The Ghost Witch by Betty Ren Wright Page B

My Bobby is such a help to me.”
    â€œJenny’s a good helper, too,” Mrs. Warren said. She waggled her fingers at Jenny. “Run along, dear. Don’t be late for supper.”
    Jenny gritted her teeth as she hurried to the back hall where she kept her bike. She knew what Mrs. Strauss would say next. “Jenny is such a skinny little thing. A breath of wind would blow her away. No wonder she has no backbone.”
    It wasn’t fair. I’ve got backbone , Jenny grumbled as she rode across town. I’m as brave as Bobby Strauss any day . But when she turned into Willowby Lane, she wasn’t so sure. Miss Nagle’s house looked drearier than ever.
    Rufus meowed a noisy welcome when Jenny unlocked the kitchen door. She shot a quick look through the open door on the other side of the kitchen. Then she filled the food and water bowls, talking to the cat as she worked.
    â€œGood kitty. I wonder if you’re lonesome. I wonder if—”
    She froze. Was that a noise from the front of the house? It had sounded like a hiss.
    Rufus leaped up onto the counter and stared down the hall.
    â€œWhat is it, kitty? Did you hear something, too?”
    Jenny didn’t know what to do. She wanted to run—but what if she were running from nothing at all? Then Mrs. Strauss would be right, and Jenny’s mother would have to agree with her. You mean you didn’t even pick up my sunglasses, Jenny? I’m surprised at you .
    Stiff-legged, Jenny tiptoed across the kitchen and down the hall. The dining room was on the left, the living room on the right. Both were crowded with heavy furniture. Jenny stepped into the dining room. She saw the sunglasses lying at the far end of the table. Beyond the table was a long, low cupboard with a mirror above it.
    For a moment Jenny just stood there. Then she darted the length of the table and snatched up the glasses. As she did, the hissing began again, only this time it was right above her head. She whirled and stared up into the mirror.
    A shaggy brown head as big as a laundry basket loomed over her. Cruel eyes glared down, and puffs of steam billowed through gaps in the pointed yellow teeth.
    Jenny staggered back against the table, too frightened to cry out. For a moment the head hung above her. Then a great cloud of steam filled the mirror, and when it faded the dragon head was gone. Her own face stared back at her, and behind it the dining room was sunny and still.

CHAPTER THREE
    Maybe I Made Him Up
    Jenny rode her bike at top speed all the way home. When she got there, Mrs. Strauss and her mother were still sitting at the kitchen table.
    â€œYou are so lucky,” Mrs. Strauss was saying, when Jenny burst in, “that beautiful big house just waiting for you to move in! A gift from heaven!”
    Jenny opened her mouth to tell them about the dragon, but her mother spoke first. “I know we’re lucky,” she said. She sounded happier than she had in months. “I still can’t believe it.” She held out a hand to Jenny. “Did you find my sunglasses, dear?”
    Jenny looked at her mother’s smiling face. Then she looked at Mrs. Strauss. No backbone , Mrs. Strauss was probably thinking.
    â€œHere they are,” Jenny said. “They were on the dining-room table. I guess I’ll watch television for a while.” She left the kitchen quickly, before the rest of what she’d wanted to tell her mother could come tumbling out.… A big dragon thing with mean eyes and smoke coming from its mouth !… The words would make her mother’s smile disappear. And I can’t even prove I really saw a dragon , she thought miserably. If I try to show her, I just know there won’t be anything in that mirror .
    The next afternoon Jenny got home from school just as her mother was returning from her job at the supermarket. “I’m going to Miss Nagle’s house to do some cleaning,” Mrs. Warren said.