Karen's Goldfish Read online

  Before I could answer, David Michael called again. “You guys! Come here!”

  “I think he’s in Morbidda Destiny’s yard,” said Hannie shakily.

  “What do you want?” I yelled back.

  “Just come here! I have to show you something!”

  I looked at my friends uncertainly. Then I said, “We might as well go. But watch out for a trap. David Michael is mad at me.”

  The Hidden Pond

  Nancy and Hannie and I walked slowly to the edge of my yard. We looked into Morbidda Destiny’s yard. We could not see David Michael.

  “Maybe it’s not David Michael calling to us,” whispered Hannie. “Maybe it’s the witch herself. You know, they can disguise their voices and stuff.”

  I almost said, “That’s silly, Hannie.” But I changed my mind. Hannie was right. Maybe it was the witch. After all, David Michael was mad at me. Why would he want to show me some —

  “Wait a second,” I said to the two other Musketeers. “If David Michael wants to show us something, it must be gross. Why would he be nice to me?”

  “Then it is the witch!” shrieked Hannie.

  “SHH! No it isn’t,” I told her. “I think it’s David Michael tricking us.” Then I raised my voice. “David Michael!” I called. “How can we see the something if we don’t know where you are?”

  “Oh. Sorry,” replied David Michael. He stepped out from behind a bush. “Here I am,” he said.

  “Well, what are you doing?” I asked. “You’re on the witch’s property.”

  “I didn’t want to miss the funeral,” David Michael replied. “I knew I wasn’t supposed to come, so I hid here and watched. When the funeral was over, I was on my way home. That’s when I found this.”

  “Found what?”

  “You’ll have to come see for yourselves.”

  “Are you sure it’s safe?” I wanted to know.

  “No sign of Morbidda Destiny,” replied David Michael.

  I looked at Hannie and Nancy. We shrugged. Then Nancy said, “We might as well go.”

  I nodded. “Okay. Here we come,” I called to my brother.

  My friends and I tiptoed across the lawn to David Michael. I’m not sure what we were afraid of. But I kept expecting something to happen.

  Nothing did. Not until we reached David Michael. Then he just pointed into some bushes. At first, all Hannie and Nancy and I could see was green. Green bushes, green stuff trailing across the ground. A green garden. But when we looked more closely, we saw something flashing in the sunlight.

  “Water …” I said.

  “Not just water. A fish pond,” David Michael told me. “It’s okay to go closer. There’s sort of a path to it.”

  David Michael led Hannie and Nancy and me toward the hidden pool.

  “Ooh. It’s beautiful,” I said.

  Around the little pond was a ring of rocks. And in the pond were … goldfish! Lots of them.

  David Michael and my friends and I stood at the edge of the water.

  “Wow. I don’t believe it!” exclaimed Hannie.

  “Look at that fish,” said Nancy, pointing. “I think it’s the prettiest.”

  “And that one must be the biggest,” said Hannie, pointing, too.

  “Yeah, it’s twice the size of Goldfishie,” agreed David Michael.

  “Look over there. Look at that fish,” said Nancy.

  But I did not have a chance to. I felt an elbow nudging my ribs. I turned around to tell Hannie to quit it. But she was staring at something behind me. Her eyes were very wide — and scared.

  I turned to my other side. On the rocks next to me was a pair of pointy black shoes. And a pair of legs wearing black stockings …

  Witch Fish

  I looked up and up. I saw a long black dress. Over the dress was a black cape. And above that was Morbidda Destiny’s face.

  The witch.

  I was so surprised that I stumbled. I would have fallen into the fish pond if Hannie hadn’t grabbed me.

  For a moment, no one spoke.

  Then suddenly David Michael exploded. “I wasn’t doing anything bad! Honest!” he exclaimed. “See, my sister’s goldfish died. She wouldn’t let me come to the funeral. But I really wanted to see it anyway. So I hid over here and watched. And when I was coming home, I saw the little path and I followed it. It led to this pond. I thought Karen would want to see the fish. So I called her and her friends over. They walked on the path, too. We didn’t step on any of your plants. We’re just looking at the fish.”

  “They’re very pretty,” added Nancy.

  “So you lost your fish?” Morbidda Destiny asked me. (I nodded.) “How did it die?” she wanted to know. (I shrugged.) “Well, fish are tricky pets.”

  David Michael gave me a Look. Then he turned to Morbidda Destiny. “I’m sorry if we hurt anything. Or if we scared you,” he said.

  (We scared the witch?)

  “Well, I’m sorry to hear about the fish,” said Morbidda Destiny.

  “Her name was Crystal Light,” I said sadly.

  The witch nodded. Then she turned to leave. (Her cape swirled around.) “You children stay here. I’ll be right back,” she said.

  As soon as the witch was out of sight, Hannie said, “Okay, she’s gone. Now’s our chance to escape.”

  “Yeah,” agreed Nancy. “Let’s go. Before Morbidda Destiny puts a spell on us. How do we know where these fish came from? Maybe they’re all people the witch turned into fish. And we would be three more witch fish for her pond.”

