A Matter-of-Fact Magic Book (5 page)

The next second Tad put his mouth down to the floor and gobbled up the fudge.

“Tad! What are you doing?”

“Meow!”

A big yellow striped cat was in the place where Tad had been a second ago.

The mouse jumped right over the cat’s
head and ran out the door. The cat turned and streaked after him. Nora heard them go chasing down the stairs. A moment later she heard her mother scream.

Nora ran downstairs. Her father was rushing from the living room to the dining room, trying to swat the cat with his newspaper. A vase had fallen. The flowers were scattered, and a pool of water was soaking into the carpet.

Nora’s mother stood in the kitchen doorway waving a dishcloth. The yellow cat raced around in circles after the mouse. Suddenly the mouse ducked under the dining room radiator and disappeared.

The cat tried to hide under the buffet.

Mr. Cooper put down the newspaper. “Who let that cat in, Nora? Take it out of here at once. You remember what I told you the last time!”

“Here, kitty, kitty.” Mrs. Cooper was trying to get the cat to come out from under the buffet. The cat moved farther back against the wall.

Skipper was barking in the yard. Mr. Cooper opened the door. Skipper rushed into the dining room and over to the buffet, still barking. The cat meowed loudly. Skipper stopped barking and backed away. All the fuzzy hair on his back stood on end.

“Where is Tad?” said Mr. Cooper. “He’ll get the cat out of here. He doesn’t like cats any more than I do.”

Nora’s brain was working again. Things had been happening so fast
that she hadn’t had time to think. Now she was beginning to understand what was going on. That fourth piece of fudge had turned Tad into a cat.

“I’ll get the cat, Daddy,” said Nora. She lay on her stomach and pulled the cat out from under the buffet. “Mother,” she said, “isn’t he a beautiful cat? He must belong to somebody.” Nora knew her mother liked cats.

Mrs. Cooper came over and stroked the cat’s soft fur. The cat looked at her with big yellow eyes. “Poor thing,” said Nora’s mother. “I wish we could keep him, but your father hates cats. You’ll have to put him outside, Nora. I’m sure he’ll find his way home.”

“Maybe he’s lost, Mother.” Nora knew the magic would wear off by morning. “Just let me keep him tonight, and tomorrow we can ask if anybody knows where he belongs.”

Nora’s mother looked at her father. “Please, John,” she said, “I think Nora’s right. We ought to keep the cat till we can find out where it belongs.”

Mr. Cooper shook his head. “You’re just trying to adopt that cat into the family. I want you to put it outdoors right now.”

“But, Daddy, it might rain. Didn’t you hear the thunder?” Nora held the cat close. “I promise you won’t see the cat tomorrow.”

“Oh, all right,” said Mr. Cooper. “I only wish Tad were here. He’d get rid of that cat fast enough. By the way, where
is
Tad?”

While her mother and father were looking all over the house for Tad, Nora took the cat upstairs. She went back into her own room and put the cat on a chair.

“Now you’d better stay there, Tad, or I’ll have to put you outdoors.” Nora sat on
her bed. “It’s all your own fault. You were such a pig about that fudge. I wonder why you didn’t turn into a pig.”

The cat meowed and seemed to be trying to explain, but Nora couldn’t understand.

She went on talking to Tad, even though it seemed like talking to herself because she couldn’t understand his answers. “It seems that
three
pieces of fudge made you act like a cat, and
four
made you turn into one. After this you’d better let me take charge of any fudge we get. You have no self-control.”

Nora had an idea. Her room was at the front of the house. A little ledge ran under the windows of all the houses on the block. Nora went to her
window and opened it. “Tad, climb over to Maggie’s window and get some more fudge.”

The cat shook his head.

Nora went on. “I suppose you mean you’ve had enough fudge. But I don’t want you to eat it. Just get it, and I’ll keep it till we need it.”

The cat didn’t move.

“Come on, Tad,” said Nora, “you’ve always been a good climber. Just think how good you’ll be now that you’re a cat.”

The cat pricked up his ears.

Nora took the plastic bag her new socks had come in. “Put the fudge in this,” she said. The cat held the bag in his mouth. Nora put him on the ledge outside the window. He picked his way along the ledge to Maggie’s window. Nora saw him use both paws to shove it open. Then he jumped into the witch’s apartment.

