The Green Leopard Plague and Other Stories Read Free Page B

everyone said it was just a dream.
    He didn't want to talk about the suspicions that had never quite gone away.
    "That stuff was weird, Digit," Becky said. "It gave me the creeps. Let me know before you start talking about stuff like that again."
    "Why do you call me Digit?" Jamie asked. Becky smirked.
    "No reason," she said.
    "Jamie's home!" Mister Jeepers' voice warbled from the sky. Jamie looked up to see Mister Jeepers doing joyful aerial loops overhead. "Master Jamie's home at last!"
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    "Where shall we go?" Jamie asked.
    Their lessons for the day were over, and he and Becky were leaving the little red schoolhouse. Becky, as usual, had done very well on her lessons, better than her older brother, and Jamie felt a growing sense of annoyance. At least he was still better at Latin and computer science.
    "I dunno," Becky said. "Where do you want to go?"
    "How about Pandaland? We could ride the Whoosh Machine."
    Becky wrinkled her face. "I'm tired of that kid stuff," she said.
    Jamie looked at her. "But you're a kid."
    "I'm not as little as you, Digit," Becky said.
    Jamie glared. This was too much. "You're my little sister! I'm bigger than you!"
    "No, you're not," Becky said. She stood before him, her arms flung out in exasperation. "Just notice something for once, will you?"
    Jamie bit back on his temper and looked, and he saw that Becky was, in fact, bigger than he was. And older-looking. Puzzlement replaced his fading anger.
    "How did you get so big?" Jamie asked.
    "I grew. And you didn't grow. Not as fast anyway."
    "I don't understand."
    Becky's lip curled. "Ask Mom or Dad. Just ask them." Her expression turned stony. "Just don't believe everything they tell you."
    "What do you mean?"
    Becky looked angry for a moment, and then her expression relaxed. "Look," she said, "just go to Pandaland and have fun, okay? You don't need me for that. I want to go and make some calls to my friends."
    " What friends?"
    Becky looked angry again. " My friends. It doesn't matter who they are!"
    "Fine!" Jamie shouted. "I can have fun by myself!"
    Becky turned and began to walk home, her pale legs rapidly scissoring against the deep green hillside. Jamie glared after her, then turned and began the walk to Pandaland.
    He did all his favorite things, rode the Ferris wheel and the Whoosh Machine, watched Rizzio the Strongman and the clowns. He enjoyed himself, but his enjoyment felt hollow. He found himself watching , watching himself at play, watching himself enjoying the rides.
    Watching himself not grow as fast as his little sister.
    Watching himself wondering whether or not to ask his parents about why that was.
    He had the idea that he wouldn't like their answers.
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    He didn't see as much of Becky after that. They would share lessons, and then Becky would lock herself in her room to talk to her friends on the phone.
    Becky didn't have a telephone in her room, though. He looked once when she wasn't there.
    After a while, Becky stopped accompanying him for lessons. She'd got ahead of him on everything except Latin, and it was too hard for Jamie to keep up.
    After that, he hardly saw Becky at all. But when he saw her, he saw that she was still growing fast. Her clothing was different, and her hair. She'd started wearing makeup.
    He didn't know whether he liked her anymore or not.
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    It was Jamie's birthday. He was eleven years old, and Momma and Daddy and Becky had all come for a party. Don Quixote and Princess Gigunda serenaded Jamie from outside the window, accompanied by La Duchesa on Spanish guitar. There was a big cake with eleven candles. Momma gave Jamie a chart of the stars. When he touched a star, a voice would appear telling Jamie about the star, and lines would appear on the chart showing any constellation the star happened to belong to. Daddy gave Jamie a car, a miniature Mercedes convertible, scaled to Jamie's size, which he could drive around the country and which he could use in the Circus Maximus when the chariots