The Harriet Bean 3-Book Omnibus by Alexander McCall Smith Read Free Book Online Page B

can touch, or keep, or eat. I’m going to show you something that you’ll be able to use for the rest of your life. It will need a little bit of work on your part before you can do it properly, but if you do the exercises as I tell you, I promise that you’ll be able to do it.”
    The girl’s eyes lit up with excitement.
    “I’ll do them!” she said enthusiastically.
    “Good,” said Aunt Veronica. “Now listen to me. Do you like to eat nuts?”
    “I do,” said the girl. “I love them.”
    “Very well,” said Aunt Veronica. “Andwhen you have a nut, can you usually find the nutcrackers?”
    The girl shook her head. “Never,” she said.
    “So I imagine that you would like to be able to crack nuts with your fingers?”
    “I’d love that,” said the girl. “But it’s impossible. Nuts are far too hard for that.”
    “You’re wrong,” said Aunt Veronica. “Look.”
    Aunt Veronica reached into a pocket and took out a large walnut. Holding it between her thumb and forefinger, she gave it a quick flip and cracked it neatly into four pieces.
    The girl was very impressed, and she watched closely as Aunt Veronica showed her how to do it.
    “As I told you,” she said, “you’ll have to practice. But all you do is move this finger like this … and then this finger a little like that … and then you push down there, and turn the thumb around through there and …”
Crunch!
Another walnut had been cracked. The girl watched carefully and thenAunt Veronica gave her a few walnuts to use for practice. Then, thanking her again for helping us find Aunt Majolica, we returned to the trailer.
    I opened the door and went in. There, sitting on a stool was a tall, rather thin lady. She looked at me carefully through the tiny pair of glasses that perched on the end of her nose, and I knew at once that I had found another aunt. It was Thessalonika or Japonica, but I had no idea which one.

To the Detectives’ Office
    “Thessalonika,” said the new aunt, “I could tell that you were uncertain which one I was.”
    I went forward and shook hands with Aunt Thessalonika. She had a kind face, and I knew at once that I was going to like her. The only problem, of course, was her mind reading. Could she really tell what people were thinking? And if she could, then I’d have to be very careful not to think about anything rude.
    That’s very difficult, you know. Just you try it. Imagine that somebody else, maybe your best friend, could tell what was in yourmind, and imagine that you knew it. The very first thing you’ll think about is something that you wouldn’t want her to know you were thinking about, and this happens even if you weren’t thinking about it before.
    “Don’t worry,” said Aunt Thessalonika, as if she knew exactly what was on my mind. “I don’t read minds all the time. I find it a bit exhausting, you see, so I only use my powers at work.”
    “Your aunt Thessalonika is a detective,” explained Aunt Majolica. “She and your aunt Japonica have a detective agency.”
    “That’s right,” said Aunt Thessalonika. “And that’s why Aunt Japonica isn’t here at the moment. We’re in the middle of a very important investigation and I shall have to return to it in a very short time. In fact, I can tell that Japonica is becoming a bit annoyed, and so I’d better leave right now.”
    She rose to her feet.
    “There’s a good place to park your trailer in our backyard,” she explained. “Majolicawill show you the way. We can all meet back there this evening.”
    “May I come with you?” I asked, not wanting to lose my new aunt so soon after finding her.
    Aunt Thessalonika looked at me and frowned.
    “We have an awful lot of confidential matters in our office,” she said. “Can you keep a secret?”
    “Of course,” I assured her.
    She looked at Aunt Veronica, who nodded encouragingly.
    “In that case,” she said, “you may come.”
    The door of my aunts’ office had a bell and a small