Libby on Wednesday (22 page)
Read Libby on Wednesday Online
Authors: Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Alex’s face was twitching, and he looked really angry. “It’s no joke, Laurent,” he told Tierney. “We have to do something to get rid of him. It’s been so—so great without him. So now we have to go back to old Gary the Ghoul
throwing his weight around and entertaining himself by tormenting everybody. I think what we ought to do is vote him out of the workshop. Oh, I know it won’t stick while we’re still meeting here, unless somebody wants to take up karate. But once Mizzo is back and we start meeting at school again, we can tell her we’ve voted him out and I’ll bet she’ll go along with it. You know how big she is on democracy.”
“Yeah,” Tierney said, nodding thoughtfully.
But Wendy looked worried. “I don’t know. I kind of hate to do that. Don’t you think that maybe if we let him stay in, he’ll kind of change? Like, it seemed to me he’s changed a little bit already. You know, like today I noticed that sometimes when he was doing that look, you know, the way he does …” Wendy pulled her eyebrows together and curled up one side of her mouth, which made everyone laugh because there was no way Wendy was going to look anything like G.G. “I know,” she went on, smiling ruefully. “But like, I was just noticing today that when he did that—it looks mean, all right, but underneath it’s more like …” She stopped and frowned thoughtfully. “Scared?” she asked.
Libby nodded hard. “Yes,” she said. “Scared. I thought so too. That’s really funny, because I thought that same thing a long time ago.”
No one said anything else for quite a while. Finally Tierney said, “What do you think? You think his dad is really going to stay off the sauce?”
Alex shrugged. “Who knows. Mostly they don’t, I guess. G.G. was talking like he believed it, but I’ll bet …”
There was another long pause. Libby was thinking about the story G.G. wrote called “Eric.” About the boy
who waited and waited for something terrible, not ever knowing when it was going to happen or how bad it would be. “Remember that story he wrote …?” she started to say, but then she stopped because the way the others were nodding, she could tell they were already remembering.
“Well,” Wendy said, “what I want to say is—I mean, like, I know it wouldn’t be easy but …” She got that far before Tierney slapped her on the back so hard that what she was going to say turned into a startled gasp.
“So what?” Tierney said. “EASY is not necessarily where it’s at. Right?”
Libby was the first to repeat it, and Wendy was next, as soon as she got her breath back. Alex was the last, and he groaned a little first, but finally even he managed it.
“Right!” Alex said, with a sigh. “So it’s unanimous. Don’t ask me why, but it is. Looks like our next collaboration is going to be ‘The Return of G.G.’ Do you think we can write it?”
Libby thought maybe they could.
Other books available from Random House
by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Gib Rides Home
Now available in a Yearling edition
0-440-41257-9
Gib Whittaker’s life at Lovell House orphanage in the early 1900s is pretty bleak. But along with hours of chores, bad food, and paddlings, the boys do get some schooling, and reading and writing are better than scrubbing floors. Still, Gib’s fondest dream is to have a real family. So when Georgie Olson is adopted, Gib can’t help being jealous, even when he finds out that the “adoption” really means being farmed out to work as unpaid labor until the age of eighteen. Will Gib find his dream home?
Gib and the Gray Ghost
Coming soon from Delacorte Press
0-385-32609-2
Gib Whittaker has left the Lovell House orphanage for the second time in his young life. He’s gone back to live with the Thornton family, and he’s being sent to school. But he still does all the chores in the barn and stable, so he has his beloved horses to care for. Then early one morning a strange horse appears in a snowstorm. Gib knows he must find some way to help this magnificent horse—and in the attempt, he finds one place where he will always belong.
The Egypt Game
A Newbery Honor Book
Now available in a Yearling Newbery edition
0-440-42225-6
The first time Melanie Ross meets April Hall, she’s not sure they’ll have anything in common. But she soon discovers that they both love anything to do with ancient Egypt. When they stumble upon a deserted storage yard behind the A-Z Antiques and Curio Shop, Melanie and April decide it’s the perfect spot for the Egypt Game.
Before long there are six Egyptians instead of two. After school and on weekends they all meet to wear costumes, hold ceremonies, and work on their secret code.
Everyone thinks it’s just a game, until strange things begin happening to the players. Has the Egypt Game gone too far?
And don’t miss its exciting companion
The Gypsy Game
Now available in a Yearling edition
0-440-41258-7
“What do you know about Gypsies?” With that simple question, April Hall and Melanie Ross begin a thrilling new game. Before they know it, the whole gang is in on it—even Toby, who just has to steal the show by claiming to be a real, live, authentic Gypsy.
The game is great fun at first. Toby brings real Gypsy jewelry, and his artist father paints a lifelike Gypsy caravan to help turn the storage yard into a Gypsy camp. Too bad no one can get along for more than five minutes at a time. Then Toby starts acting very strange, and on New Year’s morning, he suddenly and mysteriously disappears. Soon the new “Gypsies” are involved in a crisis no one could have imagined, and the kids discover that what seems like fun in a game may not be so entertaining in real life.
The Headless Cupid
A Newbery Honor Book
Now available in a Yearling Newbery edition
0-440-43507-2
When the four Stanley children meet Amanda, their new stepsister, they’re amazed to learn that she has studied witchcraft. They’re stunned to see her dressed in a strange costume, carrying a pet crow, and surrounded by a pile of books about the supernatural.
It’s not long before Amanda promises to give witchcraft lessons to David, Janie, and the twins. But that’s when strange things start happening in their old house. David suspects Amanda of causing mischief, until they learn that the house really was haunted a long time ago.
Legend has it that a ghost cut the head off a wooden cupid on the stairway. Has the ghost returned to strike again?
The Witches of Worm
A Newbery Honor Book
Now available in a Yearling edition
0-440-49727-2
Cats. Jessica’s never liked them. Especially not a skinny, ugly kitten that looks like a worm.
Worm. Jessica wishes she’d never brought Worm home with her, because now he’s making her do terrible things. She’s sure she isn’t imagining the evil voice coming from the cat, telling her to play mean tricks on people. But how can she explain what’s happening?
Witches. Jessica has read enough books to know that Worm must be a witch’s cat. He’s cast a spell on her, but whom can she turn to? After all, no one will believe that Worm has bewitched her … or worse!