The Deavys Read Free Page B

allowances.”
    â€œRight,” Rose agreed somberly. “We have to be careful.”
    â€œSo what do we do?” Drifting off her bed, Amber joined her sisters in crowding around their big brother.
    â€œHow do we get started?” Rose asked intently.
    â€œWhere do we begin?” N/Ice added, silently admonishing her hair for momentarily transforming into blond serpents. Having assumed the job of doorstop and turned a disarming puce, Pithfwid looked on approvingly.
    Actually, Simwan hadn’t thought that far ahead, having focused on first convincing his sisters to join him. Now that they were asking about a plan, he realized he had better come up with one. Fortunately, a safe and always reliable source of advice and assistance was close at hand.
    Television.
    â€œOn all the cop shows, the first thing everyone does is examine the scene of the crime.” Checking his watch, he turned and started toward the door. “We can ride our bikes over to the drugstore. There’s still time to get there, talk to Mr. Gemimmel, and make it back before Mom has dinner ready.”
    â€œLet’s do it,” barked N/Ice. “The quicker we get the Truth back, the sooner everyone will see what a bad idea this awful development is.” She added more somberly, “And the less Mom will be affected by its absence.”
    â€œRight,” agreed Rose as she approached Amber. “But I’ll have to ride double with somebody. My bike has a tummy-ache. I don’t think that last patch Dad put on its front wheel is holding, and neither does the bike.”
    â€œI’ll take you,” her brother told her. For once, a matter of real importance outweighed the danger that some of his friends might see him riding through town with one of his sisters balanced behind him, her arms around his waist.
    â€œIt shouldn’t take long to fix this,” was Amber’s appraisal as the four of them filed out of the big room with its bright wallpaper and lace curtains. “We’ll just locate the Truth, explain the situation, and get it back from whoever took it.”
    Pithfwid followed, causing the door to close behind them, and said nothing. They were only kids, he reminded himself, with three of them not quite in their teens, and one of them not even always there. They couldn’t be expected to know the truth.
    Much less realize how hard the truth could be to find.

II
    Leaves like shards of gleaming electrum spun lazily around the Deavy children as they rode into town. Whenever Ords approached them on foot or in cars, they kept their feet on the pedals of their bicycles. But when the winding, hilly road was devoid of pedestrian or motorized traffic, they relaxed and let their bikes do the work. The bikes were glad to do it. After being cooped up in the garage, they were happy to be let out to roll. No one who saw the four children power their way into Clearsight’s small, funky downtown shopping district had the chance to wonder how the wheels of their bicycles kept turning steadily and smoothly when the sneakered feet of the four riders rarely touched the rapidly spinning pedals.
    Mr. Gemimmel’s drugstore was located in a historic two-story, nineteenth-century structure fashioned of yellow brick. The second floor was home to overflow storage, Mr. Gemimmel’s apartment, and a minor displaced fourteenth-century Indian potentate known as the Pukran of the Phu. As the Deavys pulled up in front of the pharmacy, Pithfwid leaped lithely from the wicker basket mounted on Amber’s handlebars and padded confidently toward the entrance door. In response to his approach, the front doors promptly parted to admit him. This in itself would not have been remarkable save for the fact that the entrance to Gemimmel’s Pharmacy was not equipped with an automatic door opener. Certain cats, however, are. Simwan and the girls followed.
    Inside the pharmacy, both of Mr. Gemimmel’s clerks