The Fairy-Tale Matchmaker (20 page)

While Humpty held each of the mice, one at a time, Cory read his books out loud. Everything was fine until Cory said that he had to put the mice back in the box.

“Can I show them my room before I put them back?”
he asked, and gave her such a plaintive look that she couldn't say no.

“They're blind, remember? They can't see it.”

“Then I'll tell them about it!” said Humpty. Still holding one of the mice, Humpty picked up the other two before squirming off the bed. Starting with the table by the wall, he carried the mice from place to place, describing everything in detail. “And this is the floor,” he finally said, getting down on his knees and elbows. “It's flat and you could run all over it if I put you down. There's a rug on it that would feel good under your paws. Here, I'll let you feel it for yourselves.”

“Humpty, no!” Cory cried, but the little boy had already set the mice on the floor. An instant later, the three blind mice had run under the bed.

“Uh-oh!” Humpty exclaimed, sitting back on his heels. “They got away.”

“There has to be a way to get them to come out,” said Cory. “Maybe if you make noise at that end, they'll come down here and I can catch them.”

“Okay!” said Humpty. He tapped on the floor, but the mice didn't appear.

“Do you have any crackers or cereal?” Cory finally asked. “They might come out for food.”

“I'll be right back,” Humpty said, and took off down the hall. When he returned, he had a handful of cookies.
Giving one to Cory, he climbed onto his bed and began to eat the others.

Cory broke off a piece of cookie and set it on the floor. She sat back to wait, but no mice appeared.

“Read me another book!” said Humpty.

“I will after we've caught the mice.”

Humpty scowled, but his face lit up again when he said, “I'll watch for the mice while you read the book! I'll tell you when I see them.”

“All right,” said Cory. “But we have to catch them before your mother comes home.”

“I know,” he said, and got down on the floor so he could see under the bed.

For the next fifteen minutes, Cory read stories to Humpty while he lay beside her with his head pillowed on his arm, watching for the mice. She was reaching for another book when she realized that the little boy had fallen asleep. Not wanting to wake him, she took a folded blanket from the end of his bed and covered him with it.

None of the mice appeared for the next hour and a half. When Humpty woke, Cory made his lunch while he watched for the mice. After he ate, they played board games on the floor next to his bed until they heard his mother at the front door. Humpty went with Cory to see her.

“How was your day?” Mrs. Humpty asked as she took off her hat.

“The mice got away, and we couldn't catch them!” Humpty announced. “I took my nap on the floor and ate cookies before lunch!”

“What?” Mrs. Dumpty said, turning a horrified look on Cory. “Did he say
mice
?”

Cory nodded. “I told him about my pet mice the last time I was here and he wanted to see them. I tried to ask you if it was all right, but you were so busy. I brought them today and—”

“You brought mice into my
house
and let them
loose
?” Mrs. Dumpty shrieked. “What were you thinking?”

“Humpty was being very careful with them until—”

“That's enough!” the woman shouted. “Get out of my house! You are never coming back here again! And I thought you were such a good babysitter!”

Cory started toward the door, then hesitated, wondering if she should apologize or say anything at all.

The woman took a step closer. “I am not going to pay you, either, if that's what you're waiting for. Go on. Leave!” She started making shooing motions with her hands, chasing Cory out the door. “In fact, I'm going to send you a bill for the exterminator.”

Mrs. Humpty was closing the door when Cory heard Humpty ask, “What's an exterminator, Mama?”

Without the box and the mice to weigh her down, Cory was able to fly to the park across the street from Sprats', so she arrived there earlier than she'd expected. She was sitting on a bench, feeling bad about the mice, when she saw Priscilla Hood get off the pedal-bus with Mary Lambkin.

“Cory!” Priscilla called. Grinning, she hurried over to the bench where Cory was seated, while Mary followed behind. “This is Mary Lambkin, my friend that I wanted you to meet,” said Priscilla. “Mary, this is Cory.”

“Mary and I have met,” said Cory, nodding to Priscilla's friend. After what had happened at the Dumpty's house, she wasn't feeling very sociable.

“Right!” said Mary. “Last night. You were sitting with Johnny Blue. You left so suddenly that I didn't really get to talk to you. Last night was such a disappointment! Johnny was an old friend of mine,” she told Priscilla. “He was very shy when he was young and I see he hasn't changed. I'd hoped I might be able to fan some flames, but there wasn't even a spark. I was so disappointed!”

“I bet Cory could help you, too,” said Priscilla.

“I hope so!” Mary said. “I really want to meet someone special, but I'm way too busy to meet someone on my own. How much do you charge?”

