"It's all right," said her mother softly. "But don't let it happen again. What have you got in the box?"
Jennifer shrugged. "Just an old toad," she said casually.
THUMP!
"Sounds like a big one," said Mrs. Murdley. "What are you going to do with him?"
"I wish I knew!" said Jennifer.
"All right," said Jennifer, once they were safe in her room, "let's think." She took Sharra out of her pouch and set her on the bed.
"Let's not," said Bufo, climbing out of his box and hopping over to his tank. "I've still got a headache from the bouncing you gave me on the way home. Have you got an aspirin I can lick?"
Jennifer hesitated. She wasn't supposed to get aspirin for herself. On the other hand, Bufo was basically an adult.
"Just a minute," she said.
"Forget it," said Bufo. "I was only kidding. They stick to my tongue. Give me a few minutes to recover. Then I want you to tell me about that woman you were talking to, what she looked like, how she acted--all the things I missed by being in that box."
He jumped for the edge of the tank, then climbed over the side and went to sit under his umbrella.
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"I think we should take Sharra back to her parents' house now," said Ellen, glancing at Bufo nervously.
Jennifer's stomach twisted. Even though it wasn't really her fault Sharra was a toad, she had a feeling she was going to get blamed for it. But she also had a feeling that Ellen was right.
Sharra didn't share that feeling.
"No!" she cried. "No! No! No!"
"All right," said Jennifer, patting Sharra on the head with her forefinger. "Calm down. No one's going to force you."
"Don't do that!" snapped Sharra.
"Well excu-u-u-use me," said Jennifer, drawing her hand back.
They sat in gloom for a moment, the only break in the silence the annoying buzz of a fly.
Suddenly Sharra's tongue shot out--ZAP!--and nailed the fly.
"Good work," said Bufo.
"Aahh!" cried Sharra, jumping around on the bed as though someone had just lit a match underneath her. "Aahhh! Aahhh! Aaaahhhhh! I ate a fly! I ate a fly! I didn't want to! I didn't mean to do it! Aaahhh!"
"Oh, quit beefing," said Bufo. "They're good for you."
"Aaahhh!" said Sharra.
"Don't worry," said Ellen in a soothing voice. "It was a very natural thing to do."
"Aahhh!" cried Sharra. "Call the doctor! I ate a fly!"
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"Do you really want us to call a doctor?" asked Jennifer.
"Yes! NO! Just do something!" Suddenly Sharra stopped moving. "If you ever tell anyone about this, I'll kill you," she said, her voice trembling with passion.
Jennifer had just been thinking how much fun it would be to tell the rest of the fifth grade about Sharra Moncrieffe eating flies.
"Promise you won't tell," demanded Sharra.
Jennifer sighed. "My lips are sealed," she said, raising one hand in a sign of pledge.
"Mine, too," said Ellen.
"Sheesh," said Bufo. "You'd think there was something wrong with eating a fly."
"Shut up!" snarled Sharra. Then she hopped across the bed, crawling halfway under the pillow, and squatted there glaring at the rest of them.
"We do have to let your parents know where you are," said Ellen, after an uncomfortable silence.
"I don't want them to know."
"If we don't say something, they're going to call the police," said Jennifer reasonably. Inside she was wondering who the Moncrieffes would call once they found out their daughter was a toad.
"So what?" said Sharra, who was clearly in no mood to be cooperative.
"Well, sooner or later the police will come over here and start asking questions."
"So? You're not going to tell them what happened."
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"Of course not," said Jennifer. "But Ellen probably will. She can't keep a secret to save her life."
"Hey!" cried Ellen. "I can too keep a secret."
"Name one," snapped Jennifer.
Ellen glowered at Jennifer.
"All right," said Sharra. "You've made your point. Go ahead, call my parents."
"You'll have to talk to them," said Jennifer.
Though Sharra resisted, Jennifer finally convinced her. Which is how the three of them, Jennifer, Sharra, and Ellen, wound up out in the hall, Jennifer dialing the number, Sharra squatting next to the receiver, and Ellen keeping watch for Skippy or Jennifer's parents.
