Free The Gargoyle in My Yard by Philippa Dowding Page B

over the holidays. She had a lot of fun telling everyone what the ski trip had been like.
    All too soon, Wednesday morning arrived, and with a faint sense of dread, Katherine realized that today was the day. Her mother waved out the back door to Gargoth, then she and Katherine got into the car, and off they drove to school.
    From the back seat, Katherine said as casually as she could, “So, piano starts again tonight, Mom.”
    “Oh, yes! I forgot! Do you remember how to get to Elaine’s?” her mother asked absentmindedly.
    “Uh-huh. Take the bus down Christie to the subway, then go east to Castle Frank, then north one street to her house. I remember. You’ll pick me up at six o’clock outside her house, right?”
    “Yes. I’ll be there. And please remember to call me when you get there. Promise?”
    “Yeah, Mom, don’t worry, I’ll call.” Katherine bit her lip, kissed her mother goodbye, then jumped out of the car and bounded into the school. She was beginning to wonder how on earth she was going to get home, get Gargoth into her backpack, then dash downtown and back up to her piano lesson on time.
    It wouldn’t be easy. The night before, she and Gargoth had agreed that he would be waiting at the back fence. She thought she could run home after school, take the shortcut to their backyard down the lane, then he could leap over the fence, and she’d save at least five minutes off going the long way to the front door.
    The day at school seemed impossibly long and slow. But finally it ended, without mishap. At last three-thirty came, and Katherine took off like a shot. Her friend Rubie ran across the school field to try to catch her, but Katherine pretended not to hear her and kept running. The last thing she wanted was to explain why she needed to get home really quickly today.
    It worked perfectly. The day was clear and cold, but most of the snow had melted, so Katherine could run as fast as she wanted over the sidewalks without slipping. She had her big yellow canvas backpack on, and she hoped Gargoth would fit. Try as she might, she hadn’t been able to convince him to get in the night before, just to make sure there was enough room for him.
    She smiled, in spite of herself. “Such pride!” she thought.
    She arrived at the back fence at exactly 3:42. “Twelve minutes! That’s pretty good for two kilometres!” she thought. Then she whistled softly, as they had agreed.
    A second later, she heard a loud thud beside her. There was Gargoth, lying in the muddy lane, looking very upset.
    “You’re late, Katherine! And I’m all muddy and wet!” he complained.
    She sighed. “Get in Gargoth, and be quiet.” She squatted down, and the little gargoyle clambered up onto her back, pulled himself over the rim of the sturdy canvas backpack and slid in, head first.
    He grunted, then Katherine had an uncomfortable sensation as he wriggled and righted himself to rest on his large feet.
    “Uh, Gargoth,” she began, as she stood up and adjusted the straps of the backpack to allow for more room for him, “would you mind turning the other way. Your, uh, claws are digging into my back.”
    Gargoth grunted again, and after a few minutes of squirming and snorting and, Katherine was sure, quite unnecessary sighing, he had turned himself inside the backpack so his back was against Katherine’s back. She had to admit that scaly wings rubbing against her back were only slightly more comfortable than pointy claws sticking into her ribs.
    She had been walking all the while. “Next week, we bring a soft towel for you to lean against,” Katherine whispered over her back. She was walking down Bloor Street now and didn’t want people to see her whispering into her backpack.
    All she heard in response from Gargoth was a soft snort. He was asleep!
    “That’s probably good,” she thought. “I don’t have to worry about him talking to me on the subway.”
    She reached the subway entrance, paid her student fare, then waited on