Gib and the Gray Ghost by Zilpha Keatley Snyder Read Free Book Online Page B

thought Mrs. Thornton would ever sell Silky, all he got was a snort and a growling “Not likely, but you never know.”
    Miss Hooper was no help either. Not because she wasn’t talking but because it wasn’t easy to find her alone. In fact, looking to find a moment alone with Miss Hooper put Gib in mind of how hard it had been to find a minute to talk to Miss Mooney way back when he’d been a junior orphan and there were thirty other juniors trying to horn in on the conversation. There’d been one chance on Monday morning when Gib reported to the library a little early. Miss Hooper was already at the table but there was no sign of Livy. Gib hurriedly pulled out his chair, sat down—and then waited. Miss Hooper was reading a book by Ralph Waldo Emerson.
    Gib waited impatiently, glancing now and then at the door, where Livy would be appearing at any moment. But the reading went on and on. After a minute or two Gib cleared his throat and began, “Miss Hooper. Miss Hooper, could I ask a question?”
    “Yes, what is it?” Miss Hooper was holding her place with one finger and looking impatient.
    “Miss Hooper, Livy says that Mr. Morrison wants to buy the rest of the Rocking M land.” He thought about adding “And Black Silk too,” but he only said, “And the house. Livy says he wants to buy this house too.”
    Miss Hooper was the only person Gib knew who could look amused and angry at the same time. “And so what’s the question, boy?” she asked. “That astounding bit of information sounded more like a statement than a question. Are you asking me if it’s true? Is that it?”
    Gib nodded. “Yes, ma’am. I guess that’s what I’m asking, all right.”
    But at that very moment the library door slammed open with a loud bang and Livy rushed in, chattering excitedly. “Guess what, Gib?” she said. “Guess what I just found out?”
    Livy looked from Gib to Miss Hooper and back again. “Well, isn’t anyone going to guess?”
    This time Miss Hooper’s frown looked fairly serious. “No, Miss Thornton,” she said. “No one is going to do any guessing, or anything at all, until you go back out and enter this classroom in a more appropriate manner.”
    For a moment Livy stared back, chin jutting, before she tossed her curls and went out the door. In the moment that passed before she came back in, Miss Hooper said, “I don’t know the answer to your question, Gib. I have no idea what that foolish man wants to do.”
    By then Livy was back again. Pacing slowly to the table, she curtsied to Miss Hooper with exaggerated dignity before she pulled out her chair, sat, and patted down her skirt. Then she turned to Gib and said, “Never mind guessing. I’ll tell you. Tomorrow you’re going to drive me to Longford School.” She paused, glanced at Miss Hooper, and added, “Tomorrow I’m going to start going to a real school again, and Gib’s going to go too. I just heard my mother talking to Hy about it.”
    Miss Hooper’s lesson that day was about Ralph Waldo Emerson and the transcendentalists, but afterward Gib didn’t remember a whole lot about it. All the rest of the morning his mind kept slipping off transcendentalism and back onto what Livy had said about going to Longford School.
    He’d known it was something he’d have to face up to sooner or later. But now that it was about to happen, there were some questions he would have liked to ask if Miss Hooper and Livy hadn’t been acting like a pair of wet hens. But since they were, he could only try to push his mind in the general direction of transcendentalism and keep his mouth shut. It wasn’t until Miss Hooper was dismissing class that she said, “And so, Olivia, I guess Hy and your mother think the weather’s going to stay settled long enough to make it worthwhile for you to start in again at the Longford School.”
    Livy nodded stiffly. “Yes, ma’am,” she said with exaggerated, little-girl politeness. “That’s what Hy says.” Then she