Jennifer had to admit that Sharra handled the moment well, chatting with her mother as if nothing at all was wrong. But as soon as the call was over, she lapsed into a stunned silence. Jennifer immediately began to feel guilty again. She recalled how Sharra had wept all the way home, muttering about dreams. When they returned to Jennifer's room, Sharra sat in silent gloom on Jennifer's pillow, her bulging eyes glazed over.
"At least this happened on a Friday," said Ellen, trying to sound cheerful.
Jennifer knew what she meant. They never would have gotten Sharra's parents to let her stay over on a school night.
"All right," said Bufo, "you've done your duty to little Miss Perfect's parents.
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Now I want to know the details of what happened in that beauty parlor." He sounded nervous, which made Jennifer a little nervous, too.
"Well, you heard it all from inside the box, didn't you?" she asked.
"Of course I heard it," said Bufo. "I just couldn't see anything. That's why I want more details."
But before Jennifer could answer, her father's deep voice came booming up the stairs. "Jennifer, Ellen, come to supper!"
"We'll have to tell you later," said Jennifer.
"Now!" demanded Bufo.
"Don't leave me here with him!" cried Sharra. "Later," said Jennifer again, scooping up Sharra and returning her to the sweatshirt pouch.
Between Jennifer's nervousness and her mother's bad mood, supper was a tense affair, enlivened only by the moment when Skippy stuffed a pair of string beans into his nostrils and cried, "Look! Super boogies!"
"I want boogies, too!" cried Brandon, who until that point had been refusing to even look at his beans.
Mr. and Mrs. Murdley were not amused. After supper Mr. Murdley announced that Mrs. Murdley needed a break, and he was taking her out to a film.
"Which means that the four of you are going to be very, very good for the next few hours, doesn't it?" he asked in a voice that could only be
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answered with words like, "Yes," and "Certainly," and "Of course we are."
He also told Jennifer and Ellen they could babysit for Brandon, which meant that they would be getting a little money when he got back. Usually the job would have gone to Skippy, but he had been banned from babysitting for two months after the haircut he gave Brandon the last time he took care of him.
Sharra was extremely quiet when Jennifer extracted her from the sweatshirt pouch and deposited her on the bed.
"I think she's gone into shock," said Ellen nervously.
"Story time!" said Bufo, climbing over the edge of his tank. "It's time for you to tell me the details of what happened this afternoon. Jennifer, this is important!"
Jennifer looked at him in surprise. But before she could answer, Skippy burst into the room. "Jennifer, have you seen my math book? I could have sworn--"
He broke off when he spotted Sharra squatting on Jennifer's pillow. "Hey, you got another one! Or is this one yours, Ellen? What is this? Are toads a new fad or something?"
Crossing to the bed, he scooped Sharra into his hand.
"Put her down, Skippy!" cried Jennifer. "Cool it, Jen. Sheesh, I never saw anybody get
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so cranky about toads. What's the big deal? A toad is a toad."
"Not always," said Jennifer. "Anyway, be careful of her."
"Why?"
"Ah--we think she's pregnant!" said E
llen desperately.
Skippy held Sharra away from him and looked at her appraisingly. "Could be," he said. "She's kinda chunky."
Sharra let out an indignant squawk. Skippy jumped and almost dropped her. "These things make the weirdest noises," he said. "What kind of toads are they, anyway?"
"She's a rare breed," said Jennifer. "Very expensive. That's why I told you to be careful."
"Sister, dear, you are getting weirder by the day," said Skippy, lifting Sharra toward his face to examine her more carefully. He poked a finger at her nose. "Man," he said approvingly, "she sure is ugly."
With a cry of indignation, Sharra lunged at Skippy.
"Hey, what--?" he cried.
Those were the last words out of his mouth before Sharra's toady lips connected with his.
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SEVEN
"You Owe Me!"
When the smoke cleared, there were still two toads in the room.