“I'm not sure I'm taking on any more clients right now,” said Cory.

“Don't be silly. I'll pay whatever Priscilla is paying you. Twice if necessary. Here's my leaf. Call me when you're ready to talk.”

While the two girls walked away, Cory glanced down at the leaf Mary had left in her hand. Written on the leaf were Mary's name and messaging address. “I don't know about this,” Cory said with a sigh. She had yet to help anyone find a match they really liked. Should she really take on more people?

When Cory returned home that evening, she found a message from Gladys waiting for her.

“I bet it was that woman, Mary Mary,” Cory said to Noodles, except the woodchuck wasn't there. “Noodles!” she called, peeking in the kitchen. He wasn't there either, nor was he in her bedroom, or her uncle's room, or anywhere else in the house. “Did I take him out this morning and forget to bring him back in?” she wondered, although she was sure she'd put him in her room. After checking the house one last time, Cory stepped out the back door, locking it behind her.

“Noodles!” she called as she checked the yard, looking behind every shrub and around the far side of the garden shed where he'd been digging a hole.

When Cory couldn't find Noodles in the yard, she began to search the neighborhood. She met Wanita walking her boar and Felice with her sister, Selene, and told them that her woodchuck was missing. They offered to watch for him on their walks. Cory scoured the three blocks around her uncle's house, including the park across the street. She did spot a woodchuck in a
small meadow, but it was much bigger than Noodles and didn't look anything like him. The sun was starting to set when the rain began, but Cory didn't give up until it was almost too dark to see.

When Cory returned home, she noticed that the porch light was on; her uncle was home. Worried about Noodles, she was anxious to talk to Micah and might not have noticed the parchment half hidden under the sea-grass mat if the breeze hadn't made the end flutter. Cory picked it up and discovered that it was a note written in the same sprawling script as the previous notes.

Cory sucked in her breath as she finally understood what had really happened. Noodles hadn't wandered off. The Tooth Fairy Guild had taken him!

Before she got dressed the next morning, Cory sent a message to Johnny Blue.

When she shuffled into the kitchen, her uncle said, “Here's something I never thought I'd see.”

“What?” Cory asked, glancing down at her robe and slippers. “I look like this every morning.”

“Not you,” said Micah. He held up a message he'd plucked from the basket. “This! It's a message for you from Santa Claus.”

Cory snatched the message from his hand and read it out loud.

Cory was still half asleep after staying up most of the night, worrying about Noodles. “Of course he would pick today,” she said, yawning.

Micah reread the note over her shoulder. “What house is he talking about?”

“Suzy's. I guess I should ask her if we can come by.”

“Good idea,” said her uncle. “Although I can't imagine that anyone would mind a visit from Santa.”

It took Cory just a minute to write the note.

She was surprised by how quickly Suzy wrote back.

“I'll be right back,” she told her uncle, yawning again. “I'm going to get dressed before I eat. Johnny should be stopping by soon.”

“Is he the only one the FLEA sends?” her uncle asked.

Cory nodded. “They don't think it's very important, so they send an officer-in-training. I'm glad, though. At least I feel as if he believes me.”

She was still in her room getting dressed when Johnny knocked on the door. Cory threw on the rest of her clothes and hurried to answer it. Her uncle was there before her and had already invited Johnny inside. Although Johnny was at least two feet taller, Micah seemed to be the one in charge.

“Yes, sir,” Johnny said, looking slightly nervous. “I did keep up with my music lessons. I even play in public now sometimes.”

“And your parents? How are they?” asked Micah.

“Just fine, sir. Thanks for asking.” When Johnny glanced up and saw Cory, his expression softened.

Micah turned and saw his niece standing there. His
mouth quirked in an almost smile as he stepped out of the way. “I'll let Cory tell you what happened,” he said. “Keep up the good work, Officer.”

“You know my uncle?” Cory asked once they were alone.

Johnny nodded. “I had him for some classes in school. He was my favorite teacher. In fact, if it weren't for him, I would have given up playing the trumpet in my second year. Money was tight in my house, but he talked to my parents and told them how important music was to me. Practicing my music was the only thing that kept me from spending all my time with a pretty rough crowd. It was the only thing I'd ever found that let me express how I really felt. Your uncle talked to my music teacher and we worked it out so I could get a part-time job and still take lessons. So he's your uncle, huh? I didn't know that. You don't have the same last name.”

“He's my mother's brother,” said Cory. “Fleuren is a flower-fairy name, although neither my mother nor my uncle became flower fairies.”