Free Twelve Impossible Things Before Breakfast by Jane Yolen Page B

movie had started. And the only time she had left either one of them alone had been when she had taken Adam upstairs, leaving Andrew asleep.... She stopped. Andrew hadn't been asleep. Not entirely. Still, she couldn’t imagine Andrew polishing off five chocolate-chip cookies in the time it had taken her to tuck Adam into bed.
    â€œNow...” she said to herself, “if it had been Dana Jankowitz!” She’d baby-sat Dana for almost a year before they moved away, and that kid was capable of anything.
    Still puzzled, she went over to the plate of cookies, and as she got close, she stepped into something cold and wet. She looked down. There was a puddle on the floor, soaking into her right sock. An icy-cold puddle. Hilary looked out the kitchen window. It was raining.
    Someone was in the house.
    She didn’t want to believe it, but there was no other explanation. Her whole body felt cold, and she could feel her heart stuttering in her chest. She thought about the twins sleeping upstairs, how she had told them she was hired to make sure nothing bad happened to them. But what if something bad happened to her? She shuddered and looked across the room. The telephone was hanging by the refrigerator. She could try and phone for help, or she could run outside and go to the nearest house. The Mitchells lived down a long driveway, and it was about a quarter mile to the next home. And dark. And wet. And she didn’t know how many someones were in the house. Or outside. And maybe it was all her imagination.
    But—and if her jaw trembled just the slightest she didn’t think anyone could fault her—what if the someones wanted to hurt the twins? She was the only one home to protect them.
    As silently as possible, she slid open the knife drawer and took out a long, sharp carving knife. Then slowly she opened the door to the back stairs...
    ...and the man hiding there leaped at her. His face was hidden behind a gorilla mask. He was at least six feet tall, wearing blue jeans and a green shirt. She was so frightened she dropped the knife and ran through the dining room, into the living room, and up the front stairs.
    Calling, “Girly, girly, girly, come here,” the man ran after her.
    Hilary took the steps two at a time, shot around the comer, and ran down the hall. If only she could get to the twins’ room, she thought, she could lock and barricade the door by pushing the dressers in front of it. And then she’d wake up the twins and they’d go through the trapdoor in the closet up to the attic. They’d be safe there.
    But the man was pounding behind her, laughing oddly and calling out.
    Hilary heard the chittering only after she passed the third door. And the man’s screaming as she got to the twins’ room. She didn't take time to look behind her but slid into the room, slammed the door, rammed the bolt home, and slipped the desk chair under the doorknob. She didn’t bother waking the twins or moving anything else in front of the door. The man’s high screams subsided to a low, horrifying moan. Then at last they stopped altogether. After all, he hadn’t taken time to touch the doors or turn on his leg or kiss his fingers one at a time. He hadn’t known the warding spell. Once a night and you’re...
    She waited a long time before opening the door and peeking out. When she did, all she could see was a crumpled gorilla mask, a piece out of a green shirt, and a dark stain on the floor that was rapidly disappearing, as if someone—or something—were licking it up.
    Hilary closed the door quietly. She took a deep breath and lay down on top of the covers by Andrew’s side. Next time she came to baby-sit, she wouldn’t tell the “Golden Arm” story. Not next time or ever. After all, she owed Them a favor.

Bolundeers
    THE ONE CHORE Brancy hated more than any other was taking out the food scraps and emptying them into the compost heap. She