Spying on Miss Muller by Eve Bunting Read Free Book Online Page A

right.

Chapter Six
    W E DRIFTED ALONG the corridor away from the dining room.
    â€œLet her pass
that
along to Hitler,” Ada said, and went “ssssss” between her little squared-off teeth.
    â€œToo bad it wasn’t Miss Müller that got the egg,” Maureen said. “That would have been true justice. A rotten egg for—”
    I interrupted. “I have to go to dispensary and I’m rushing so I’ll be there first. Save me a seat at the assembly, Lizzie Mag.”
    â€œHurry,” she called after me. “You don’t want to miss anything.”
    â€œI’ll go like the wind.”
    I ran up the stairs, remembering last night: the red brothel carpet, the painted portrait eyes watching me. Nightmare time! But when I turned to look, the eyes were still watching me. The past headmistresses were extra guards in our boarder prison, keeping an eye on our every move. I ran the last few steps to the dispensary.
    Cheese! Even though I was out of breath from running, two other, younger girls had made it before me. They were leaning against the wall, talking about the air raid. Opposite them the san door lay open. When there were no patients, Nursie unlocked the door every morning in case of emergency, though there’d never been one yet as far as I knew. To my right was the arched stone opening and the steps that led to the roof. Not so scary now in daylight, but scary enough.
    â€œI was awful frightened by those bombs,” the little girl ahead of me was saying to the other one. I remembered her name was Hillary something. Walker, I thought.
    â€œMe, too,” the girl in front of her said. She was wearing the badge on her tunic that showed she was on the under-ten hockey team. I thought her name was Flash. “A lot of the fifth and sixth formers seemed to be having fun,” Flash said, and I knew her big-eyed innocent look was just a put-on. She meant I, for one, had been having fun. The two of them giggled and put their hands over their mouths. They wanted me to know they knew.
    â€œWasn’t it awful the way everybody hissed Miss Müller this morning?” Flash asked me.
    â€œShe deserved it,” little Hillary said quickly. “She’s a Nazi. Her daddy was in the Nazi army.”
    â€œYou don’t know that,” I said.
    â€œI do too.” Hillary stopped cat-scratching her back against the wall and stood straight. “Somebody told me. Somebody who knows. Dear Daphne even has a picture of her daddy that she keeps hidden in her room. He’s wearing his uniform with a swastika on it and everything.”
    â€œWho’s going to know about the photograph if it’s hidden?” I asked.
    The two looked at me as if ready to pounce. Little snigs.
    â€œFlash, come in now,” Nursie called from inside the dispensary.
    â€œUh-oh. Here goes nothing.” Flash made a face.
    I stood leaning against the wall with Hillary.
    â€œFlash has a really bad blister on her heel,” Hillary told me. “Nursie’ll probably stick it with a needle and put on peroxide.”
    I nodded.
    Hillary took a few steps away from me and pretended to study a crack in the wall.
    â€œWho told you about that picture, Hillary?” I asked.
    â€œNobody.” She didn’t turn, and I saw how stiff her back was.
    â€œOh, come on, Hillary. You started this, and you said it in front of Flash. It isn’t any big secret. You might as well tell me.”
    Hillary gave me a long-suffering look. “I’ll be in trouble if Sarah finds out I told.”
    â€œSarah?” I asked.
    â€œSarah Neely. The wee maid that cleans out our dorms?”
    I nodded.
    Hillary went on. “You know when I go home to Monaghan on the train for the holidays?”
    I nodded again to encourage her, though I didn’t know anything about Hillary.
    â€œWell, Sarah’s mum works for my mum in Monaghan, you know? And my mum always tells me to stay in