Read Online Emmy and the Rats in the Belfry by Lynne Jonell - Free Book Online Page B

made fifteen holes at least. Small enough to avoid detection, yet large enough for a sifting of dust to filter through, they had taken quite a bit of effort on his part. He was happy to do it, of course, but he wouldn’t mind a little appreciation. And his right index claw was all ink-stained from writing, too.
    He glanced at the plastic bag beside him, full of tiny, silvery scales. “Don’t you think we have enough holes?”
    Jane Barmy shook her furry head. “The Addisons keep moving around. We need another one by the punch bowl.”
    Cheswick was reluctant to move. Jane Barmy’s head was very close to his, and he wanted to enjoy the moment. “When is your father coming to deliver the letter?”
    â€œIn about ten minutes. So you’d better get busy making those extra holes, Cheswick. I don’t want to have done all this work, only to fail because Emmaline’s parents weren’t standing in the right spot!”

10
    S QUIPPY WAS SQUEALING over the card. “Look, everyone! Ana made me the sweetest thing!” She tapped the macaroni letters for emphasis, and the card shed a fine dusting of silver glitter.
    Ana looked embarrassed, as well she might, Emmy thought. The huge and heavy card looked as if it had been made by two boys and a rat.
    Emmy handed Professor Capybara a cup of punch and was rewarded by a nod of approval from her father and a smile from her mother. Well, good. Maybe this party was helping them think better of her, then.
    She caught a movement out of the corner of her eye as she filled another cup and tried to look past the grown-up bodies blocking her way. Was someone going up the stairs? Or was that Thomas’s arm, waving in wide arcs from side to side?
    â€œExcuse me,” she began, but her voice went unheard. Gwenda Squipp put an arm around her shoulder and squeezed. Emmy held on tight to her cup of punch to keep it from spilling.
    â€œAnd this girl,” Squippy went on, “arranged it all! The party, and the surprise, and everything! Such a loving, giving child! You must be terribly proud of your daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Addison!”
    Emmy smiled in what she hoped was a loving, giving way and tried to bask in the glow of approval that surrounded her, but she was distracted. Thomas was leaping up and down on the stairs now—she could see the round, blond head briefly appearing above the heads of the crowd, the eyes wide and urgent, looking for … her?
    â€œDon’t worry, dear,” said Squippy, pulling in Ana on her other side. “You’re sweet children, and now that I’ve got you both together, I’m going to tell you a story about my childhood, when I did something very much the same!”
    Emmy, trapped, watched Thomas climb on the stair rail and scan the packed room, his face anxious. Where was Joe?
    â€œYes, these childhood memories are lovely to recall in years to come …”
    Emmy looked desperately up at Squippy. She would probably be talking for another twenty minutes straight, and in the meantime Thomas was going to kill himself or break a leg at least. What had happened that was so important? She had to find out.
    Her father was no help—he had mumbled a few gracious words and melted away into the crowd at the beginning of Squippy’s tale. It was a neat trick, and one Emmy envied, but it was easier for grown-ups than for children. She tried to catch her mother’s eye, but her mother, too, was carrying on a quiet conversation with someone at her shoulder and already edging to one side.
    Emmy eyed her cup of punch. She didn’t want to do it, but there was no other way to politely escape. She waited for Squippy’s next squeeze of her shoulder (it didn’t take long) and turned her wrist as if she had been jostled.
    â€œOh no!” Emmy tried to sound horrified.
    Squippy jumped as the punch splashed on the floor.
    â€œI’ll clean it right up!” said Emmy, backing