away. It would take her hours to clean up. She started right after supper, but by bedtime there was still a lot to do.

“Tad,” she said, “can you do something about Maggie’s place yourself?”

“Of course. What makes you think I need you? I’ll spray the rooms with some of that stuff that covers up smells, and I’ll hide the animals.”

“Sweep the floor, Tad, please,” said Nora.

Next morning after breakfast Tad took Maggie’s door key and a spray can and went next door. Nora worked in her room. She kept looking out of her window to see if the man from the Department of Health had come. It would be awful if Tad were still in the apartment when he arrived.

At last Nora finished straightening her room. She shoved a carton of treasures under her bed and jammed her dresser drawers shut. Then she went downstairs and out the front door.

A thin young woman stood on the stoop next door and rang the bell. Mrs. Hastings opened the door.

“I’m Miss Feldman from the Department of Health,” said the young woman.
“Are you the person who telephoned about animals in an apartment?”

Nora ran over to stand behind Miss Feldman. She had to make some excuse for Tad’s being in Maggie’s apartment.

Mrs. Hastings was talking. “Yes,” she said. “Come in. I’ll let you into the apartment upstairs.” She turned to Nora. “What is it?”

“I have to tell Tad to come home. He’s in Mrs. Brown’s apartment,” Nora said.

“What’s he doing there?” asked Mrs. Hastings.

Nora said the first thing she could think of. “Feeding the cat.”

“You see!” said Mrs. Hastings to Miss Feldman. “This woman’s business is taking care of people’s cats, but she has no time for her own.”

Nora felt that she had just made matters worse.

Mrs. Hastings led the way up the stairs. The woman from the Department of Health followed her, and Nora came after.

“Hello,” called Mrs. Hastings. “Is anybody home?”

Taffy ran down the hall barking. Miss Feldman took out a notebook and a pen and wrote something down.

Tad came to the top of the stairs and
opened the gate. When he saw Nora, he grinned and made a funny rumbling noise in his throat. He clenched and unclenched his hands and scratched them against the bannister.

“Is Mrs. Brown here?” asked Mrs. Hastings. “Miss Feldman would like to see her.”

“Maggie’s still out cat-sitting,” said Tad.

Mrs. Hastings turned to Miss Feldman. “Why don’t you take a look around while you’re waiting for her?” she said.

“I suppose I might as well,” said Miss Feldman. “Where shall I start?”

Nora noticed that the whole apartment smelled of the stuff from the spray can. She thought she liked the zoo smell better.

Mrs. Hastings took Miss Feldman into the living room. Henry the cat met them
at the door with a loud meow. Miss Feldman looked at him and made another note in her book.

Suddenly Nora saw Lew. He was standing quite still on one side of a row of books, which was propped up on the other side by an iron elephant. The big lizard didn’t even blink.