Read 41 - Bad Hare Day for Free Online

several seconds I heard nothing.
    Then the box began to spin. “Whoa!” I cried. My body slammed against the back
of the box.
    It whirled around faster than any ride in an amusement park. I shut my eyes.
I felt so dizzy.
    I hope I don’t puke, I thought. That would spoil everything.
    The box kept spinning, spinning. How will the trick work? I wondered. How
will I disappear?
    What if he really sends me into another dimension?
    But that’s just talk, I told myself. Magician talk—to entertain the
audience.
    Isn’t it?

 
 
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    The box spun faster and faster. I clutched my stomach. I saw stars dancing
before my eyes.
    When is it going to stop? I thought. I’m really going to be sick.
    Then, suddenly, the bottom of the box dropped out from under me.
    “Help!” I cried as I fell down, down, down.
    “Whoa!”
    I slid down a long wooden chute and landed— thunk! —on some kind of
mattress.
    I lay on my back in a daze. I heard water dripping somewhere. A dim yellow
light flickered from a bare bulb on the ceiling.
    I sat up, gazing around me. The room was nearly empty, dark and damp, with a
cement floor. I spotted a furnace in the corner.
    I’m in the basement of Midnight Mansion, I realized.
    I stood up and examined the chute. So that’s how the trick works, I thought.
Amaz-O sets up his spinning box over a trap door in the floor of the stage. The bottom of
the box drops out, and the volunteer slides down the chute and out of sight.
When Amaz-O opens the door of the box— presto! —the volunteer has
disappeared. It’s so simple.
    But how do I get back upstairs? I wondered. How will Amaz-O make me reappear?
    Muffled applause drifted down from overhead. I could hear Amaz-O’s voice,
faintly. “Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. I must be going now. I’ve
got to disappear into the fifth dimension and find that boy! Good night!”
    The audience laughed. Then I heard music, an explosion, and loud clapping.
    Amaz-O must have made himself disappear, I thought. He’ll probably come
sliding down this chute any minute.
    I waited.
    No one came sliding down the chute.
    I waited a few more minutes.
    Nothing.
    He must have disappeared some other way, I figured.
    He’ll show up soon, I thought. He’ll come and let me out of here. And then
I’ll ask him how he does that trick with the alarm clock. Maybe he’ll even give
me his autograph!
    A few minutes later I heard chairs scraping across the floor upstairs and a stampede of footsteps. The show was over. The
audience was leaving.
    Is somebody going to let me out of here? I wondered. I was getting a little
nervous. I sat down on the mattress to wait.
    What’s taking Amaz-O so long?
    Maybe he wants to wait until everyone is gone, so no one will figure out how
he did the trick. That must be it.
    I waited a little longer. I heard a rustling, scuttling noise. A rat! I
thought, jumping up off the mattress. I stared at the floor, watching for the
rat.
    The noise stopped.
    Maybe it wasn’t a rat, I thought, trying to calm myself. My muscles were all
tense. Maybe it was only a mouse. Or a cockroach. Or my imagination.
    The drip, drip, drip of the water somewhere in the basement was
starting to drive me crazy. Drip, drip, drip. Like some kind of water
torture.
    Where is Amaz-O? When is he going to let me out of here?
    I listened for signs of life upstairs. Nothing. Everything was silent up
there now.
    Okay, I said to myself. Everyone is gone. You can let me out now, Amaz-O.
    I listened hard. I didn’t hear anyone in the building.
    What if Amaz-O is gone, too? I thought, panicking. What if he forgot about me
and left me here?
    I’ve got to find a way out myself, I decided.
    I crept across the cement floor, keeping an eye out for rats.
    It sure is dark down here, I thought.
    I drifted toward the dripping sound and found myself in a room with a big
laundry sink. I crossed the laundry room. On the other side I found a steep
flight of steps leading to a