From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg

Author:E.L. Konigsburg
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin Paperbacks

6

IT WAS STILL DARK WHEN THEY AWOKE THE NEXT morning, but it was later than usual. The museum wouldn’t open until one. Claudia was up first. She was getting dressed when Jamie opened his eyes.

“You know,” he said, “Sunday is still Sunday. It feels like Sunday. Even here.”

Claudia answered, “I noticed that. Do you think we ought to try to go to church when we go out?”

Jamie thought a minute before answering, “Well, let’s say a prayer in that little room of the Middle Ages. The part with the pretty stained glass window.”

They dressed and walked to the little chapel and knelt and said The Lord’s Prayer. Jamie reminded Claudia to say she was sorry for stealing the newspaper. That made it officially Sunday.

“C’mon,” Claudia said as she was rising, “let’s go to the statue.”

They walked over to Angel and looked very closely. It was difficult to look for clues. Even after their research. They were accustomed to having all the clues neatly laid out on a diagram placed in front of the exhibit.

“I still say that it’s too bad we can’t touch her,” Claudia complained.

“At least we’re living with it. We’re the only two people in the whole world who live with it.”

“Mrs. Frankweiler did, too. She could touch …”

“And hug it,” Jamie teased.

“I’ll bet she knows for sure if Michelangelo did it.”

“Sure she does,” Jamie said. He then threw his arms around himself, leaned his head way back, closed his eyes, and murmured, “Every morning when she got up, Mrs. Frankweiler would throw her arms about the statue, peer into its eyes, and say, ‘Speak to me, baby.’ One morning the statue ans … ”

Claudia was furious. “The men who moved it last night hugged it when they moved it. There’s all kinds of hugging.”

She refused to look at Jamie again and instead stared at the statue. The sound of footsteps broke the silence and her concentration. Footsteps from the Italian Renaissance were descending upon them! The guard was coming down the steps. Oh, boloney! thought Jamie. There was just too much time before the museum opened on Sundays. They should have been in hiding already. Here they were out in the open with a light on!

Jamie grabbed Claudia’s hand and pulled her behind the booth where they rent walkie-talkies for a tour of the museum. Even though they were well hidden by the dark as they squatted there, they felt as exposed as that great bare lady in the painting upstairs.

The footsteps stopped in front of Angel. Jamie sent another mental telegram: Get going, get going, get going. Of course it worked. The guard moved on toward the Egyptian wing to cover the rest of his tour. The two children wouldn’t even allow themselves a sigh of relief. They were that well disciplined.

After ten minutes lag time, Jamie tugged the hem of Claudia’s jacket, and they cautiously got up. Jamie led the way back up the great stairway. As he did so, his logic became clear to Claudia.

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