talked to the Professor, she felt she was entitled to have feelings about what he might do. Melanie and Elizabeth thought the Professor was innocent because April did. And, without really admitting it even to themselves, all
three of them kept thinking he must be innocent because if lie were guilty was ruined forever. Nobody plays games in the backyard of a murderer.
But apparently there were other people who were just as firmly convinced of the old man’s guilt. Three days after the murder someone threw a brick through one of his store’s show windows, and Mr. Schmitt organized a not-so-sccrct campaign to get people to write letters and sign petitions inviting the Professor to leave the neighborhood. The fact that the Professor sold old and cheap some of the things that Mr. Schmitt sold new and expensive was worth thinking about; but it really didn’t prove anything one way or the other.
Without the days were very slow for the four Egyptians. Once or twice they tried to play the Game indoors, before the grownups were at home of course; but it wasn’t the same at all. In fact, it was such a disappointment that it was frightening. What if the magic was gone forever? But probably it was only that carpets and couches and curtains just didn’t make the right atmosphere for a game about hidden splendors and giant mysteries, in a land of mud and sand. Anyway, they decided instead to spend their time making some things they could use when they finally could return to Egypt.
Elizabeth, who was very clever and artistic with
her hands, started the costume idea by making herself a Nefertiti headdress out of a plastic bleach bottle with the top cut off. Next, Melanie got some old curtains from her mother, enough to make sheer flowing robes for everyone. The sheer robes were to be worn over short tunics made of pillowcases.
It was April who got the idea of going around the apartment house and asking all the ladies if they had any old junk jewelry that they were willing to sell. Just as she predicted, most people gave them stuff and refused to take any money, which was just as well, since they only had nineteen cents between them. Some of the jewelry they took apart and glued or sewed onto their robes for decoration; but some of the necklaces and bracelets that looked a little bit Egyptian, they used just as they were.
Their most successful creation was Marshall’s costume. One day when they were all working in the Ross’s apartment, Marshall got out his indoor bowling game. The ball and tenpins were made of a light plastic, so as not to dent up the furniture. April was watching him set up the pins and suddenly got a brilliant idea. She went upstairs, got one of her Egypt books, and showed the rest of them that the tenpins were shaped exactly like the inner part of the. double crown of Egypt. The outer part could be made of another bleach bottle. Melanie wasn’t sure they ought to use up one of Marshall’s tenpins; but April
pointed out that there was nothing wrong with the game of ninepins And, anyway, they were Marshall’s and he was all for it when he found out the crown was to be for him When it was all put together and painted, with a cardboard vulture’s head and cobra glued to the front, it looked so impressive they could hardly believe they’d made it themselves
With no place to work but their own rooms, it wasn’t long, of course, until their families knew the girls were making Egyptian costumes But fortunately
a simple and logical explanation was handy. Halloween wasn’t far away and making costumes was a perfectly natural thing to be doing.
As the days went by, the headlines about the terrible thing that had happened near Orchard Avenue, got smaller and smaller. The paper said the police were “following up leads” and “investigating clues”, but no arrests were made and gradually people stopped talking about it so much. The Professor still stubbornly opened his store every day, but now he had almost
three of them kept thinking he must be innocent because if lie were guilty was ruined forever. Nobody plays games in the backyard of a murderer.
But apparently there were other people who were just as firmly convinced of the old man’s guilt. Three days after the murder someone threw a brick through one of his store’s show windows, and Mr. Schmitt organized a not-so-sccrct campaign to get people to write letters and sign petitions inviting the Professor to leave the neighborhood. The fact that the Professor sold old and cheap some of the things that Mr. Schmitt sold new and expensive was worth thinking about; but it really didn’t prove anything one way or the other.
Without the days were very slow for the four Egyptians. Once or twice they tried to play the Game indoors, before the grownups were at home of course; but it wasn’t the same at all. In fact, it was such a disappointment that it was frightening. What if the magic was gone forever? But probably it was only that carpets and couches and curtains just didn’t make the right atmosphere for a game about hidden splendors and giant mysteries, in a land of mud and sand. Anyway, they decided instead to spend their time making some things they could use when they finally could return to Egypt.
Elizabeth, who was very clever and artistic with
her hands, started the costume idea by making herself a Nefertiti headdress out of a plastic bleach bottle with the top cut off. Next, Melanie got some old curtains from her mother, enough to make sheer flowing robes for everyone. The sheer robes were to be worn over short tunics made of pillowcases.
It was April who got the idea of going around the apartment house and asking all the ladies if they had any old junk jewelry that they were willing to sell. Just as she predicted, most people gave them stuff and refused to take any money, which was just as well, since they only had nineteen cents between them. Some of the jewelry they took apart and glued or sewed onto their robes for decoration; but some of the necklaces and bracelets that looked a little bit Egyptian, they used just as they were.
Their most successful creation was Marshall’s costume. One day when they were all working in the Ross’s apartment, Marshall got out his indoor bowling game. The ball and tenpins were made of a light plastic, so as not to dent up the furniture. April was watching him set up the pins and suddenly got a brilliant idea. She went upstairs, got one of her Egypt books, and showed the rest of them that the tenpins were shaped exactly like the inner part of the. double crown of Egypt. The outer part could be made of another bleach bottle. Melanie wasn’t sure they ought to use up one of Marshall’s tenpins; but April
pointed out that there was nothing wrong with the game of ninepins And, anyway, they were Marshall’s and he was all for it when he found out the crown was to be for him When it was all put together and painted, with a cardboard vulture’s head and cobra glued to the front, it looked so impressive they could hardly believe they’d made it themselves
With no place to work but their own rooms, it wasn’t long, of course, until their families knew the girls were making Egyptian costumes But fortunately
a simple and logical explanation was handy. Halloween wasn’t far away and making costumes was a perfectly natural thing to be doing.
As the days went by, the headlines about the terrible thing that had happened near Orchard Avenue, got smaller and smaller. The paper said the police were “following up leads” and “investigating clues”, but no arrests were made and gradually people stopped talking about it so much. The Professor still stubbornly opened his store every day, but now he had almost
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