Aliens In The Family by Margaret Mahy Read Free Book Online Page B

gangsters," said Dora. "He was being chased and I just opened the back door of the car and let him in—not actually on the back seat that is, but down in between the front seats and the back one. I covered him up with the car rug, and Mum came and got in and drove us home."
    "Where is he now then?" asked Lewis, astounded.
    "Locked in the garage," said Dora, and she began to cry. Lewis took no notice of the tears—Dora crying was nothing unusual—but Jake stared in surprise.
    "What are you crying for?" she asked incredulously but without malice.
    "He's locked in our garage!" exclaimed Dora, as if this explained everything. "If David and Mum find out, they'll kill me."
    "Don't be silly! They wouldn't kill a snail, not even if they found it in amongst the cabbages!" Jake replied.
    "But they'll be mad," said Dora. "I'm not even allowed any pets!"
    "They said we can get a kitten sometime soon," said Lewis eagerly.
    "Hang on! It's not the same!" declared Jake. "We're talking about a person, not a pet. They'd help a person who was being chased by gangsters."
    "Mum wouldn't believe they were gangsters," Dora muttered.
    "Do you believe they were gangsters?" Jake asked. "I mean to say... gangsters? It's pretty hard to believe."
    "He came running out of a shop," said Dora. In her mind's eye the scene was as fresh as if it was taking place before her all over again. She had been gazing at the myriad of reflections on the glass shop window when suddenly, surfacing from that reflecting world as if swimming up through deep water, she had seen a golden boy, fleeing from unseen enemies.
    "He came skating out of a shop," she corrected herself, recalling the way he had spun through the door in a blur of colour, his pale hair shining in the afternoon light.
    "He might've been shop-lifting," suggested Jake. She had a way of half looking down at the floor and smiling, then looking up under her eyebrows that Dora found unnerving.
    "It wasn't a shop-lifting sort of shop," said Dora crossly. "It just sold cards and envelopes and wedding invitations..."
    "I still don't know how you can be sure he's a goodie," stated Jake. "Suppose it was the Mafia after him. They might have got blown over from Australia like waxeyes, or it might have been some legal organization like the SIS or the CIA who're after him—or his father, or something."
    "The CIA's in America!" cried Dora.
    "They get everywhere. They're probably checking us out all the time—that's what Manley says." Jake stopped abruptly. She had not wanted to mention Manley.
    "Who's Manley?" asked Dora, confused to find a stranger suddenly brought in to the conversation.
    "He's my mother's friend," mumbled Jake. Her lips barely moved as she spoke.
    "You'd make a really neat ventriloquist!" commented Lewis respectfully.
    Dora looked at Jake with renewed interest lighting her eyes. "Is he—a close friend?" she asked delicately. If Jake's mother married again there mightn't be the need for any more awkward visits like these.
    "He's a pain in the neck," spat Jake vehemently. "Forget him. What about this rescued boy of yours, Dora? Did he tell you anything?"
    "No—didn't have a chance. Mum arrived almost at once and now he's locked in the garage."
    "He might run out of oxygen," said Lewis, staring at Jake and trying to talk without moving his lips.
    "There's plenty of oxygen in the garage. It gets in under the door," Jake said knowledgeably. "We ought to check him out though. Do you have to pinch the keys?"
    "No, just get them from the kitchen," said Lewis, "and lock up afterwards so no-one pinches our lawn mower and things."
    Philippa was surprised when they came in to get the key, and even more surprised when the three of them walked out of the house together and across to the garage. She watched them roll up the door. Last night after the children had gone to bed she and David had had—not a quarrel so much as a disagreement, and she had felt very insecure all day. The new house and the new things