Philip and the Superstition Kid (9781452430423) (4 page)

“
Right, he’ll be stuck
inside all day.”

“
This is great. You’re a
genius, Philip,” Emery complimented his friend. “Leon won’t be able
to get out of the house the whole time he stays here, and we can
just ignore him and go out and play.”

“
Let’s find some more,”
Philip insisted and Emery agreed.

Two hours later after lunch Philip and Emery
were still in Emery’s bedroom reading over the list of
superstitions they had printed out, when they heard the doorbell.
They listened as Emery’s mother shouted an irritable, “I’m
coming.”

They heard the front door open and then
heavy footsteps plodding up the stairs.

“
Leon,” Emery whispered,
and Philip quickly folded up their list of superstitions and shoved
it into Emery’s desk drawer.

They stared out of Emery’s bedroom door and
gradually Leon’s head, chest, and legs appeared as he climbed the
stairs. When Leon reached the top, he stared at the two boys who
were staring back at him. He put his hand to his forehead in
dismay, shook his head side to side slowly, and walked into the
room.

He looked at his two friends and said, “I’ve
got it.”

“
You’ve got it? You’ve got
what?” Philip asked.

“
The doctor talked to me
and he says I’ve got it.”

“
Got what!” Emery
shouted.

Sadly, Leon looked from Emery to Philip and
back to Emery again.

“
I’ve got
triskaidekaphobia.”

The room stayed silent for a moment. Then
Emery said, “What is tris blah blah phobium?”

Tears appeared in Leon’s eyes. “You’re
making fun of me. I’ve got triskaidekaphobia and you’re making fun
of me.”

“
We’re not making fun of
you, Leon,” Philip assured him. “We don’t even know what
trissaphobium is.”

“
It’s not trissaphobium,”
Leon shouted. “It’s triskaidekaphobia and it’s serious.”

“
Are you going to tell us
what it is?” Emery insisted. “Do you gotta go to the hospital? Get
an operation? Take medicine?”

“
No, no, no. It means I’m
afraid of the number thirteen.”

Silence fell in the room again.

“
That’s all?” Philip
asked.

“
That’s all? That’s all?”
Leon waved his arms around. “Thirteen is the most unluckiest number
there is. I had thirteen coins in my pocket today until I made that
stupid sneeze. I chipped my tooth the thirteenth time I jumped up
and down on the bed.”

“
You were counting?” Emery
said doubtfully.

“
It was
about
thirteen.” Leon
seesawed his hand. “Anyway, it’s the worst number and it’s after
me. Anytime a thirteen is around, I’m in trouble.”

Philip heard Emery’s mother wearily climbing
the stairs. Without thinking he began to count. When the sound of
Mrs. Wyatt’s footsteps ceased, he had a plan. Emery would really
owe him for this one.

“
Leon,” Philip began, “I
hate to tell you, but you’re in
big
trouble.”

“
What? What?” Leon asked
in a panic.

“
You didn’t pay attention
when you came upstairs, but there are thirteen steps up to Emery’s
bedroom and you climbed them.”

“
Arghgh!” Leon
gasped.

“
There are?” Emery asked.
“I mean there
are
. Yeah, thirteen.” He shrugged at Philip while Leon plastered
his hand to his forehead, shook his head, and moaned.

“
Yeah, so you better not
do it twice,” Philip advised. “You better stay in this room the
whole week until your parents get back from your trip, and then
we’ll try to get you home safely.”

Emery’s eyes widened. “That’s right, Leon.
You’ll be safe here. Nothing can happen to you here.”

“
Oh, no. Oh, no. I was
looking forward to playing with you guys. I don’t even have any
clothes or nothing.”

“
Don’t worry, Leon, we’ll
go and get them for you,” Philip promised. “We’re your
friends.”

“
Yeah,” Emery agreed.
“We’ll get them, especially pajamas. Lots of pajamas.”

Leon sat slumped on the bed, head in hand,
and moaned, “Thanks, guys.”

“
What’s wrong with him?”
Mrs. Wyatt stood in Emery’s doorway.

