Meet the Austins by Madeleine L'Engle Read Free Book Online

all. We’re just making a fuss over nothing and making Maggy feel bad. I bet I can make him work.”
    â€œOkay, Doc,” I said. “You try.”
    â€œWell …” Suzy said, when she realized the music-box part of Elephant’s Child was indeed broken.
    Rob had stopped yelling. He took Elephant’s Child from Suzy and held him close and went into the study and sat down in the big black leather chair and put his head down against Elephant’s Child, and I could see that his lip was quivering and tears were sliding down his cheeks, but he wasn’t making any sound.

    And I wasn’t feeling any empathy about Maggy at all.
    â€œWhat a lot of fuss about a stupid old toy,” Maggy said crossly. “Can’t your mother and father get him another?”
    â€œI suppose if you break a toy you just get another one?” I demanded angrily.
    â€œOf course.”
    There was no use saying that we didn’t, and that even if Mother and Daddy could get Rob another Elephant’s Child it wouldn’t be the same.
    â€œMaggy didn’t mean to break it,” Suzy said, but her voice was uncertain. “Don’t make her feel bad.”
    As far as I could see, Maggy didn’t feel bad at all. “Do you two have any homework?” I asked them.
    â€œJust some spelling words.”
    â€œWell, get them done, then.”
    â€œLet’s play first,” Maggy said. “We can play hospital again. Come on, Suzy.”
    â€œWe’re supposed to do our homework before we play,” I said.
    But Maggy had already started upstairs, and Suzy went after her.
    â€œSuzy,” I shouted, “Mother’ll be furious if you don’t get your homework done.”
    â€œI’ll do it later, silly,” Suzy called back, and ran after Maggy.
    I went in to Rob. He was still crying silently, and when I tried to comfort him he pushed me away. I brought in my homework and sat down at the desk near him, but I couldn’t concentrate on anything properly. After a while he got up and
climbed into my lap and put his arms around my neck and I felt better.
    Â 
    I thought I ought to go upstairs and check on Suzy and Maggy, but I could hear them playing, and I decided that as long as there weren’t any horrible screams I’d just leave them alone. Rob got out his wooden trains and set them up on the floor by me, and I worked on my homework till John got home.
    I could hear him hanging up his things, and then he came into the study and dumped his books down. “How’re you making out, Vicky? Everything sounds okay. Hi, Robbie, old man.”
    I looked at him glumly. “As a baby sitter I’m a complete flop.”
    â€œWhy?”
    I told him what had happened. “And I wasn’t any help at all,” I finished. “I was worse than no good. Thank heavens you’re home, John. I don’t know what I’d have done if she started anything else.”
    John was examining Elephant’s Child. “One thing’s for sure,” he said, putting Elephant’s Child down. “She’s a spoiled brat from way back.”
    â€œWhat’s the matter with her, anyhow?” I asked John. “Do you suppose this is just the way she is—I mean, spoiled rotten and everything—or do you suppose it’s because of her mother and father?”
    â€œWell,” John said slowly, “how would we feel if …”
    â€œStop,” I said quickly. “Stop.”
    â€œShe does make it rough,” John said. “I know I’m not as sorry for her as I ought to be.”

    â€œYeah, that worries me,” I said. “Suzy feels all sorry for her the way I ought to, and I can’t seem to make myself.”
    â€œI suppose the thing to do,” John said, “is to try to think how we’d feel if it was one of us. I mean, if there weren’t four of us, if none of the rest of you had been born, I might be