Read Philip and the Superstition Kid (9781452430423) for Free Online

stairs. “Let’s play again to-day. Let’s play again
to-day. Here come the booga-woogas. Here come the
booga-woogas.”
    Suddenly, Philip’s eyes widened and he
quickly whispered to Emery, “Do what I do.”
    “ Hi guys,” Leon said
cheerfully entering the kitchen. “I really had fun yesterday. It
was . . .”
    “ Oh, no!” Philip cried and
pointed at the wall clock. He turned to Emery.
    “ Huh? Oh yeah. I mean no,
no, oh no!” And Emery pointed. Philip grabbed his arm and
redirected it at the clock.
    “ What?” Leon barked in
alarm.
    “ Look at the clock and
look at what you did,” Philip said, lowering his arm.
    “ Yeah, look at it . . .
and what you did,” Emery echoed, dropping his arm, too.
    Leon turned to look at the clock, and Philip
punched Emery and whispered, “Don’t do it so stupid.”
    “ What did I do? What did I
do?” Leon cried. “It’s ten o’clock. So what?”
    “ That’s just it,” said
Philip with a knowing nod. “It’s not ten o’clock.”
    “ What do you mean?” Leon
asked.
    “ Do you know how many
times you sang when you went upstairs and down?” Philip
asked.
    “ Times?”
    “ Thirteen !” Philip said, knocking
Emery’s knee with his own.
    “ Yeah, thirteen. You
shouldn’t have, Leon. Thirteen, thirteen, thirteen.” Emery said
each thirteen louder than the one before.
    “ I didn’t. No, I
didn’t.”
    “ You did,” Philip assured
him. “You did. We counted. And you did it before ten o’clock. We
thought you stopped at eleven upstairs, but you sang twice more
just now. You know you did.”
    “ Did I?” Leon paused
thoughtfully and then burst out, “I didn’t mean to.”
    “ You did and now,” said
Emery, getting into the spirit, “your trissa blah blah is going to
get you.”
    “ Arggh! Not that. Oh, I
have triskaidekaphobia real bad. My doctor said.”
    “ How can we help him,
Emery?” Philip cried. “His bad luck could start any
minute.”
    “ Yeah, and a shiny penny
doesn’t stand a chance of beating trissa blah blah.”
    “ No,” Philip agreed. “And
the penny probably used up all its luck yesterday.”
    “ Wait, I know,” Leon
cried. He pulled his shirt over his head so that he looked Egyptian
again. He started removing his rabbits’ feet to put over his ears.
“I didn’t use this good luck yesterday, remember?” He took off his
pants and put them on inside out.
    “ Your sneakers,” Philip
reminded him.
    “ Oh, yeah.” Leon sat on
the floor and removed his sneakers. “If I sit here all day, will
that take care of my triskaidekaphobia?”
    “ Yeah, yeah, yeah,” said
Emery. “That should . . .”
    “ No!” Philip shouted.
“This needs more. It better be the kitchen table.”
    “ Huh?” said
Emery.
    Philip ignored Emery and looked at Leon.
“Quick, before it’s ten o’clock. Get on the kitchen table and sit
there. Hurry. You only have fifteen seconds.”
    Leon clambered onto the kitchen table.
    “ Did I make it? Did I make
it?” he cried and stared at the clock.
    “ Just in time,” said
Philip in relief. “That was lucky.”
    Leon’s eyes brightened. “Then it’s
working.”
    “ But you have to stay
there all day, Leon,” Emery warned. “Trissa blah blah is very
powerful.”
    “ I know. I know,” Leon
nodded. “And it’s not trissa blah blah. Oh, I can’t play with you
guys today, and yesterday was so much fun. I’m sorry this is gonna
spoil your day.”
    “ Don’t worry,” said Philip
generously, pulling Emery by the arm. “There’s always tomorrow.”
Then softly to Emery he said, “Come on. Before your mother gets
home.”
    And out the front door they went.
     
     
    “ That was a great day,”
Philip crowed as they approached Emery’s house, weary, dirty, but
pleased.
    “ And I’m starving. Except
for the ice cream, we skipped lunch.”
    The boys had chosen to be hungry rather than
go home and see what was happening with Leon.
    “ It was worth it. We gotta
find a way to keep Leon home