Molly Moon Stops the World Read Online Free Page A

left foot was in a slipper, but the whole of her right leg was in plaster, and her toes, with pink nail polish on them, popped out of the end of the cast.
    Molly’s first reaction was to gawp, and for a moment she stood transfixed.
    “Oh, Molly, I’m sorry. Of course, this must be an awful shock for you.”
    Molly barely recognized Lucy’s voice, but she nodded and managed to say, “Are you all right? What happened?”
    Lucy leaned out into the street and nervously looked left and right. Then she pulled Molly inside.
    “I’ll tell you all about it, but come in quick—my toes are getting cold.”
    Molly found herself standing in a small hall. On a semicircular cherry-wood table, a mantel clock ticked quietly. Opposite it, a tiny hanging grandmother clock swung a pendulum. As Lucy took Molly’s jacket and put it over the back of a chair, Molly breathed in a smell of toast and wondered why her host had just behaved so warily.
    “Come into the warmth,” Lucy said, maneuveringawkwardly on her crutches and leading Molly past a narrow staircase into a meticulously tidy kitchen. It was so immaculate that Molly looked down at her gravy stain and wished she’d changed her top.
    “Sit down,” Lucy said kindly, inviting Molly to sit on a crescent-shaped bench in the bay window. “Do you drink tea?”
    “Er, hot orange squash if you’ve got it,” said Molly, not quite daring to ask for a concentrated orange squash, which she would have preferred. She didn’t want Lucy to think she was weird.
    “Fine,” said Lucy, and she put a kettle on to boil.
    Molly sat on the bench with her hands wedged between her knees, trying not to stare at Lucy’s bandages. What sort of horrible accident had she had? Molly didn’t know what to say, and the palms of her hands began to sweat, as they always did whenever she was nervous. Lucy broke the silence.
    “Molly, I’m so sorry I haven’t been in touch. You must have thought it was peculiar that I didn’t call you. But two things happened. First, something very serious took over my life and I couldn’t tell anyone about it. And then I had the accident. My car caught fire. My face is badly burned. I still can’t eat much—I have to suck soup from a straw and chew on cookies that dissolve in my mouth. My throat was damaged from all thefumes. My voice has been affected, as you can hear. It’s probably always going to be husky. The doctors say my face will be scarred for life and my hair will never grow back in places. But”—she gave a lopsided smile—“I’m lucky to be alive, and now I don’t take life for granted.”
    Molly was shocked into an awkward silence. In the last few months, she had felt annoyed and hurt that Lucy had forgotten her. She had never imagined that something as horrible as this had happened.
    “Don’t worry about not getting in touch,” she said quickly. “I mean, I did wonder where you’d gone, but you know I was busy straightening out the orphanage—the redecorations and things. And it’s all thanks to you, Lucy. Everything’s much cozier now. Everyone’s happier. School’s much better too, because Mrs. Toadley left. Well, er, actually she was fired.”
    “I heard it was because she went around telling everyone what a dreadful teacher she was,” said Lucy.
    “Which she was,” said Molly, hoping that Lucy wouldn’t disapprove of the fact that Molly had hypnotized the bullying Mrs. Toadley into behaving like this. “But I haven’t done any hypnotizing at all since I got off the plane before Christmas,” she added. She hoped Lucy would be impressed by this self-restraint, but the librarian gave her a sharp look.
    “You’ve stopped? Why would you stop? Don’t you need anything?”
    Molly was taken aback. “I—well—I didn’t think about that. I just promised Rocky that I wouldn’t use it anymore.”
    “Oh dear.” Lucy fell silent. Then she said, “Bring your drink and these cookies. We’ll go into the sitting room.” She