LITMIR.BIZ

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on earth she was going to get home, get Gargoth into her backpack, then dash downtown and back up to her piano lesson on time.

      It wouldn’t be easy. The night before, she and Gargoth had agreed that he would be waiting at the back fence. She thought she could run home after school, take the shortcut to their backyard down the lane, then he could leap over the fence, and she’d save at least five minutes off going the long way to the front door.

      The day at school seemed impossibly long and slow. But finally it ended, without mishap. At last three-thirty came, and Katherine took off like a shot. Her friend Rubie ran across the school field to try to catch her, but Katherine pretended not to hear her and kept running. The last thing she wanted was to explain why she needed to get home really quickly today.

      It worked perfectly. The day was clear and cold, but most of the snow had melted, so Katherine could run as fast as she wanted over the sidewalks without slipping. She had her big yellow canvas backpack on, and she hoped Gargoth would fit. Try as she might, she hadn’t been able to convince him to get in the night before, just to make sure there was enough room for him.

      She smiled, in spite of herself. “Such pride!” she thought.

      She arrived at the back fence at exactly 3:42. “Twelve minutes! That’s pretty good for two kilometres!” she thought. Then she whistled softly, as they had agreed.

      A second later, she heard a loud thud beside her. There was Gargoth, lying in the muddy lane, looking very upset.

      “You’re late, Katherine! And I’m all muddy and wet!” he complained.

      She sighed. “Get in Gargoth, and be quiet.” She squatted down, and the little gargoyle clambered up onto her back, pulled himself over the rim of the sturdy canvas backpack and slid in, head first.

      He grunted, then Katherine had an uncomfortable sensation as he wriggled and righted himself to rest on his large feet.

      “Uh, Gargoth,” she began, as she stood up and adjusted the straps of the backpack to allow for more room for him, “would you mind turning the other way. Your, uh, claws are digging into my back.”

      Gargoth grunted again, and after a few minutes of squirming and snorting and, Katherine was sure, quite unnecessary sighing, he had turned himself inside the backpack so his back was against Katherine’s back. She had to admit that scaly wings rubbing against her back were only slightly more comfortable than pointy claws sticking into her ribs.

      She had been walking all the while. “Next week, we bring a soft towel for you to lean against,” Katherine whispered over her back. She was walking down Bloor Street now and didn’t want people to see her whispering into her backpack.

      All she heard in response from Gargoth was a soft snort. He was asleep!

      “That’s probably good,” she thought. “I don’t have to worry about him talking to me on the subway.”

      She reached the subway entrance, paid her student fare, then waited on the eastbound platform for the next train. No one could possibly know what was inside her backpack, but she was nervous and jumpy all the same.

      And Gargoth, small as he was, was beginning to feel quite heavy. Katherine hoped no one would notice that her backpack was snoring.

      Chapter Eighteen

      The First Store

      Judging by Gargoth’s description of the store and the large red “locomotion machine,” as he called it, Katherine had decided that they should start looking in the stores along the streetcar route of Toronto’s Queen Street East. The area was full of antique shops, comic book stores and strange little boutiques which were an odd mixture of both. There were plenty to choose from, so to pick the first store, she simply ran her finger down the list in the phone book and stopped randomly at Crystal Knights; she liked the sound of it. That would be the first store they would visit.

      Katherine had ridden in peace on the subway, since Gargoth slept the entire trip. When she transferred to the Queen streetcar, he stirred a little but still did not wake up.

      She found Crystal Knights without any trouble, and finally had no choice but to wake Gargoth. She was really nervous about doing this, since gargoyles are notoriously grumpy when you wake them up from a sound sleep. Luckily, there was a bench right outside the store, where she sat heavily and took off her backpack. Gently she shook the bag, saying, “Gargoth, we’re here! Wake up!” It took a few shakes and whispers before she heard the familiar snarl and snap. She was glad this was a sturdy canvas backpack.

      Once Gargoth was wide awake and no longer snarling at her, Katherine re-shouldered the backpack and went toward the store. Her heart was pounding. Gargoth had promised to keep still but insisted that his head peek out the top of the backpack, so he wouldn’t miss a thing.

      As Katherine opened the door, a little bell tinkled their arrival to the proprietor working among the boxes in the storeroom at the back. The place was warm and smelled like incense.

      “Just a minute!” a happy, loud woman’s voice called. Katherine could feel Gargoth’s body tense behind her. “Katherine! This seems right! It smells right! It looks right! And it’s a woman here!” Gargoth was practically yelling at her.

      “Be quiet! You promised!” Katherine snapped over her shoulder, but she had to stop because the unseen owner had just appeared, beaming at them over the counter.

      A short lady with thick glasses and frizzy hair smiled down at her. “Hello!” she said pleasantly. “Can I help you?”

      Here we go, thought Katherine. “Um, yes, please,” she said. “I have a gargoyle here, and we are looking for a matching one. My mother really loves this one and wants to try and find another one just like it. Have you seen anything like this one before?”

      The lady-owner bustled happily around the counter and peered into the backpack at Gargoth. “Please, Gargoth,” Katherine breathed to herself, “be good!”

      He was. As good as gold. He stayed perfectly rigid and still while the lady looked him over, very closely.

      “Oh, isn’t he beautiful? Can I take him out?” she asked. Katherine froze. She hadn’t thought of that. Of course, the owner would want to see him and touch him! “Okay, I guess...he’s pretty precious! Be careful!”

      The lady carefully took hold of Gargoth and lifted him from the backpack. She placed him on the counter, and she and Katherine stood back to admire him. Katherine was very worried, but extremely impressed with Gargoth’s statue-like demeanour. He really did look like a perfect little gargoyle statue, grumpy and lifelike. But not necessarily real.

      There was a long silence. “He really is remarkable, isn’t he? I mean, you’d swear he’s alive!” She was just going to touch Gargoth again when the front door bell tinkled. A delivery man came through the door with a hand-trolley overflowing with boxes marked “Skulls/candles”.

      “Just one moment, dear.” The lady turned her back to Katherine and Gargoth for a moment, and Gargoth took the opportunity to sullenly stick his tongue out at her as she retreated. Then he shook his head sadly at Katherine. This wasn’t the right store.

      While the lady was busy with the delivery man, Katherine took off her backpack and carefully stuffed Gargoth back in. It would have been easier if he’d climbed in himself, but of course, they couldn’t risk that.

      The lady came back to them just as Katherine was strapping her backpack closed. “You know, I’ve never seen another gargoyle like him, dear. He’s really one of a kind, don’t you think?” She smiled sweetly at Katherine.

      “Yes.” Katherine smiled weakly back at her. “Yes, I’m quite sure he really is.”

      Feeling sadder than she thought possible, Katherine left the store and headed back to the bus stop. She looked at her watch: 4:25! She’d have to hurry to make it to piano on time. She started at a trot. Gargoth was perfectly silent behind her, although he was being bumped

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