“It wouldn’t be honest,” I said, grinning at Bogle.
“Wouldn’t be what?” he snarled, growing red in the face. “What’s this… a gag?”
“I’m afraid our Myra’s become honest overnight,” I said. “A girl’s got to have her conscience, you know.”
“Yeah?” Bogle bellowed, “I’ll tell you something. She’s trying to gyp us!”
“You can believe what you like,” Myra said quietly, “but I’m not having anything to do with it. I want to go somewhere quiet and wait until the end of the month.”
I thought of all the publicity I’d lose and I thought of Maddox. What he’d do to me if I didn’t get this kid back to New York would be nobody’s business.
“Now, for the love of mike, don’t be in such a hurry,” I said. “Here, you two, get out. I want to talk to her.”
“It’s no good,” Myra said firmly, “I’ve made up my mind,” and she turned to the door.
“Can’t one, of you think of something?” I demanded.
“Really, Ross, I mean it,” she said over her shoulder. As she opened the door, the little Mexican girl came bustling in. She had a telegram which she handed to me. I took it and then waved her away. She seemed glad to go.
“Hold on until I’ve read this,” I said to Myra. “It might be important.”
“Hurry,” Myra said, standing by the door. “I want to change.”
I was staring at the telegram in astonishment. It was from Paul Juden:
Maddox cables girl has been found stop. What are you diddling with stop Civic reception to be held today stop Girl’s father claims reward stop Maddox loves you stop Juden.
“Well, fan me with a plate of soup!” I said and offered the telegram to Myra.
Bogle and Ansell crowded round her and read over her shoulder. There was a moment’s silence which was immediately after exploded by a general uproar.
“What does this mean?” Myra demanded. “Is this something you’ve hatched up?”
“Now don’t set yourself on fire,” I said hastily, “I don’t know any more about this than you do.”
“Yeah?” Bogle said, jerking Myra round. “So you don’t want the money, huh? You double-crossing little hooker! How the hell did you manage it?”
“Don’t be a damn fool!” I said. “She’s got nothing to do with it. It’s her
She hesitated “He—he’s a bit of a crook,” she said reluctantly. “But there’s no vice in him. He was just born that way.”
“Well, it looks to me like your father’s trying to gyp Maddox. What’s to stop him palming off some other girl as his daughter? You know, precious, that’s about what he’s doing.”
She stared at me, “But the photograph in the paper. They’ll know she’s a fake.”
“Maybe he’s found someone who looks like you.”
“Yeah, that wouldn’t be hard,” Sam put in. “Any one with a Veronica Lake hair-cut would do.”
This seemed to annoy Myra. “So I look like any one, do I?” she said angrily.
“Now don’t get up in the air,” Ansell said hastily.
I suppose it was the association of ideas. I don’t really know, but thinking about it afterwards, I guess that was what it was. Myra left the ground.
It was an unnerving sight. One minute she was sitting on the bed and the next she was sitting on nothing, about three feet above the bed.
The most astonished person in the room was Myra herself. “Now, see what you’ve done,” she said in alarm, “Don’t stare at me, do something.”
But we all just sat and stared.
“I don’t think I’ll be able to stand a great deal more of this,” I finally jerked out. “Will you calm down, Myra, and stop messing around?”
The first initial shock over, Myra reached for the bed rail and anchored herself. Then she pulled herself back to the bed. She settled on the bed with the lightness and instability of a thistle down.
“Levitation,” Ansell said. “It’ll pass off if you don’t excite yourself.”
“It’s rather fun,” Myra said, still looking a little scared. “Would any of you mind if I cast off?”
“Don’t do it,” Bogle pleaded. “Please don’t do it.”
“Oh, nuts!” Myra snapped. “Why shouldn’t I enjoy myself,” and she very cautiously pushed herself away from the bed.
She immediately rose in the air in a sitting position and then she overbalanced and turned upside down. Her feet shot up towards the ceiling and she hung suspended a few feet from the floor.
“Help!” she cried. “What am I going to do now?”
Ansell went to her rescue and got her straightened out. After a little balancing, she managed to float, lying full length.
“This is rather fun,” she said. “But it’s an effort to keep straight. Pull my feet down, Doc, I want to see if I can walk.”
“I can’t and won’t stand it,” Bogle said, closing his eyes and screwing up his fists.
“You shut up!” Ansell said, pushing Myra’s feet down and helping her upright. “She’s doing very well.”
Myra took a few hesitating steps and managed to cross the room some three feet above the floor. It was a shocking sight and I could hardly bring myself to watch her.
“I think I’d prefer to lie out,” she said, drawing up her feet and stretching out.
“I’ll give you a push,” Doc said and he did so, sending her floating across the room where she bumped gently against the wall. She was like a toy balloon and she bounced off the wall and came floating back to me. I reached out and dragged her back on the bed.
“Please stop,” I pleaded. “You’ll drive me crazy.”
“But, it’s marvellous,” Myra said, her face alight with pleasure. “You’re only jealous. Let me go once more across the room and then I promise I won’t do it again.”
“Well, if it means so much to you,” I said and shoved her off into space again. I must have given her too hard a posh because she shot across the room narrowly missing Doc who threw himself on the floor with a squeal of fear. She banged against the wall, ricocheted like a billiard ball and whizzed over Bogle, who cowered down in his chair. Then the power that held her up seemed to be snatched away, for she came down on the end of her spine with a thud that made the coffee cups rattle.
Ansell hurried over to her and helped her up.
“Ooch!” she said, limping across to the bed. “There’s nothing for you to laugh at.”
“If you could have seen yourself,” I said, wiping the tears from my eyes. “You’d have laughed too.”
“Next time I take to flying, I’ll pad my undercarriage,” she said feelingly, as she sat down on the bed.
Bogle peered at her between his fingers. When he assured himself that she was sitting quietly, he took his hand away and sucked his teeth noisily. “Don’t ever do that again,” he said. “A sight like that doesn’t belong anywhere.”
“Think of the shoe leather I’ll save,” Myra said, smiling happily. “That was really something to experience.”
“Can’t we get our minds down to business?” I asked. “Not that I can think clearly. This’s about the craziest moment of my life, but we’ve still to settle about your father. Can you discuss him without becoming inflated?”
Myra’s face clouded, “I was forgetting him,” she said. “There’s nothing to discuss. I’m going to see him.”
“Now, don’t be in too great a rush,” I said. “The first thing to do is to get hold of Juden. He’ll have details. Then we can decide what to do. We’ll get packed up and go to Mexico City as quickly as we can. We ought to get there by to-night. Then we can talk things over with him, make plans and see what it’s all about.”
“Sam and I are coining,” Ansell said firmly. “Don’t you get any ideas about stopping us.”
I looked questioningly at Myra. She shrugged. “Oh, well,” she said, “I suppose they’d better.”
