A Coming Evil by Vivian Vande Velde Page B

houses creak."
    Something big crashed—possibly a chair tipping over.
    Madame Dumont abandoned her cigarette to walk to the door. She opened it and Lisette tried to see past her. "I know your aunt is not a country woman," Madame Dumont said, "but, my dear, I would expect that even in Nice they would know better than to keep goats in the porch."
    "Oh, no!" Lisette said.
    Maurice's goat had been single-mindedly trying to determine what a porch tasted like. It had nibbled on a chair pillow that was now bleeding fluff all over the chair and the floor. The blackout curtains had two corners chewed out of them, as though the goat had wanted to make sure that both sides tasted alike. An end table was lying on its side, a broken vase beneath it held headless stems. At the moment the stupid goat was working on eating a philodendron plant, formerly almost two meters tall and currently lying on its side, at least half its potting soil dumped out onto the floor and trampled in with the pillow stuffing.
    "Oh, this is all my fault," Lisette said, thinking,
Those stupid children.
"Our neighbor just brought this goat over, and I was afraid it would run away while I was picking flowers, so I brought it in here." It sounded like a seven-year-old's reasoning to her, but she didn't think Madame Dumont thought very highly of her intelligence anyway. "It must have been hungrier than I realized."
    The goat left the philodendron and tried to munch on the edge of Madame Dumont's jacket. "My dear," Madame Dumont said, pushing the goat away, "goats don't eat because they're hungry. They eat to annoy humans."
    Just then there was a thud from inside the house.
    What more could possibly happen
? Lisette wondered, but a moment later she heard Aunt Josephine call out from the front door, "Lisette?"
    "In the porch," Lisette said.
    Aunt Josephine must have seen the bicycle outside, for she looked worried. But as soon as she saw Madame Dumont, she smiled. "Eugenie!"
    "Josephine!"
    The two women hugged.
    "And Lisette," Aunt Josephine said, sounding concerned, Lisette thought, and trying to hide it. No doubt she was wondering about the children. Both her voice and her smile were strained. "And ... a goat. How ... interesting. Lisette?"
    Cecile appeared in the doorway. "A goat!" she squealed. "Where did it come from?"
    "Monsieur Maurice brought it for us to milk," Lisette explained.
    "What does goat milk taste like?" Cecile asked.
    Lisette, Aunt Josephine, and Madame Dumont all shrugged.
    "Well, Lisette," Aunt Josephine said, talking slowly and enunciating carefully, "maybe you should put the goat in the barn until we decide what to do with him."
    "Her," Lisette and Madame Dumont corrected. Madame Dumont winked at Lisette.
    "In fact," Aunt Josephine said with strained brightness, "Cecile, sweetie, why don't you get that bucket that we normally use to bring home the ice and you and Lisette can try to milk the goat?"
    She was trying to get rid of them. Cecile was too interested in the goat to notice, but Lisette was sure of it. Aunt Josephine wanted to talk to her friend alone. This was getting more and more interesting.

16.
Wednesday, September 4, 1940
    At first Cecile was so eager to milk the goat that she could hardly stand still long enough for Lisette to show her the way Maurice had shown her.
    "What's the goat's name?" Cecile asked.
    "Umm, I can't remember. I told the others, but I've forgotten now."
    Cecile looked at her as though she were the stupidest person she'd ever met, but at least she didn't accuse Lisette of lying.
    To divert her attention, Lisette asked, "What's the stray cat's name?"
    "Mimi," Cecile said. "I named her after your cat."
    Lisette didn't even answer.
    After about five minutes of milking, Cecile got tired, which was a good thing since Maurice had said the goat should be milked in the morning and in the evening.
    "I'm going back in," Cecile announced. "This is boring."
    "I think your mother wants to talk with her friend alone," Lisette