Sharra was not one of them. Skippy, however, was. No longer tall and red-haired, he was now small, brown, and covered with warts. Jennifer was not altogether sure that this wasn't an improvement. Unfortunately, she was fairly confident her parents would not see the matter in that light. Disgusting as Skippy might be, she was certain they would rather he were a boy than a toad.
Skippy would almost certainly share that opinion, once he had figured out what had happened. At the moment, he was totally oblivious to his new shape. "Whooo-ee, what was that all about?" he cried. Coughing, he waved a warty little hand in front of his face.
That was when he realized what had happened to him.
"My hand!" he screamed. "What happened to my hand?"
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This was followed by a brief pause while Skippy examined the rest of his body. This examination was followed by a series of screams, interspersed with such phrases as, "Gonna die, Jennifer," and "What are you three, witches?" and "Get me outta this!"
The only one who was actually happy about this development was Sharra.
"It couldn't have happened to a better brat," she said. Then she shook her hands and said, "Oooh, I'm all pins and needles, like when your leg goes to sleep. Except it's all over me! Ooooh!"
"I'll teach you!" cried Skippy, jumping at Sharra. It was a solid, toadlike leap, but Skippy wasn't used to his new shape, and Sharra easily dodged it. He went sailing past her calf and landed on the floor behind her.
"Jennifer!" he cried pitifully. "What's going on here?"
"And is it catching?" muttered Ellen nervously. "Ah--it seems to be a temporary condition," said Jennifer.
"You mean I'm going to turn back?" asked Skippy, his voice flooded with relief. "I think so. Sharra did."
"How did she do it?"
"She passed it on to you," said Jennifer, who didn't like where this conversation was going.
"Passed it on?" asked Skippy.
"You're it," said Sharra, who was still patting her arms to check that she was really herself again.
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"It's like playing tag. I got it from that crazy talking toad of Jennifer's."
"What talking toad?" asked Skippy.
"I believe she's referring to me," said Bufo, who was now crouched on the edge of Jennifer's desk.
"Did you used to be a person, too?" asked Skippy.
"Good heavens, no!" cried Bufo. "Perish the thought. A person, indeed. Yetch. I would think you would be glad of the transformation, Master Skippy. I mean, think how much less destructive toads are than humans. We don't pollute. We don't have wars. We don't cause forest fires. About all we do is eat nasty bugs."
"Don't remind me," cried Sharra, which caused Jennifer to snort in spite of herself.
"I'm a t-o-o-o-ad!" moaned Skippy, his voice still filled with disbelief. Suddenly he scrambled under the bed.
"It's the shock stage," said Sharra, when Jennifer began to move toward the pillows. "He needs some time to himself."
Jennifer figured that if anyone should know what Skippy was feeling, it was Sharra, so she decided to leave him alone. Besides, she was in no hurry to get him thinking about everything that had just been said.
"While your brother is contemplating his lack of a navel," said Bufo, "I think it's about time you gave me some information. I've been trying to get you to tell me what happened to make you start running this afternoon."
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Jennifer hesitated. Now that the incident was over, she wondered if maybe it had simply been her imagination getting out of hand.
Ellen had no such reservations. "I think that woman was a witch," she said.
Bufo's eyes bulged out even more than normal. "Tell me more," he insisted. "Everything you can remember." Then he listened with uncharacteristic silence as Jennifer and Ellen described the events in the beauty parlor.
No one spoke for a moment after they were finished. Outside a cold wind blew at the window. Colored leaves swirled along the sidewalk, flashing bright in the puddles of light from the streetlamps, then looking almost like bats when they plunged back into the darkness.
"You were probably right," said Bufo at last.
"That she was a witch?"
"Yes."
"Bufo, is there something that you ought to tell us?" asked Jennifer, who was starting to feel more frightened than ever.
Bufo glanced around nervously.
"Bufo!"
"She may be after me," said Bufo, his throat expanding and contracting rapidly. "Why?"
"You can't live as long as I have without making a few enemies," said Bufo.
"You probably can't go three days without making enemies," replied Sharra.
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Jennifer was torn between telling Sharra to shut up and agreeing with her.
