Free Stopping for a Spell by Diana Wynne Jones Page B

her away, and it did. It had not needed blue water. It had made the washing keep the grannies busy without. It did not even need to be a machine. It was the chopstick that did things. And, like all such things, Erg saw wretchedly, as Supergranny pounded toward him, it gave you three wishes, and he had used all three. He had no way of getting rid of Supergranny at all.
    Emily stared at the vast, running Supergranny. “Whoever is that?”
    â€œSupergranny,” said Erg. “She’s all of them, and she’s after me. Please help me. I’ll never be horrible to you again.”
    â€œDon’t make promises you can’t keep,” said Emily, but she let go of the swing and stood up.
    Supergranny pounded up. “ There you are, Emily!” she hooted. “I’ve been so worried!”
    â€œI was only in the park,” Emily said. “I think we’ll go home now.” She was, Erg was interested to see, nearly as large as Supergranny.
    â€œYes, dear,” Supergranny said, almost meekly. And when Emily picked up the teddy and gave it to her, Supergranny took it without complaining.
    They set off home. “How are we going to get in?” Erg whispered to Emily. “She’s locked us out.”
    â€œNo problem. I took the key,” Emily said.
    Halfway home, Supergranny’s feet began superkilling her. She came over superfaint and had to lean on Erg and Emily. Erg had to stand staggering under her huge weight on his own while Emily fetched out her key and opened the front door.
    â€œGood Lord!” said Emily.
    The hall was full of dirty clothes. Dry dirty clothes were now galloping and billowing downstairs. Wet dirty clothes were crawling soggily through from the kitchen. Emily shot a horrified look at Supergranny and went charging indoors to catch the nearest pair of dirty jeans. She tripped over the invention in the middle of the floor. She fell flat on her face. Crunch. Crack . The eggbeater rolled out from one side in two pieces. The chopstick rolled the other way, snapped in half .
    â€œOw!” said Emily.
    The clothes flopped down and lay where they fell. Supergranny’s mighty arm seemed to disentangle itself between Erg’s hands. It was suddenly four arms. Erg let go, and found himself surrounded by the four grannies, all staring into the hall, too.
    â€œGet up, Emily!” snapped Granny One.
    â€œOh, Erg!” said Granny Two. “Out of doors in pajamas! You are growing up peculiar!”
    â€œI shall take your teddy away again,” said Granny Three. “Look at this mess! You don’t deserve nice toys!”
    â€œLet’s have a nice cup of tea,” quavered Granny Four. A thought struck her. She turned pale. “We can do without sugar,” she said faintly. “It’s better for us.”
    Erg looked from one to the other. He was very relieved and very grateful to Emily. But he knew he was not going to enjoy the next three days.

1
    Angus Flint Arrives
    The day my sister, Cora, went away for a fortnight, a friend of Dad’s called Angus Flint rang up out of the blue. He said his wife had just left him, so could he come and see us to cheer himself up? I don’t know how my father came to have a friend like Angus Flint. They met at college. One of them must have been different.
    Trust my awful little brother to ruin this paper, when Angus Flint stole all the rest. Pip’s never recovered from Cora once rashly telling him he was a genius, and he thinks he was the one who got rid of Angus Flint. And I’m not awful. Things just happened to me.
    Anyway, Dad was pleased Angus Flint had not forgotten him, so he said, “Yes,” and then told Mum. Mum said, “Oh,” in the blank sort of way I do when I find my brothers have pinched all my chocolate. Then she said, “I suppose he can have Cora’s room.” Imagine the way an Ancient Roman might say, “I suppose the lions can have my