The Half-a-Moon Inn Read Online Free Page A

kindle a fire, boy, and raise up the flames till they crack like whips?”
    Aaron nodded again.
    â€œWell now!” Miss Grackle hauled him up a flight of stairs and marched him into a bedroom. She disappeared for a moment, then returned with a mountain of wood in her arms, which she let fall to the floor with a crash.
    â€œDon’t mind the callers—they’re sound asleep up above us. Just conjure up a blaze, me chipmunk, and I’ll consider it the price of a bed for you.”
    Aaron put down his sack, got down on his knees, and carefully arranged the wood in the grate.
    â€œI’d build it meself, mind you, but for all the bending over, with me back so delicate.”
    Aaron struck a spark from the flint and watched as the flames sprang up quickly, snapping like flags in the wind.
    â€œAye, you’ve got the knack of it, boy, that’s sure.” She shook with the chills and thrust her outstretched hands nearly into the blaze itself. “And how is it that such a talented child should be out wandering the woods all alone?”
    Full of hope, Aaron handed her the drawing of his mother. Miss Grackle gazed at it sweetly a moment, then thrust it into her pocket.
    â€œWell now, that’s nice of you, boy. I’m grateful to have that.” Suddenly her smile vanished. “Now, tell me how you got here!”
    Aaron was at a loss at what to do. She took out his note and puzzled over it some more.
    â€œMe reading’s rusted up, boy—can’t find time to keep in practice the way I’d like. Be a good lad now and recite it to me.”
    Aaron shook his head.
    â€œRead it out, I say!”
    He shook his head again.
    â€œDisobedient, are you?”
    He shook his head.
    â€œDidn’t you never learn to use your tongue, boy?”
    Aaron paused, and shook his head.
    Suddenly she stooped down and peered into his face. “What are you telling me, lad—that you be mute-born?”
    Aaron nodded.
    Instantly her eyes opened wide as an owl’s. “Well now, you turn up right handy, me little inchworm. But tell me, where is it you’ve wandered from—ah, but you can’t tell me that, can you? Oh, but you will, boy, and right soon at that.”
    She tramped downstairs and brought him up a bowl of cold soup with dumplings. “Eat, boy, till the bowl shines clean, and then shake off your clothes and into the bed with you.”
    Aaron was hungry and gladly gulped down the soup. When he was through, Miss Grackle swept out of the room with his dishes, and Aaron undressed by the fire and climbed under the covers.
    Surely Miss Grackle could point him to Craftsbury, if he could only make her understand. Perhaps one of the guests was even heading there tomorrow! He’d go straight to Mr. Bumby, the miller, when he got there. He would help him find her.
    Aaron gazed at the fire as it slowly burned down, and in the midst of imagining himself home with his mother, he fell into dreaming.

5
    â€œRise up, boy—up sharp and to work with you!” Miss Grackle bustled across the room in the dawn light, whacked Aaron’s legs with a willow switch and shook him till his teeth rattled.
    â€œHop to the hearths now, quick, and raise the flames up tall. Let me see ’em hiss like snakes and snap their jaws like wolves!” She clutched a shawl around her shoulders and glared down at him, her teeth chattering wildly with the cold. “Quick, boy—or are you deaf as well!”
    Aaron rubbed his legs and squinted up at her. He’d get up sure enough, but not to be nursing fires all morning. He had to get to Craftsbury—and in a galloping hurry. He heard footsteps creaking on the floor above him—the guests were awakening. Surely one of them would be heading in the right direction and would offer to take him along.
    Miss Grackle reined in her voice to a whisper. “You were dreaming of home last night, weren’t you, boy? Sitting