Lavender-Green Magic Read Online Free Page B

up here an’ takes a look around. Them toasters now”—she pointed with her chin to the row on the shelf, her hands being busy—“he’ll look those over good. Likely he’ll be able to take the whole kit an’ caboodle an’ fix ’em up to sell in his shop.
    â€œThe summer people, they don’t want to fuss when something goes wrong, they just throw it out. Why, you’d be ’mazed, all of you, at what they pitch out when they bring in some of those big plastic trash bags jus’ before they leave for back home in the fall. An’ since they got that new lot of houses built across the Run—well, someone drives up from there three-four times a week with a bundle.
    â€œThen there’s the old families. Ain’t many of them left now; when the last lone one dies they have a sale. What ain’t sold, that comes here—an’ we do get some strange things. There’s a nice young man—his name’s Correy—he an’ his wife have started up one of these here antique businesses down in th’ old smithy. He comes up huntin’ around. Wekeep a lotta the things from the old houses for him to see. He showed me about this china mendin’, now he says that I can do it better than even the lady that taught him.
    â€œWe get in a mess of old books an’ we call Miss Sarah Noyes who runs the library. The Scouts, they come out for the toy shop—you young’uns’ll like a look around in there, I imagine. It’s the furtherest stall that way. Starting ’long about now they get to work on toys, fixing ’em up, paintin’ them an’ the like. Most of those go out to the Blazedale Farm where the young’uns without families live. Luther—he’s paid a little by the Selectmen for taking charge here. But, laws, we couldn’t scrape along on that! We has our garden, an’ the herbs, an’ what we make outta sellin’ what we sort out an’ patch up. That’s givin’ us a real comfortable livin’. We’re the lucky ones, I know that when I reads the papers an’ all the news about what’s happenin’ around the world right now!”
    Grandpa put his spoon down in a bowl so empty it looked newly washed. “Mercy, she’s a great one for readin’—has a regular library herself of books she found an’ took care of. An’ she’s always one for learnin’ somethin’ new—mostly what helps out, like this here dish mendin’!”
    â€œNow, Luther, I ain’t any more knowin’ than you be your ownself. Ain’t you fixed them tables an’ chairs an’ had Mr. Correy take ’em right away an’ sell ’em first off? A hundred dollars he gives us for that table, an’ ten apiece for the chairs, Luther did such a good job on them. An’ the kin of old Appleby had thrown them out for broken bits only good for startin’ a fire!”
    It seemed that a junkyard was not quite what Holly thought it might be. She was almost about to say that when Mom picked up the bowl she had said was “Minton” and began studying it closely.
    â€œI can’t see any mend at all, Mercy—it’s like magic!”
    â€œMagic, like witches do,” Judy broke in then. “Grandma, did you ever see the witch—the one Mrs. Pigot said lived here a long time ago?”
    Grandma’s hand had been raised to send her glasses back into place again, but she never completed that gesture.
    â€œWitch!” she repeated almost fiercely. “Them what has no work to keep them busy let their tongues wag a lot. There’s no witches here, me’n Luther, we’ve been here a good forty years an’ we ain’t seen ’em. Witches were in the bad old days—they don’t come botherin’ people now. There were some tales about ol’ Miss Elvery, ’cause she was one to keep herself to herself