Neither Philip nor Emery answered.

Leon looked up and said, “I’ve got
triskaidekaphobia, Aunt Shirley. I got it bad.”

Mrs. Wyatt’s face sagged. “Leon, what is
that?” she asked.

“
I’m afraid of the number
thirteen.”

“
Yeah,” Emery chimed in.
“And ’cause we got thirteen steps and he climbed them, he’s too
afraid to go back down so he’s gonna have to stay in this room for
the whole week he’s here. I’ll bring his food up to him, Mom. Don’t
worry, you won’t have to.”

Mrs. Wyatt stared at the three boys. She
turned and walked slowly down the hallway. Philip thought he heard
her muttering, “I love my family. I love my family.” Abruptly, she
turned back and confronted Leon.

“
Leon, listen. You can go
downstairs whenever you want.”

“
Oh, I can’t. I can’t.
Thirteen.”

“
Step over the first step
and only use twelve of them. Twelve isn’t a bad number is
it?”

“
Oh, I can’t, I . . .
twelve?” Leon lifted up his head and his eyes
brightened.

Mrs. Wyatt went on. “And when you get to the
bottom, jump the last couple steps, and it will be even further
away from thirteen. Or slide down the banister a couple of steps. I
don’t care,” Mrs. Wyatt said wearily. “But you really can’t spend a
week in this room. You have to go out. Go out to play.” Mrs. Wyatt
turned and started away, her voice rising. “You have to go out.
Out.”

“
Thanks a lot, Aunt
Shirley,” Leon called jubilantly.

“
Yeah, thanks a lot, Mom,”
Emery cried in a tone of voice far different from
Leon’s.

Leon turned to Philip and Emery, a big smile
on his face.

“
Now I don’t have to stay
in the room. I can go out with you guys and do everything you do.
Isn’t that great?”

“
Yeah, great,” Philip
muttered.

“
Yahoo,” Emery
mumbled.

“
This is my lucky-day.
This is my lucky-day,” Leon sang.

Philip and Emery looked at
one another. Both boys knew that it hadn’t been
their
lucky day.

Chapter Six

Leon’s parents dropped him off at Emery’s
house the next day, Tuesday, bright and early. Mrs. Wyatt was up,
getting ready for her two daughters to wake up and her day’s work
to begin.

“
Leon,” she cautioned,
“don’t make the slightest bit of noise. I don’t want the babies up
before I’m ready for them.”

“
I won’t,” Leon whispered.
“I’ll go upstairs real easy.”

Leon tiptoed to the staircase.

“
Remember, quiet, Leon.
And be careful,” Mrs. Wyatt warned. She had dealt with Leon many
times before.

Leon circled his thumb and index finger into
an okay sign and, remembering there were thirteen steps counted his
way to the tenth. Then he tried to leap to the twelfth step so he
could reach the top in twelve strides rather than thirteen. He was
still carrying his wide cloth bag filled with his clothes, though,
and it got in the way. His foot sank into the bag and his ankle
turned, sending him smacking into the railing and grunting loudly.
Then his other foot missed the step, and he careened sideways into
the opposite wall and started thumping backwards toward the
floor.

“
Yow!” he shrieked,
turning as best he could onto his stomach and stretching out his
arms to halt his slide down the stairs. When he reached the fourth
step, he grabbed the railing and stopped himself. At the sudden
explosion of noise, Emery shot upright in his bed and a chorus of
wails arose from Amy and Tina.

Leon sat on the fifth step and stared in
befuddlement at his aunt. Then he grinned.

“
Yuk Yuk. I
fell.”

“
What was that?” Emery
shouted from his bedroom. “Oh, I know. I’ll bet Leon’s
here.”

“
Mommy’s coming. Mommy’s
coming,” Mrs. Wyatt shouted, moving past Leon on the stairway and
mumbling, “I love my family. I love my family.”

“
What’d you say, Aunt
Shirley?” Leon asked.

“
Leon, it’s you. I knew
it,” said Emery, standing at the top of the stairs in his pajamas.
“It’s not even eight o’clock yet. What did you say,
Mom?”