An hour or so later Jennifer returned from putting Brandon to bed to find Skippy sitting in the middle of her floor, his warty face creased with a big smile.
"I've got it!" he cried triumphantly.
"Got what?" asked Jennifer nervously.
"The solution to my problem. I just remembered that you owe me a favor, sister dear. And not just a little favor. A big favor, from a genuine, unbreakable pledge. And as I was squatting there in the dust kitties under your bed, I suddenly realized just what I wanted."
"Really?" asked Jennifer. She felt her knees begin to wobble.
Skippy nodded. "It's nothing much. Just a kiss from my favorite sister."
Jennifer swallowed, but said nothing.
"You owe me," said Skippy ominously. "You said it, and you can't break it."
Jennifer closed her eyes. She felt a lump forming in her throat. A toad. She was going to have to become a toad. But what choice did she have? Skippy had the goods on her. She could refuse, but that would make her a double-down-dirty rotten-go-backer.
Was it worth becoming a toad just to keep her promise?
What was a promise worth?
What was she worth?
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"I'm waiting, sister dear," said Skippy.
What was Skippy worth, when you came right down to it? Not much, she decided. But that wasn't the issue. What was her word worth? Of course, in a sense it was her fault that he was in his current predicament. She was the one who had brought Bufo into the house.
But to become a toad? When the one thing she really wanted to be was beautiful?
"You don't have to do it, Jennifer," said Bufo.
"Yes, she does!" snapped Skippy.
"No, she doesn't!" yelled Ellen.
"Yes, I do," whispered Jennifer. Bending over the bed, she pursed her lips and leaned toward Skippy.
Leaping up, her toad of a brother planted a kiss on her lips.
Thunder shook the room. The change began so quickly that Jennifer barely knew what was happening. A moment of intense heat, a squashing sensation, and the next thing she knew she was looking up at the corner of her bed--which towered over her like some oddly soft, six-story-high building.
"Whew," said Skippy, stretching his arms and examining his fingers, "what
a relief that is!"
"Oh, shut up," said Ellen loyally. "In your heart you'll always be a toad."
"Hey!" Bufo cried. "I resent that."
"Shut up, yourself," snapped Skippy. "I'm not the one who brought that maniac toad into the house. He's Jennifer's problem. Wow, I feel like I've got pins and needles everywhere!"
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"Don't worry," said Sharra. "It'll go away in a little while."
Ellen bent and scooped Jennifer into her hands. "Are you all right?" she asked gently, once she had raised her friend to face level.
"All right?" asked Jennifer weakly. "I'm a toad!" She tried not to let the sorrow that filled her sound in her voice. She was a toad--the very symbol of ugliness! Putting her tiny, webbed fingers against her face, she felt the warts that dotted the surface like a scattering of fleshy pebbles.
A toad!
"Hey, it doesn't have to be permanent," said Skippy. "All you have to do is find someone to kiss."
"Shouldn't be hard," said Bufo cheerfully. "She's an exceptionally good-looking toad."
Jennifer let out a wail.
"What did I say?" cried Bufo. "What did I say?" The argument was interrupted by a sound from Jennifer's bedside table.
Brandon's toy phone was ringing again. For a moment no one said a word Ring!
"What's going on here?" said Skippy, his eyes wide with terror.
"Who knows what things lurk at the edge of reality?" asked Bufo, using a deep, hollow-sounding voice. "Yet this may be the ring of truth. Do you dare answer?"
Then he laughed a low, echoing laugh.
Ring!
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"Not me," said Skippy, backing away from the phone.
"Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!" chortled Bufo in that same low voice.
"For heaven's sake, stop it, Bufo," said Jennifer. "We've got enough problems as it is. Now, is someone going to answer that or not?"
No one moved.
Ring!
"Oh, take the phone off the hook and I'll answer it," said Jennifer. "I'm sure it's Mr. Elives. Maybe he can help."
Looking at the phone as if it might bite her, Ellen lifted the receiver. She placed it on the bedside stand, then set Jennifer beside it.
"Hello?" Jennifer said. "Mr. Elives?" Then she hopped up to the other end of the phone to listen.