  “Ooh.” Hannie shivered.

  But I glanced at David Michael. He was looking at me and smiling.

  “I’m staying here,” I said. “Morbidda Destiny sounded very sorry about Crystal Light. She must like fish a lot. Maybe she knows a spell that will bring Crystal Light back to life. Maybe she had to get some special herbs — ”

  Before I could finish, the witch was running through her yard toward us.

  “Darn!” exclaimed Hannie. “We missed our chance.”

  Morbidda Destiny was clutching something small. It was a fishnet.

  “Yikes!” squealed Nancy. “I was right!”

  But the witch handed the net to me. She said, “Choose a fish. Catch it in the net. Take it home. Then you will have another fish.”

  “Really? Thank you!” I said. I took the fishnet from the witch. I gazed into the pond. I was looking for a fish like Crystal Light. And suddenly I found one. She was Crystal Light’s size, and she had a black spot on her tail. I scooped her up before I lost sight of her.

  I held up the net. Inside it, the new goldfish wriggled. the sunlight caught the shiny scales. It made them look more golden than ever.

  “Thank you,” I said to Morbidda Destiny again. Then I added, “I better get this new fish into the tank right away. Come on, you guys.”

  David Michael, Nancy, and Hannie followed me down the path.

  “I’ll bring your net back as soon as I can!” I called to the witch.

  Then I raced toward the big house. I could not believe how lucky I was. Or how nice the witch had been.

  Crystal Light the Second

  Karen, Hannie, David Michael, and I ran to the playroom in the big house. “Hey, Andrew!” I called as we tore past his room.

  “What?” he yelled back.

  “Come to the playroom. I have something to show you.”

  Andrew arrived just in time to see me lower my new fish into the tank. “Aughh!” he screamed. “Crystal Light came back to life! I thought that couldn’t happen.”

  “It didn’t, silly. This is a new fish. Morbidda Destiny gave her to me.”

  “You put a witch fish in the same tank as Goldfishie?” cried Andrew.

  “I don’t think she’s a witch fish.” I told Andrew the story of what had happened in Morbidda Destiny’s backyard.

  When I finished, Andrew still looked worried. But Nancy saved the day. She changed the subject by saying, “Why don’t you name your new fish, Karen? Sh
e needs a name.”

  “Hmm. You’re right,” I replied. “Let’s see.”

  “How about Whoopy?” suggested Hannie.

  “For a beautiful fish? No way!” I answered.

  “How about Fred?” said David Michael.

  “That’s a boy’s name.”

  “Okay, then Freddie.”

  I shook my head. I was thinking, Miranda? Goldie? Esther? (Esther Williams was this old-timey star that Daddy and Elizabeth like to watch in black-and-white movies. She was a very excellent swimmer.)

  “You know what?” I said at last. “I chose this fish because she looks so much like Crystal Light. So I am going to name her Crystal Light the Second.”

  We watched Goldfishie and Crystal Light the Second swim in their tank. they seemed to be getting along. We watched them until Nancy’s father came to pick her up, and Hannie said she had to go home, too. When David Michael and I were alone in the playroom I said, “I’m really sorry about our fight.”

  “That’s okay,” replied David Michael.

  “I’m sorry I wouldn’t let you come to the funeral. And I’m especially sorry that I called you a fish-killer. You know what? I didn’t really think you killed Crystal Light. But I was mad that she was dead. And I had to yell at someone, so I yelled at you. That was not very nice.”

  “No,” agreed David Michael. “It wasn’t. But that’s okay, too.”

  “So you forgive me?”

  “Yes.”

  “What are you smiling about?” I asked.

  “You still have to return Morbidda Destiny’s fishnet. You have to go back to the witch’s house…. And I’m not going with you.”

  I made a face. But then I picked up the net and headed downstairs. I walked through our back door. The first thing I saw were the two graves. Still holding the net, I sat beside Crystal Light’s grave. I touched the pile of flowers.

  Then I said, “I did not really have a chance to say good-bye to you today, Crystal Light. So I will say it now. Good-bye, Crystal Light, my delight. I hope there’s a fish heaven somewhere, and that it is very, very beautiful, and that you are swimming around in it.

  “I hope you don’t mind that I got another fish and named her after you. I am not replacing you with her. I just got her because I miss you so much.

  “Well, that’s all I can think of. For now. But maybe I will talk to you some other times.”

  I stood up. Then I headed bravely toward Morbidda Destiny’s house.

  About the Author

  ANN M. MARTIN is the acclaimed and bestselling author of a number of novels and series, including Belle Teal, A Corner of the Universe (a Newbery Honor book), A Dog’s Life, Here Today, P.S. Longer Letter Later (written with Paula Danziger), the Family Tree series, the Doll People series (written with Laura Godwin), the Main Street series, and the generation-defining series The Baby-sitters Club. She lives in New York.

  Copyright © 1991 by Ann M. Martin

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  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  First edition, 1991

  e-ISBN 978-1-338-05590-0