Invitation to a Stranger by Margaret Pearce Read Free Book Online

into it, and Drake must have found her near the back fence.”
    â€œDrake sounded scared.”
    â€œOf what though?” Katie mused. The closer they were to their homes the less frightened she sounded.
    They reached Jasmine’s place, opened the gate and wheeled her bike around the back. Ronnie picked up the slumped body of the cat as Katie took Jasmine’s arm and led her up on to the back porch, and knocked on the door.
    â€œWhat’s with Jasmine?” her brother Mike asked as he opened the door.
    â€œWe split up looking for Sing and found her sleeping on the ground with him at the back of the reserve,” Katie explained. “But she won’t talk to us. We wondered if she had been bitten by something.”
    â€œNo snakes around this time of the year,” Mike said. He took Jasmine’s arm and pulled her into the house. “Mum can check her out. Time both of you were home anyway.”
    â€œDon’t forget Sing,” Katie said as she passed over the limp body of the cat.
    The two girls went outside, got on their bikes and rode fast down the dark street.
    â€œWhy would she have been bitten by something?” Ronnie called.
    â€œWhat about a mozzie with malaria or sleeping sickness?” Katie asked .
    â€œI suppose,” Ronnie said doubtfully and veered her bike down the back lane that led to her own house.
    She didn’t really believe they had mosquitoes carrying those sorts of diseases in their suburb, but what else could have caused the mysterious sleepiness of Jasmine and her cats?

 
    Chapter Eleven
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    Jasmine wasn’t at school the next day. After school, Katie and Ronnie rushed around to her place.
    â€œ She’s in hospital having tests done,” Mrs. Purdue reported. “They are talking of keeping her for the week.” Her face crumpled. “ She doesn’t recognise anybody.”
    â€œLike the cats,” Katie said. “How are the cats going?”
    â€œEating and sleeping and ignoring everyone in the house,” Mrs. Purdue said with a sigh.
    â€œ Suppose they got bitten by a mozzie,” Katie said. “What’s sleeping sickness supposed to be like?”
    â€œWe have to wait for the result of all the tests they’re doing.”
    â€œ So can we go visit her?” Katie persevered.
    â€œ She isn’t recognising anyone,” Mrs. Purdue warned.
    Ronnie talked her father into taking her into the hospital Tuesday evening, and Katie talked her mother into driving in Wednesday afternoon. Both times Jasmine slept peacefully in the hospital bed, looking perfectly normal. Except when she opened her eyes there was no recognition in them. After that, they didn’t bother to visit.
    â€œ So she hasn’t got sleeping sickness,” Katie reported to Ronnie at school the next day. “They can’t discover any reason why she keeps sleeping. ”
    â€œThe nurses say she is permanently ravenous,” Ronnie said.
    â€œLike her cats,” Katie agreed.
    Ronnie lowered her voice, although they were sitting well apart from everyone else in the schoolyard. “They think she might have something wrong with her brain.”
    â€œI know,” Ronnie said with a sigh.
    They sat silently. The doctors had asked them over and over again, whether they were sure that they hadn’t seen Jasmine fall. There was no bruising on her head at all, and the doctors were becoming more and more mystified.
    â€œI bet Drake knows more than he is telling,” Katie said suddenly.
    â€œThere is something funny,” Ronnie agreed. “ Remember he said we were in great danger and to get away before they noticed. Who are they or them? ”
    â€œAnd what was the great danger we were in?” Katie pondered. “We should try to talk to Drake.”
    â€œThere’s no way I’m even going past that place with Drake’s creepy father .” Ronnie shivered as she remembered the oddity