The Invisible Harry by Marthe Jocelyn Read Free Book Online Page A

in.

    There were two women wearing white doctor jackets behind the counter. I realized they were twin pharmacists.
    They were wearing pins printed with their names, Lin Lee and Lin Sue. Lin Lee said something to Hubert in Chinese. I haven’t heard Hubert speak Chinese very often—he always uses English in front of me, even with his mom.
    But, even in another language, I could tell he was feeling shy. I pulled out the list for him to explain what we needed, and the woman looked curious and surprised. Her voice was like chimes; Hubert’s was softer, like a flute. I felt as if I were listening to a concert.
    Lin Lee opened a drawer and pulled out a fistful of chrysanthemum petals, looking brown and wilted, like they do a week afterMother’s Day. Then a little pile of what looked like overgrown rice. That was the tubers of lilyturf. The powdered goat horn came in a tiny brown bottle.
    She wrote down what I figured were the prices on a paper bag as she went along, but I couldn’t read them. I nervously fingered the eight dollars my dad had given me that morning.
    She gave the price to Hubert in Chinese, and he translated for me.
    “Five dollars and eighty-two cents,” he said. “Do you have enough?”
    I handed her six one-dollar bills and took the lumpy bag in exchange. She gave me eighteen cents and wished us “Happy Luck” in English.
    Outside it was getting darker already.
    “We have to get dog food,” I reminded Hubert. “Harry hasn’t eaten since breakfast. The book says he has to eat at least three times a day, maybe four.”
    We stopped at a dim, poky grocery store on the corner and bought two tins of food and the smallest box of dog biscuits.
    At Hubert’s house, I used the can opener on the Power Puppy Beef with Cheddar Surprise. It was disgustingly slimy and smelled like barf. I dumped it onto a saucer and put the dish on the floor. The muck disappeared as Harry slurped and chomped his way through it.
    At my house, snacks are always apples or carrots or something bursting with nutrients. Hubert is allowed to have stuff like Ring Ding Juniors and Chips Ahoy, as long as he drinks milk. His mom is a big believer in milk. I’ve learned that every grown-up has at least one area of being peculiar.
    So we had milk and Devil Dogs at the kitchen table with our feet up on the bathtub. Their bathtub is in the kitchen because that’s the way they built these little apartments back then, with all the plumbing together. He says when he was a baby, his mom could washhis hair with one hand and stir supper with the other. Now, of course, he waits for her to be in the living room.
    “We better get down to business,” said Hubert, licking the chocolate off his fingers. “We have to reappear a dog, plus do a ton of homework.”
    We could hear Harry running back and forth in the living room, his paws thudding on the carpet and then skittering off onto the floor.
    I pulled out the recipe for Jody’s potion.
    “Water,” I read. “About two gallons, she said.”
    “Not a problem,” said Hubert. “As you can see, we do have modern plumbing.”
    “Dog biscuits.”
    “Check.”
    “Baby powder.”
    “Uh, probably.” Hubert leaned over and opened a little cupboard under the end of thebathtub. There was shampoo and conditioner and something green, and baby powder.
    “Check,” said Hubert. “My dad uses it on his feet, between his toes.”
    “I don’t need to know that, Hubert.” I looked back at my notes.
    “Oh, no!” I smacked my forehead, like a cartoon character. “How could we be so stupid?”
    “What?” asked Hubert.
    “We forgot the gum!!!”
    Hubert moaned and put his face in his hands.
    “We have to have gum!” I wailed. “You have to go get it right now!”
    I pushed him up on his feet. He was pulling on his jacket when the buzzer rang.
    “Who is it?” Hubert said into the intercom.
    “It’s Billie’s dad,” came the crackling reply.

15 • At Home
    I t would be Harry’s first night in