Miss Blossom sighed. “Pull yourself together, Rupert. Have you never heard of a broomstick?”
Broomstick! Of course! What had I been thinking?
I nodded sheepishly.
“Have you a problem with any of this, Rupert?” Miss Switch asked.
“No problem at all!” I replied. Problem? Was she kidding? I was already imagining myself climbing aboard and zooming off into the night behind Miss Switch.
“You can wipe that look off your face, Rupert,” she said sharply “We’re not going on a picnic. This is deadly serious. I only wish we didn’t have to wait until midnight. Who knows what might happen this very afternoon. Saturna will not wait very long for a repeat engagement. You may mark my words!”
Well, I did mark them, and she was right. We did get that afternoon off, so to speak, but we got an announcement about something that was to happen the next day. It came via a long note to Room Twelve delivered by Miss Tuna from Mr. Dorking. Miss Blossom read it to us.
It seemed that the school had been lucky enough to be able to get passes to special exhibits at the museum. There were just enough passes for the sixth grade, and we were going the very next morning. Somehow, it sounded fishy to me. Just how fishy it might actually be, though, I wouldn’t know until midnight that night. Midnight, and the museum trip the very next morning! Just how much time did that give Miss Switch to do anything about it?
14
Toadstools at Midnight
It was a long wait until midnight. Since I didn’t have my computer to tinker with, I just fooled around with a couple of unsuccessful experiments I’d been working on after I’d finished my homework. And, of course, I talked things over with the pets. They were very excited about Miss Switch picking me up by broomstick. She had done it before, but it had all happened so quickly, they hadn’t even seen her. I promised them I’d delay climbing aboard a few minutes so they could at least catch a glimpse of her through the window. But they were also pretty anxious about the trip to the museum.
“Look,” I said, “I shouldn’t have made you all upset about this. What could go wrong on a silly little trip to a museum?”
“You said it sounded fishy,” said Hector.
“I shouldn’t have,” I said. “What do I know?”
“Well, we must all remember that Miss Switch will be with them,” said Guinevere. “If there’s any problem, she’ll know what to do about it.”
“Maybe not,” said Caruso. “You remember what Rupert said about witchcraft versus witchcraft.”
“Look here,” I said, “we haven’t even seen the next word from Saturna. There may not be any problem at all.”
“I wish you’d take me along, Rupert, just in case,” Fred piped up.
“See here, Fred,” I said, “we went through this before. What exactly could you do if there’s a problem? What could any bird do?”
“You never know,” he replied. “Take canaries. Miners used to carry them along into the mines to sniff out dangerous gases.”
“I don’t think there are any dangerous gases in a museum,” I said. “Besides, you’d have to go in my pocket. I know you were there before, but that was for about an hour. This would be for three hours, at least. How would you like that, Fred?”
“If it was the same pocket with the hole in it for breathing purposes, I wouldn’t mind,” he said. “And I’d pack a lunch. It would be an interesting experience.”
“Three hours is a long time. What if you needed to—er—poop?” I asked.
“I’m a big boy now,” Fred replied. “I’d take care of that before I left. You wouldn’t have a thing to worry about. I’d really like to go.”
“Well, I’ll think about it,” I said. “But don’t count on it. Anyway, I’d better get ready It’s about time for Miss Switch to show up.”
I’d barely thrown my jacket on and stuffed my trusty flashlight into a pocket when there was a knock on my window, and Miss Switch was hovering outside it. Then I remembered I was supposed to drag my feet just a little so the pets would have a chance to see her. But I had a better idea. I opened the window and stuck my head through before starting to climb out. It was only about nine hours since I’d seen her as Miss Blossom, so I really had to pull myself together seeing her out there hanging in midair on her broomstick in her flowing black cape and tall, pointed black hat. But I was happy to see that Bathsheba wasn’t with her for what I had in mind.
“Miss Switch,” I said, “would you consider stopping in my room for a couple of minutes to meet my pets? It would mean a lot to them.”
“Oh, absolutely!”
Almost before I realized what was happening, she was climbing through the window. The broomstick was in park, and just hung outside the window, not going anywhere. “Miss Switch,” I said, pointing as I gave out each name, “may I introduce Guinevere, Hector, Caruso, and Fred. Pets, this is Miss Switch.”
“How do you do,” said Miss Switch.
“H-H-How do you do, your … your royal witchness!” Caruso said, and promptly fell right over on his back. I knew, of course, that he’d been trying to do a stage bow, but he never seemed to learn that a turtle couldn’t do that. I didn’t say anything but just went over and turned him right side up.
“‘Miss Switch’ will do just fine,” she said at once.
“How do you do, Miss Switch,” said Guinevere.
“P-P-Pleased to meet you, Miss Switch,” quavered Hector.
“M-M-Me, too,” added Fred in a trembling chirp.
“Well, it’s a real pleasure to meet all of you,” said Miss Switch. “I’ve heard a great deal about you. Rupert is really fortunate to have such good friends.”
I stood there speechless. I’d never heard Miss Switch—that is, as Miss Switch and not
