Read Online The Dark-Thirty by Patricia McKissack - Free Book Online Page A

stay awake until midnight.So she did the conjure spell at ten o’clock instead, and she fell asleep calling her brother’s name. “Adam … Adam … Adam!”
    The next morning Josie woke to the smell of country ham and eggs, grits, and biscuits. She rushed into the kitchen. The table was set for four.
    “Whose plate is that?” Josie asked, pointing to a place opposite her side of the table.
    “Yours,” Mama answered, looking at the girl askance.
    Josie was surprised, because she’d sat on the right side as long as she’d sat in a chair. “Then whose plate is that?”
    “Don’t start something with your brother this morning,” Mama said, stirring the pot vigorously. “You know very well that’s Adam’s place.”
    “My
brother
Adam?” Josie shouted. “It worked, Mama. I conjured up a brother for myself. Isn’t it wonderful? Where is he?”
    Mama laughed. “You read too many of those fantasy books, Josie.”
    But the girl didn’t hear. She had bounded out the back door. Mama shrugged and went back to cooking.
    Suddenly Josie stopped in her tracks. Something wasn’t quite right. Adam was supposed to be a baby. But he was old enough to have a place at the table. Oh, well, she thought. A brother is a brother.
    Josie looked behind the garage. “Adam,” she called. “Oh, Adam.”
    All at once someone grabbed her from behind. “You thought you’d catch me off guard. But I gotcha.”
    Josie tried to turn so she could see her brother, but he held on fast. “Is that you, Adam?” she yelled. “Adam?”
    “I won’t let you go unless you play In My Power.”
    “Okay,” Josie said, letting him hook his baby finger in hers. “I’m in your power.”
    Adam let her go immediately. “Okay, who are you? You aren’t Josie Hudson. My real sister wouldn’t play In My Power without a big fight.”
    Josie smiled and looked at Adam with wide wondering eyes. He was a shorter version of Daddy, minus a mustache. And though he was frowning at her, the light in his eyes sparkled like sunlight on Mama’s chandelier. “But you’re my
real
brother,” she said. “And we’re going tohave fun together. I’d love to play In My Power with you, honest. We’ll play whatever you want to play.”
    Adam backed away humming the
Twilight Zone
theme music. “Earth to Josie. Earth to Josie. Tune in, girl.”
    Mama called for breakfast, and Adam hurried away. Josie skipped behind, making plans for all the wonderful things she was going to do with her conjure brother.
    By the end of the week Josie’s joy had turned sour. Nobody seemed to notice that Adam was a conjured brother. It was like he had
always been
. And what made it worse, Adam was the oldest.
    Mama and Daddy looked at Adam as if he were something very, very special. He got to ride up front and sit next to Daddy in church. Adam got to cross the pike all by himself and stay up half an hour later at night. How come?
    “ ’Cause I was here first,” he teased. Then, snatching the last cookie from the cookie jar, he ran out the door.
    “But I didn’t ask for an older brother,” she complained to Madam Zinnia. “I thought my brother was supposed to be a little baby. What happened?”
    The conjure woman stopped weeding her garden, stood, and took off her sunbonnet. “Ahhh, flowers take time and lots of care to grow so pretty,” she said, wiping her brow. “Okay, now what’s this about the conjure not working? Did you do exactly as I told you?”
    Josie looked down at her feet. “Not quite. I couldn’t stay awake until midnight, so I did it all at ten o’clock.”
    Madam Zinnia shook her head. “Why do people mess with my stuff? That’s what happened,” she said, snipping roses. “If you had done the conjure at one minute past midnight, the beginning of a new day, you would have gotten a new life, a baby. But you went to sleep at ten, so you got a ten-year-old brother. Sorry, but Madam cannot guarantee a conjure unless it is done properly. I’m afraid