Free The Yggyssey by Daniel Pinkwater Page B

"Apparently there are worlds within worlds."
    "What does that mean?" Al the circus boy asked.
    "It means that this plane of existence, where we are now, is not the only one," Melvin the shaman said. "While we are sitting here, digesting our wonderful meal, in the same space and almost the same time, there may be others, fishing in a river, or sleeping, or sawing lumber, walking around—we can't see them, and they can't see us."
    "Except sometimes in certain kinds of dreams," Crazy Wig said. "Also, there are portals—places where barriers between the various planes of existence don't exist and you can pass from one to another. And in some cases, where there are old cities, with other older cities buried underneath them, those old cities may not be defunct. They may be going strong, only of course on other planes of existence."
    "I think I read something about this in a book," Seamus Finn said. "Some fiction about a boy from Mars."
    "I don't know a lot about that," I said. "But I do know that there is going to be a big hootenanny of some kind in the not-in-New-Jersey Hackensack, and ghosts, who love a good party, are all heading there. How am I doing, Mr. Phantom Bellboy?"
    "How did you find all this out?" Billy asked.
    "I have my methods."
    "What do you two shamans say?" Aaron Finn asked Melvin and Crazy Wig. "Is young Yggdrasil telling us the emmis? Is there a non-New-Jerseyan Hackensack on another plane of existence?"
    "Sure," Crazy Wig said. "Been there lots of times."
    "Lots of times," Melvin said.
    "So the crullers are mine," I said to Neddie and Seamus. "See that you pay up. And I will tell you something else, free and for nothing. I am going to that party."

CHAPTER 35

This Is the Plan
    "We're going with you," Neddie Wentworthstein said.
    "To the hootenanny in not-in-New-Jersey Old New Hackensack?" I asked.
    "Yes, the hootenanny, or hauntenanny, or walpurgisenanny, or whatever it is. If you're going, we want to go too," Seamus Finn said.
    We were sitting on the secret closet stairs to nowhere, drinking Dr. Pedwee's cream soda and sharing a bag of Gypsy Boots's whole-grain cuchifritos.
    "If you want to come along, then come along," I said. "But it should be understood—we don't know where we're going, and we don't know what will happen. I don't want any crybabies on this trip."
    "You wrong us," Seamus Finn said.
    "Didn't I protect civilization from ... um ... something bad?" Neddie Wentworthstein said.
    "We think you may have," I said. "It would be more impressive if anyone, including you, remembered it. But, I apologize for the crybaby remark. I can't think of two better companions for a trip into the unknown. You, Seamus, are the son of a movie star famous for swordfights in practically every movie—you must have inherited some of that style."
    "And Neddie is a junior shaman of some kind," Seamus said. "That may come in handy. Also, he has a magical talisman."
    "Oh, yes, the turtle. You have that with you, Neddie?"
    "At all times," Neddie said.
    The turtle is a little carved stone one that Melvin the shaman gave Neddie when they first met. It's supposed to be important in some way.
    "So what is the plan?" Neddie and Seamus wanted to know.
    "Well, we know where we want to go," I said. "Apparently there is some kind of invisible world everybody seems to have known about except us ... Melvin and Crazy Wig, all the ghosts. The part no one seems willing to tell us—anyway, tell us outright—is how to get there. But Chase gave me a strong hint."
    "Chase, your ghostly bunny friend?"
    "The same. She refuses to tell me where the portal to this other world is, but she suggested I follow her around and see where she goes. I think she means to make a move, and go through some kind of magic doorway that connects this plane of existence with the one that contains Old New Hackensack."
    "And when you see where she goes..."
    "We'll know how to get in."

CHAPTER 36

Wiener Whistles
    We decided to spread out