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

you have to live with your big brother.”
    Josie helped Madam Zinnia plant a beautiful yellow rosebush. “Yellow roses are my favorite,” the woman said later, pouring Josie a glass of lemonade. “It takes patience to grow them, lots and lots of patience.”
    All the next week Josie tried to make the best of a bad situation. No matter what Adam did, Josiewent along with it. But the harder she tried, the worse Adam got. “What’s wrong with you, silly girl?” he shouted angrily. “You’re not acting right. You’re so—stupid!”
    “I try to get along with him,” Josie told JoBeth at the swings.
    “Stop trying so hard,” said JoBeth. “Fight back.”
    So that’s what Josie did. That same evening Adam wanted to watch an old movie, but she’d waited all day for her favorite comedy show. She turned the channel, and he pushed her out of the way and flipped it back. Josie fired off a punch to Adam’s chin. He hit her back—hard.
    “I hate you,” she said, wiping away angry tears. “I wish it was just me again.”
    “Just you,” Adam snapped back. “It was great around here until we found you on the railroad tracks and brought you home.”
    “That’s not true!” Josie cried harder. Adam smiled. Daddy broke up the fight and sent them both to bed early with no television. Josie cried herself to sleep.
    Arthur Lee and JoBeth came by first thing the next morning. “We haven’t gone over to the pike to watch the big trucks go by in weeks.”
    “Want to go with us?”
    Josie ran to get her bicycle out of the garage. It wasn’t there. “Mama, where’s my bicycle?”
    Mama sighed. “Josie, what are you talking about?” she asked impatiently. “You’re the one who made the decision. Adam got the bicycle and you got the chemistry set and the doll dishes.”
    Josie was shattered. Last Christmas she’d gotten it all—the bicycle, the chemistry set, and the doll dishes.
    She rode double on Arthur Lee’s bike, feeling awful. The three friends sat on the retaining wall and watched the big wheelers roll past, moving at high speeds. Sometimes the truckers tooted their horns and waved. Usually Josie liked to imitate the sound the trucks made as they passed—“Whoosh! Whoosh!” But she didn’t feel like having fun this morning.
    “Are big brothers always so awful?” Josie asked.
    “Not always,” Arthur Lee answered.
    “I can’t beat Adam up. What should I do?”
    “Get even. That’s what I do,” said JoBeth.
    “Good idea,” Josie replied.
    Josie put her plan into motion.
    Adam had a crush on Lillie, JoBeth’s big sister. Josie asked Adam to go with her and JoBethto the movies. Of course he said no. “JoBeth’s big sister is taking her.” Adam took the bait—hook, line, and sinker. He agreed to go before he knew it was a horror movie,
Return of the Vampire Mummy
. Adam hated horror movies, but he wouldn’t dare admit it. Everything was working perfectly.
    At last Saturday came. JoBeth, Lillie, Josie, and Adam met in front of the Ritz. Josie could hardly keep a straight face. During the movie, Josie saw Adam close his eyes when the vampire mummy pushed open the tomb or bit somebody on the neck. And at the end, when the monster shriveled away to dust, Adam slunk down in his seat. Josie knew he was scared to death. Wonderful!
    All the kids who lived on Harrison walked home together after the show. It wasn’t dark yet, but the sun had set and lengthy shadows flickered in the last golden light. Josie knew Adam was thinking about vampires that rose at sunset.
    As they approached a stretch of vacant property strewn with weeds and trash, Adam moved up to walk with Lillie. Suddenly a caped figure leaped out of nowhere. In the waning light they saw the hideously deformed creature with horrible vampire teeth confronting them.
    All eyes were on Adam. The creature reached out to him. He gasped, his face turned green, and he ran away screaming in terror. Arthur Lee took off his Halloween mask and they all