A Wrinkle in Time Quintet by Madeleine L'Engle Read Free Book Online Page B

always a telegram or something. They always tell you!”
    “What
do
they tell you?”
    Meg choked down a sob, managed to speak over it. “Oh, Calvin, Mother’s tried and tried to find out. She’s been down to Washington and everything. And all they’llsay is that he’s on a secret and dangerous mission, and she can be very proud of him, but he won’t be able to—to communicate with us for a while.And they’ll give us news as soon as they have it.”
    “Meg, don’t get mad, but do you think maybe
they
don’t know?”
    A slow tear trickled down Meg’s cheek. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”
    “Why don’t you cry?” Calvin asked gently. “You’re just crazy about your father, aren’t you? Go ahead and cry. It’ll do you good.”
    Meg’s voice came out trembling over tears. “I cry much too much. I should be likeMother. I should be able to control myself.”
    “Your mother’s a completely different person and she’s a lot older than you are.”
    “I wish I were a different person,” Meg said shakily. “I hate myself.”
    Calvin reached over and took off her glasses. Then he pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped her tears. This gesture of tenderness undid her completely, and she put her head down on herknees and sobbed. Calvin sat quietly beside her, every once in a while patting her head. “I’m sorry,” she sobbed finally. “I’m terribly sorry. Now you’ll hate me.”
    “Oh, Meg, you
are
a moron,” Calvin said. “Don’t you know you’re the nicest thing that’s happened to me in a long time?”
    Meg raised her head, and moonlight shone on her tearstained face; without the glasses her eyes were unexpectedlybeautiful. “If Charles Wallace is a sport, I think I’m a biological mistake.” Moonlight flashed against her braces as she spoke.
    Now she was waiting to be contradicted. But Calvin said, “Do you know that this is the first time I’ve seen you without your glasses?”
    “I’m blind as a bat without them. I’m near-sighted, like Father.”
    “Well, you know what, you’ve got dream-boat eyes,” Calvin said.“Listen, you go right on wearing your glasses. I don’t think I want anybody else to see what gorgeous eyes you have.”
    Meg smiled with pleasure. She could feel herself blushing and she wondered if the blush would be visible in the moonlight.
    “Okay, hold it, you two,” came a voice out of the shadows. Charles Wallace stepped into the moonlight. “I wasn’t spying on you,” he said quickly, “and Ihate to break things up, but this is it, kids, this is it!” His voice quivered with excitement.
    “This is what?” Calvin asked.
    “We’re going.”
    “Going? Where?” Meg reached out and instinctively grabbed for Calvin’s hand.
    “I don’t know exactly,” Charles Wallace said. “But I think it’s to find Father.”
    Suddenly two eyes seemed to spring at them out of the darkness; it was the moonlight strikingon Mrs Who’s glasses. She was standing next to Charles Wallace, and how she had managed to appear where a moment ago there hadbeen nothing but flickering shadows in the moonlight Meg had no idea. She heard a sound behind her and turned around. There was Mrs Whatsit scrambling over the wall.
    “My, but I wish there were no wind,” Mrs Whatsit said plaintively. “It’s so
difficult
with all these clothes.”She wore her outfit of the night before, rubber boots and all, with the addition of one of Mrs. Buncombe’s sheets which she had draped over her. As she slid off the wall the sheet caught in a low branch and came off. The felt hat slipped over both eyes, and another branch plucked at the pink stole. “Oh,
dear
,” she sighed. “I shall
never
learn to manage.”
    Mrs Who wafted over to her, tiny feetscarcely seeming to touch the ground, the lenses of her glasses glittering. “
Come t’è picciol fallo amaro morso!
Dante.
What grievous pain a little fault doth give thee!
” With a clawlike hand she pushed the hat up on Mrs