Snyder, Zilpha Keatley by The Egypt Game [txt] Read Free Book Online

because they were handy-or even lonely. You picked them because you thought alike and were interested in the same things, the way she and Melanie were. “How old is she?” she asked, letting her eyes go narrow.
    “I think her mother said she was nine,” Caroline said.
    “Nine,” said April, with a cool smile, “is a lot younger than eleven.”
    “Well, of course, it will have to be up to you and Melanie to decide,” Caroline said calmly, but as she turned to leave the room April was sure she heard a rather exasperated sigh.
    April tried to feel pleased about the sigh, but something prickled uncomfortably. She decided she didn’t want to think about it. She called to Caroline that she was going down to talk to Melanie. Melanie would
    understand how impossible it would be to invite someone else to be part of anything so private and secret as .
    Mr. Ross called, “Come in,” when April knocked. He was sitting on the couch surrounded by books and papers. He was studying to be a college teacher and he always had a lot of work to do in the evenings. He was a big man with dark brown skin and a teasing smile. He was always kidding April about her name. When April opened the door he said, “Just as I thought, it’s springtime. Melanie! the crudest month is here.”
    Mr. Ross was going to teach things like poetry and literature, and he was always making jokes that weren’t very funny unless you knew what he was talking about. That “cruelest month” business, for instance, was something he was always kidding April about. It didn’t make any sense to April until Melanie found out about it and explained. It seemed, it came from a big long poem that started out about how April was the “cruelest month.” April still didn’t think it was any riot, but she guessed it was okay for that kind of joke.
    As soon as the girls were alone in Melanie’s room, April brought up the subject of Elizabeth. Sure enough, Melanie’s mother had been after her, too, to make the new girl feel at home.
    “I don’t know what they think we can do,” April
    said. “We can’t let her in on . She’d be sure to fink about it and ruin everything.”
    “Well, we’ll have to get to know her first,” Melanie said, “and see if she’s the kind who can keep a secret. And then-“
    “Keep a secret!” April interrupted scornfully. “For one thing, she’s only nine years old.”
    “Well, Marshall’s only four,” Melanie said, “and he doesn’t ever fink.”
    “Marshall’s different,” April said impatiently. “This Elizabeth is probably just like any other blabbermouth fourth grader.”
    Alarmed at what seemed to her to be a rather wishy-washy attitude on Melanie’s part, April didn’t go home until she felt sure they had reached a firm decision. No matter what, no new girl was going to be let in on . If they asked Elizabeth to walk to school with them, and maybe talked to her at recesses for a while, until she got around to making fourth-grade friends, that would be enough.
    The next morning April and Melanie went dutifully down the little dark basement hallway and knocked on the door of the Chung’s apartment. Almost immediately the door across the hall opened and Mr. Bodler, the janitor, looked out. “Oh, hello there young ladies,” he said. “Thought I heard someone knocking on my door.”
    “Hello, Mr. Bodler,” Melanie said. “We’ve come
    to get the new girl and take her to school with us.”
    “Well now, isn’t that nice. I think that’s right nice of you young ladies.”
    April and Melanie turned back to the Chung’s door, but Mr. Bodler went on standing behind them. They exchanged sideways “wouldn’t you know it” glances. Mr. Bodler was a fattish man with faded blond hair who was always nosily cheerful at children. The situation was already uncomfortable, and Mr. Bodler, who was a naturally uncomfortable person to be around wasn’t making it any better.
    The door of the Chung’s apartment was finally