Philip and the Superstition Kid (9781452430423) (11 page)

“
Go get your bag,” Leon’s
mother said, stepping back from the conference.

Leon walked back into the living room with a
little bit of a spring in his step.

“
Guess what?” he
said.

Philip and Emery took a quick peek at one
another.

“
What?” said
Emery.

“
I get to come back here
in two weeks for a night. In two Fridays. My parents gotta go
someplace. Won’t that be great, guys? Maybe we can have some fun
then.”

“
Oh, boy,” said Emery
limply.

“
Get your Doctor Sissaby
to cure your trikaphobia before you come back,” Philip suggested
glumly.

“
I just hope my mother
lets me out to play before that. If she does, I’ll let you guys
know.” He grabbed his bag and took a few steps. Then he turned
back. “Put a big circle on your calendar. Two Fridays from now. Yuk
yuk.” Then he followed his mother out the front door.

Emery’s parents disappeared into the
kitchen.

“
Let’s go upstairs and put
a circle on your calendar,” said Philip, copying Leon’s voice. “Can
you draw a skull and crossbones? Yuk yuk.”

The boys walked up the stairs, taking the
first two steps in one jump after pausing at the bottom of the
stairs and looking at one another.

“
Maybe his parents will
change their mind and stay home that Friday,” Philip
hoped.

“
Or maybe the doctor will
put him in trikaphobium hospital,” Emery said.

They entered Emery’s bedroom, and Emery went
to his desk.

“
I’ll use a black marker,”
he said, laughing slightly.

“
Draw a sad face,” Philip
said, also laughing slightly. Now that Leon was gone, their spirits
were on the rise.

Emery took the marker to the Shrek calendar
hanging on his wall. Today was a new month so he turned the page
from June to July. He reached out to mark the second Friday and
stopped.

“
Oh no,” he cried.
“Philip, come look.”

Frowning, Philip walked to Emery’s side.

Emery reached out his finger and touched the
second Friday.

Philip stared, aghast. “Friday the
thirteenth!”

Emery took a few steps back and slumped onto
the side of his bed.

Philip took a few steps back and slumped
onto the bottom of the bed.

“
He’ll go nuts when he
finds out,” Emery said softly.

“
He’ll drive
us
nuts when he finds
out,” Philip agreed.

“
If he still has his
trisaphobium . . .” Emery left the sentence unfinished.

“
If
we
still have what he gave us or
brings more to give us . . .”

“
Friday the thirteenth is
the most unluckiest day of the year,” Emery moaned.

“
Everybody
knows that.”

“
And we’ll be spending it
with
Leon
.”

“
Oh, Leon,” Philip
whispered.

“
Oh, Leon,” echoed
Emery.

Both boys decided at the same time to fall
backward onto the bed. They were positioned just right for their
heads to meet as they fell backward.

“
Ow!”

“
Ow!”

The two boys sat up and looked at one
another. They knew again that the worst was yet to come.

The End

About the Author

J
ohn Paulits is a former teacher in New York City. He
has published three other novels about Philip and Emery as well
as
Hobson’s Planet
, an adult science fiction novel.