“Nora,” her mother was calling,
“where is Tad? Do you think he’s run away because I punished him last night?”

Nora opened her door and went to the head of the stairs. “He went to Mrs. Brown’s to get something.”

“I hope you children aren’t making a nuisance of yourselves next door.” Mrs. Cooper went back to finish cleaning up the kitchen.

Nora returned to her room. She decided to do her homework while she was waiting for Tad.

Nora copied all her spelling words three times over. She did examples
A
through
F
on page thirty-six of her arithmetic book. Then she read a chapter in her reader. Tad had still not come back. Nora began to worry.

It shouldn’t take so long just to stuff a few pieces of fudge into a plastic bag. Nora went to her window and leaned out. Maggie’s window was dark. Suppose the
witch had caught Tad? She might be torturing him right now. It was all Nora’s fault. She was older than Tad. She never should have sent him to steal the fudge.

Nora knew it was wrong to steal. She decided to take the horseshoe and go and ring Maggie Brown’s bell.

She was about to run out of the room when she saw a dark shape crawl out of the witch’s window. It crept along the ledge toward Nora.

It was the yellow cat. He was carrying the plastic bag in his mouth. It was so full of fudge that he could hardly lift it.

As soon as Tad was inside her room Nora took the bag of fudge away from him. She put it in her desk drawer, locked the drawer, and took the key out of the lock. “I don’t want you to get into it again,” she said.

Tad meowed something.

“I wish I knew what took you so long,”

Nora said, “but you’ll have to tell me tomorrow.” She picked up the cat, carried him down the hall to Tad’s room, and shut the door.

Before Mrs. Cooper went to bed she opened Tad’s door. She found him fast asleep on top of his bedspread. He had all his clothes on and was curled up like a cat.

Breakfast was late on Sunday morning. The telephone rang just as Mrs. Cooper was sitting down to eat the last waffle. She went to answer the phone. “Hello,” she said, and then listened for a while. “Yes, of course, if you like. Thank you. It’s very nice of you. You can come for them whenever you want to.”

Mrs. Cooper came back to the breakfast table. “John,” she said, “that was our new neighbor, Mrs. Brown. She wants to take the children to the zoo. No wonder they like her so much. She has a good sense of humor. She said she has an appointment with a bear.”

“Well, at least it will keep them out of
trouble for the day,” said Mr. Cooper. “Are you sure that cat is gone?”

“Yes, he must have gotten out during the night. I can’t find him anywhere.” Mrs. Cooper took a sip of coffee. “He was a beautiful cat.”

Tad grinned. Nora kicked him under the table. “Mother,” she said, “I don’t want to go to the zoo with Mrs. Brown.”

“No,” said Tad, “she’s a mean old witch.”

Mrs. Cooper put down her fork. “I can’t understand you children. You spend all your time running over to visit Mrs. Brown, but when she offers to take you to the zoo, you don’t want to go. Well, you’ll have to learn manners sometime. I told Mrs. Brown she could take you, so you’ll have to go. You’d better change your clothes. Run along.”

Nora and Tad went upstairs. “I wonder
what the witch is up to,” said Nora. “And, by the way, Tad, why did you take so long to get the fudge last night?”

“Henry was telling me the story of his life,” said Tad, “and he’s terribly old. I was afraid if I didn’t listen to it all he’d tell Maggie I was there.”

“What was she doing?” asked Nora.

“Watching television,” said Tad. “She just sat in front of the set and laughed and laughed. She was watching one of those programs about witches.”

Nora went into her room. Tad stood in the doorway. “Why don’t we eat some of the fudge so we can understand the animals at the zoo?” he asked.

“I can’t trust you with that fudge,” Nora said. “You never know when to stop. There’s no telling what kind of animal you’d turn into next time. I still don’t know why you turned into a cat and not a pig.”

“Oh, that’s easy,” Tad said. “I was
thinking about cats. I asked Henry about it. He said you turn into whatever you’re thinking about at the time.”

“That settles it,” Nora said. “We’re
not
taking the fudge to the zoo. I’m going to leave it locked up till we need it.”

Nora shut the door and got her blue dress out of the closet. The zoo might be fun after all. She’d just have to make sure Maggie didn’t play any tricks on them.