The Amazing Flight of Darius Frobisher by Bill Harley Read Free Book Online Page B

LOT OF GOOD THAT DOES. COMES IN, RUINS MY BUSINESS, EATS ME OUT OF HOUSE AND HOME, AND MAKESTHE HOUSE A DISASTER AREA, BRINGING THINGS IN WITHOUT MY PERMISSION. AND WHAT DO I GET FOR THIS? WHAT’S MY REWARD? NOTHING. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!”
    Aunt Inga went on yelling, lost in her own world. She didn’t even notice that Darius had left the room.
    In the basement, he lay down on his cot and looked at the library books while Aunt Inga continued her tirade. It was hard to concentrate, but he had no trouble locating the map that showed the road leading from Aunt Inga’s to his old town. He stared at the map until it was burned into his brain cells.
    “I’ve got to get out of here soon,” said Darius to himself. “I’ll have to work even harder to fix that bike.”
    He rolled over and sat up on the edge of the cot. The silver wings in his pocket jabbed his leg, and Miss Hastings’s words echoed in his head. “We all have wings.”
    He wished he had wings to fly right now, but all he had was a bike that he couldn’t ride.
    Not yet, at least.
    The next day, he took the books back to the library. Ms. Bickerstaff recognized him the moment he came in.
    “Back so soon, Darius?” she asked.
    “Yes,” he said. “I’m done with the books.”
    He held them out to her, but she didn’t take them. “You can have them for two weeks,” she said. “Why are you bringing them back?”
    Darius didn’t want to explain. How could he? “There’s not enough room where I live for me to keep them there,” he said.That sounded absurd, and he knew it. But Ms. Bickerstaff didn’t tell him that. Instead she looked at him thoughtfully and smiled.
    “I have an idea,” she said. She took the books and rose from her chair. “We have an extra empty shelf here behind the desk. We’ll make this your shelf, since no one’s using it. The books you take out from the library, you can keep here.”
    Darius caught his breath. “Really?”
    “Really,” Ms. Bickerstaff said, smiling again.
    “Thanks,” said Darius. “I have to go.”
    “They’ll be here waiting for you,” she said.
    Darius turned and walked out of the library. He smiled as he thought about the librarian’s kindness. Even though she knew something was wrong, she had helped him without asking for an explanation. That is about as kind as anyone can get, he thought.
    Darius got up early every morning, made three pieces of toast, and put peanut butter on them. He sat on the back steps, eating his breakfast.
    Everything seemed peaceful then, and he liked watching the sun come up. During that quiet time alone, Darius tinkered on the old bicycle. He would bring the bike up the stairs and work on it in the backyard for a couple of hours, then take it back down to the basement before Aunt Inga woke up.
    One day he found some aluminum foil in a kitchen drawer and rubbed it on the handlebars to take off the rust. Another day he filled a bucket with soapy water and washed the frame. He found an oilcan in the basement and oiled the chain.
    The bike began to look better.
    But Aunt Inga began to get suspicious.
    “What are you doing every morning before I get up?” she asked him.
    “Nothing,” answered Darius. Aunt Inga was sitting in her big chair, stuffing cookies in her mouth and watching a game show while she talked to him. Aunt Inga should have weighed four hundred pounds from all those cookies, but she was still skinny as a rail.
    “Don’t give me that,” Aunt Inga snorted. “You must be doing something. I don’t want you to go outside before I’m up. I can’t trust you. And why was the kitchen sponge wet this morning?”
    “I was wiping up the sink with it,” said Darius.
    “Well, just don’t do anything without telling me,” she said, cookie crumbs spraying from her mouth. “Now don’t bother me; this is a very important show.”
    Darius went down into the basement. He found an old blanket and carefully covered the bike. If it was a secret, it had better stay