What the Witch Left Read Online Free Page B

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 oftrouble 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 wonderwhat 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 wasthinking 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.

The zoo was in Prospect Park. Maggie Brown took Nora and Tad there on the bus. The sun was shining, and a lot of people were going to the zoo. The bus was crowded. They had to stand for part of the way. Nora wondered why the witch didn’t work some magic to get them seats. Tad thought she should have flown them to the zoo on a broom.
    When they got to the zoo, Maggie stopped the first keeper she saw. “I’m looking for Mr. Perkins.”
    “You’ll find him over in the llama’s cage,” said the keeper.
    Maggie walked over to the llama’s cage. “Mr. Perkins,” she called, “remember me? Mrs. Rothstein asked me to look in on her bear.”
    Mr. Perkins put down the shovel he was using. He smiled and came to the gate of the cage. “Of course I remember you, Mrs. Brown,” he said. He opened the gate and came out of the cage. “I want to thank you for your advice about that cockatoo. I used to have to hide it every time the inspector came by. He wanted the poor bird destroyed. It looked so terrible. You should see it now.”
    “What was the matter with it?” asked Tad.
    “It was the