Getting Rid of Marjorie by Betty R. Wright

Author:Betty R. Wright
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781504013451
Publisher: Holiday House

8 • A Case of Nosy-itis

Nosy-itis, her mother would have called it. If her mother had known.

There was a scuffling sound in the woods, and Tony bounded out of the underbrush, landing squarely in front of Emily with six-shooters drawn.

“Stop where you are, pardner!”

Emily looked at the skinny little cowboy with annoyance. She had purposely waited till her brother was out of sight, because she didn’t want him to know where she was going.

“Scram, pardner. I don’t have time to play now.”

“This isn’t playing.” Tony holstered the guns in disgust. “Where’re you going?” He paused and answered his own question. “You’re going to Grandpa’s house. You said we aren’t supposed to like Marjorie, but you went out to dinner with her and Grandpa last week, and now you’re going to visit them.”

“I’m not going to visit them,” Emily said, feeling that under Tony’s X-ray eye, her nosy-itis was about to become a matter of public record. “I’m just going to look things over. We have to know what’s happening.”

“Then I’m going with you.” Emily used to be able to push Tony around, but not any more. Age was making him difficult.

“Well, come on then, if you have to,” she said. “But remember, don’t act as if Marjorie’s your grandmother just because she lives in that house. Grandma Ellen loved you and made cakes for you and bought you coffee ice-cream cones and played games with you. And she would absolutely hate you if you forgot all about her.”

“You shouldn’t say ‘hate,’” Tony retorted. But he looked uneasy as he fell into step beside her.

“The reason I want to look around,” Emily confided, “is because the van came from Los Angeles day before yesterday with all Marjorie’s things, and I want to see where she put them. If she changes Grandma Ellen’s house one bit, I’ll hate her worse than ever.”

Tony opened his mouth to protest again but didn’t. “I’ll help you look,” he said. “I’m a very good looker.”

As they started up the drive, a motor sputtered in the garage, and a moment later Grandpa appeared riding the tractor mower. He waved to them and gestured toward the house, then swung off over the lawn. He was wearing his grass-cutting cap with the visor pulled low to the tops of his sunglasses. Emily loved the way he rode the tractor, slumped low as if in a saddle, and separated from the world by the drone of the motor and the pleasant monotony of the job.

“Grandpa looks like a cowboy,” Emily said. Tony glanced sideways at her as if she were crazy.

They went around to the kitchen door at the back of the house. Emily considered knocking and then decided not to. She had never knocked on that door in her life. She flung it open and went in. Marjorie, standing at the kitchen sink, dropped a cup with a tiny crash. She looked really annoyed for a second before she managed a welcoming smile.

“Emily. Tony. How nice of you to come visit.

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