Molly and Pim and the Millions of Stars Read Online Free

looked as if he
knew exactly what he was doing.
    Either he hadn’t even noticed that Molly and Ellen were still there, or he didn’t
care.



CHAPTER 6
    Feelings that Creep and Skitter
    Molly found it hard to concentrate at school. Her mama was building a dark, box-like
bedroom for the Gentleman, with curtained windows, so that he wouldn’t notice the
dawn arriving and wouldn’t crow till they let him out, after Mr Grimshaw was awake.
Maybe her mama would focus on that and forget about her potions and the fast-growing
oak tree. Molly was worried about this witchy interference, and now that she felt
Ellen didn’t understand her worries, she had to keep them locked up inside her head.
    Molly’s mama was waiting for her after school. She was flushed with excitement and
a plan that they would ride home via the gardens so they could hunt for the right
acorn for the tree-growing potion. Molly’s hopes fell. Not only had her mama remembered,
but she also wanted to drag Molly along with her. The last thing Molly wanted was
to be seen with her mama in the gardens examining acorns.
    ‘Can’t I just go home and you go on your own?’ she pleaded.
    Her mama tilted her head and gave Molly a look of curious concern. ‘You don’t have
to come if you don’t want to,’ she said softly, sweeping an unruly lock of hair from
her eyes. Then she smiled at Molly.
    Molly sometimes suspected her mama’s gentle smiles radiated their own magic, as Molly
instantly felt that she should go. She heaved a big grouchy sigh, ‘Okay, I’ll come,
but I’m not looking at acorns: I’ll just wait while you do it.’

    The gardens were large with avenues of oaks and elms all the way round the outside.
There was a small lake and a few flowerbeds, but mostly it was a sprawling lawn of
all sorts of trees. The largest of all was a sweeping English oak, which had been
planted by a duke more than a hundred years ago.
    It was to that tree that Molly and her mama headed. They had just got off the bike
to push it over the grass, when Molly noticed Pim Wilder. He was squatting at the
base of a large tree examining something. He frowned slightly, but his eyes were
bright, and he stared at the thing in his hand with such intensity that Molly wanted
to run over to see what it was. But she also wanted to hurry past in case he saw
her and asked what she was doing there with her odd mama on a yellow bike.

    Molly watched as Pim prodded and pushed the thing with his fingers and then stood
up and stared into the leafy canopy of the tree. He was still holding what seemed
to be a ball of dirt in his open palm. Molly craned her neck to look closer, and
Pim Wilder suddenly turned around. He stared straight at her. She quickly looked
away, but his eye had caught hers.
    Pim looked at Molly without the least bit of surprise or interest. Then he lifted
his head in a slight gesture of recognition, and a flicker of amusement passed across
his eyes. Molly blushed as she pushed the bike onwards.
    She was perplexed. She didn’t want Pim to see her, as his manner was unusual. But
to have him notice her and show no interest had embarrassed her. The truth was that
she found Pim interesting. Molly didn’t like to admit this, even to herself, but
now it seemed well and truly proven, not only to Molly but to Pim as well.

    But why wasn’t Molly interesting to him? He probably thought she was only interested
in girlish things, which wasn’t true. She stomped ahead, way past Pim. In her head,
she began to compose a list of all the very great things she was interested in. Tree
houses, for one. She liked dogs too. And songs. And table tennis. Trampolines and
stilts and handstands. Caravans. And anything mysterious. These were worthy things.
Pim had got her wrong.
    Molly watched her mama picking up acorns and examining them. The funny thing was,
there was something about her mama’s complete absorption in the task that was exactly
like the way Pim had been at the base of his tree.