Stopping for a Spell by Diana Wynne Jones Read Free Book Online Page B

coming,” said Erg.
    â€œI couldn’t leave you two poor children all alone,” Granny Four said in a failing voice.
    Emily and Erg looked at one another. Neither of them had quite the courage to say Granny Two was already on her way.
    â€œHere you are, dear,” Granny Four said to Emily. Shakily she held out a small, elderly book. “This will put you in a better frame of mind. It’s a beautiful little book about a wicked little girl called Emily. You’ll find it charming, dear.”
    Emily took the book. It was not the kind of gift you could say thank you for easily. “I’ll take it upstairs to read,” Emily said, and thundered away so as not to seem ungrateful.
    Erg was hoping heartily that Granny Four had something better for him. But it was not much better. It was a shiny red stick, narrower at one end than the other.
    â€œI think it’s a chopstick,” said Granny Four. “It was in the bazaar.” She must have seen from Erg’s expression that he was not loving the chopstick particularly. She went white and leaned against the side of the door. “You can pretend it’s a magic wand, dear,” she said reproachfully.
    Erg knew she would faint. He took the chopstick hurriedly and jammed it in one of the holes in his invention. It must have caught in the works of the clock inside the squashed tin, because when he wound the handle of the eggbeater, the skewer, the sardine tin opener, and the mixer blades all began to turn around, grating and clanking as they turned. It was much more interesting now.
    Granny Four smothered a slight yawn and began to look healthier. “We can take such delight in simple things!” she said.
    But just then a voice shouted, “Coo-ee!” and Granny Two staggered in. She had brought four bags of potatoes, two dozen oranges, and a packet of health food. Granny Four took in the situation and turned faint again. Granny Two took in Granny Four and sprang to her side. “You shouldn’t have come, dear. You look ready to collapse! Come upstairs and lie down and I’ll make you a nice cup of tea.” And she led Granny Four away.
    Erg was rather pleased. It looked as if the two grannies could keep one another busy while he got on with his invention. He went into the kitchen again. This time he collected the cutters from the mincer, the handle of the hot tap, the knobs off the cooker, and the clip that held the bag of the vacuum cleaner together. Most of these things threaded very nicely onto the things stuck into the holes on top of the cookie tin. When Erg wound the eggbeater this time, the tap top, the mincer cutters, and the cooker knobs all twiddled round and round, quite beautifully. The works of the clock clanked. The tin breathed in and out. And everything ground and grated just like a real machine.
    Erg was trying to find a place for the clip from the vacuum cleaner when he looked up into the outraged face of Granny One.
    Granny One! Erg looked up again unbelievingly. She was really there. She was putting down her neat suitcase in order to fold her arms grimly.
    â€œYou’re on holiday!” he said.
    â€œI canceled my holiday,” Granny One said grimly. “To look after you. Take all those things back to the kitchen at once.”

    â€œBut you’re on holiday,” Erg argued. “You can have a holiday from saying No, if you like.”
    â€œLife is always saying No,” said Granny One. “Take those things back.”
    â€œIf Life is always saying No,” Erg argued reasonably, “it’s saying No to me taking them back, too.”
    But Granny One tapped the floor with her knobby shoe, quite impervious to reason. “I’m waiting. Do as you’re told.”
    â€œOh, bother you!” said Erg.
    That was a mistake. It brought a storm down on Erg’s head. It started with “Don’t you speak to me like that!” and ended with Erg sullenly