His mother walked past him without
answering.

“
I’m here,” Leon
announced, standing and smiling. “I’ll come up to your
room.”

“
Wait,” Emery cried,
holding out his hand. “Uh, uh, the steps. You already used up most
of your steps. If you get to thirteen you’ll have bad luck.
More
bad luck.” He
wanted to keep Leon away as long as he could. “How many’d you
already do?”

A worried look came over Leon’s face. He
pointed a finger at each step and counted.

“
I better not come up,” he
said. “I’ll just go back down.”

“
Good idea. Go down and
sit someplace ’til Philip gets here. Sit someplace and don’t
move.”

“
How long?” Leon asked,
carefully descending one step at a time.

“’
Til nine-thirty. Go. Go
sit.”

Leon disappeared into the living room, and
Emery went back to bed.

“
Oh, you’re here already,”
Philip said as a greeting when Leon opened the front door for
him.

“
Yep. Already fell down
the stairs. Yuk yuk.”

“
In the kitchen,” came
Emery’s voice.

Philip went into the kitchen as Emery was
putting his empty cereal bowl into the sink.

“
He fell down the stairs
one minute after he got here and woke up the babies.”

Philip looked at Leon’s belt.

“
Where are your rabbits’
feet?”

“
Packed them in my clothes
bag. Pretty dumb, eh? If I had them on, I probably wouldn’t have
fallen down the stairs. Yuk yuk.”

“
Well, go put them on,”
Emery ordered.

Philip and Emery had said good-bye the day
before only after agreeing on a plan to use against Leon. They cast
a glance at one another and waited for Leon to go through his bag
and attach the rabbits’ feet to his belt.

Philip and Emery followed him and
watched.

“
See, I told you,” Philip
whispered to Emery as loud as he could and pointed at the rabbits’
feet.

Emery shushed him dramatically.

“
What?” Leon asked in
alarm, glancing down at his lucky charms.

“
Don’t,” Philip warned
Emery, shaking his head.

“
Don’t what?” Leon
demanded.

“
Well,” Emery began, “I
think Philip is right. I don’t think we should tell
you.”

“
Tell me. Tell me,” Leon
insisted in a panic.

Emery shook his head in worry and in the
saddest voice he could come up with said, “You’ve been wearing
those rabbits’ feet just like that, right? Three. An odd
number.”

“
And with sneakers on your
feet,” Philip added.

“
With white laces,” Emery
said.

Leon inspected himself.

“
Well, yeah.”

“
It’s bad luck,” Emery
announced.

“
Real bad luck,” Philip
put in. “Especially the odd number of rabbits’ feet.”

“
I’ll take one off. Here,
I’m taking it off.” Leon fumbled with the tiny chain that clipped
the rabbit’s foot to his belt. “There, it’s off.”

“
Oh, no, Leon. You
shouldn’t have done that,” Emery advised.

“
Why didn’t you stop him,
Emery?” Philip cried.

“
He did it too fast,” said
Emery.

“
What? What?”

Emery put his hand on
Leon’s shoulder. “You should only
add
to rabbits’ feet and
never
take one off. That
doubles the bad luck you’re going to get.”

“
Achh!” Leon burst. “Do
something. Do something. I already fell down the steps. The bad
luck already started. Do something.”

Emery and Philip looked sadly at one
another.

“
What? What?” Leon
demanded.

“
The only way to fix the
bad luck is . . . ” Philip stopped and shook his head.

“
Tell me!”

“
You tell him, Emery,”
Philip said.

“
Why me?” Leon moaned,
tilting his forehead into his raised right hand.

“
You’re family,” Philip
continued his argument.

“
Yeah, you’re my family,
Emery. You
gotta
help me.”

“
It’s hard to do,” Emery
warned. “Getting rid of the bad luck, I mean.”

“
I don’t care. The bad
luck’s coming. I can feel it. I can feel it.”

Philip smacked Emery lightly on the
shoulder. “Tell him, Emery. He should have a fair chance.”