Figgs & Phantoms by Ellen Raskin Read Free Book Online Page A

lady.”
    An auction-room assistant approached Florence for a deposit, blocking Mona’s view.
    â€œNumber 74. Conrad. Youth . I have forty dollars, anyone say forty-five?”
    Mona stood on her chair to see the auctioneer. “Forty-five,” she called.
    â€œFifty in the rear.” The auctioneer looked at Mona, who nodded. “Fifty-five in the first row, sixty in the rear.” Again Mona nodded. “Sixty-five in the first row. Anyone say seventy? Sold again to the young lady in the first row.”
    Mona breathed a deep sigh and collapsed back into her seat. Her heart was pounding at a furious rate.
    â€œGood job,” Uncle Florence whispered, and patted her moist hand.
    â€œNumber 38,” the auctioneer called. Mona and her uncle sat back and enjoyed the rest of the auction, munching on sandwiches Sissie had packed for them.
    The last lot was sold at four o’clock. Impatiently, Mona, waited in line, money in hand, and was disappointed to be handed wrapped books. She had wanted to look through her purchases once more, but Kadota was honking his horn at the curb.
    Kadota spent the return drive explaining why he collected dogs. It was dark when they arrived in Pineapple; it was night when Uncle Florence entered his bus.

4. GONE!
    T HE SPRING-GREEN BUS glistened in the Sunday morning sun. “He’s still asleep,” Newt whispered, peeking into the window.
    Quietly, Sissie opened the bus door and, finger to her lips, led her family up the steps.
    Mona, smiling in anticipation of Uncle Florence’s surprise, tiptoed to the cot and awaited her mother’s signal to begin singing.
    â€œHappy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy ...”
    â€œWake up, Flo,” Newt shouted, shaking the little man.
    â€œWake up, Baby,” Sissie cried. “Wake up, wake up!”
    Mona screamed.
    The pineapple Weekly Journal
    PUBLISHED FIFTY TIMES A YEAR
    Â 
    Â 
    Florence Figg Dead

    The curtain has fallen on one of Pineapple’s most picturesque and respected citizens. Sunday morning Florence Italy Figg, forty-five years old that day, was found dead in his green (?!) bus.
    Florence Figg was born to the theatrical team of Toby and Twinkletoes Figg following their matinee performance at the Riverside Theater in Milwaukee. He was named after the great showman Florenz Ziegfeld. When old enough to realize that his parents couldn’t spell, Florence adopted the middle name of Italy in tribute to that great center of art and learning.
    Florence made his stage debut at the age of two. His fame spread quickly, and by the time he was six his name was in lights. Due to his short stature, he was billed for the next ten years as “Baby Flo, the six-year-old tap dancing wonder.” The highlight of his career came when he starred opposite Judy Garland in the motion picture The Wizard of Oz. Florence Figg played a Munchkin.
    As the Figg family grew, the act was expanded to include his prodigious brothers. “The Fabulous Figgs” became an entire show of their own, and when vaudeville declined they traveled across the country in their bus (now parked in Newton [“Newt”] Newton’s used-car lot), performing in carnivals and local extravaganzas.
    The Figg family settled in Pineapple, thanks to three simultaneous flat tires. Florence went on to become a highly respected dealer in rare colorplate books.
    He has left the book business to his niece, Mona Newton, his house in Acorn Alley to his sister, Sister Figg Newton, and the bus to Newton Newton. Also surviving are his four brothers: Kadota, Romulus, Remus, and Truman the Human Pretzel.
    Florence Italy Figg will be sorely missed by friends and book collectors alike. He is mourned by all the people of Pineapple, who heartily applauded his dancing at Fourth of July pageants.
    Florence Figg has taken his last bow.

IV

1 . MONA MOURNS
    T HE FIGGS WEPT. The Newtons wept. They wept for things they had said and