‘That’s great as long as you don’t let Peter get close,’ Maggie said.
‘I’m not going anywhere near Peter!’ declared Stella. ‘I don’t like that boy!’
‘Neither do I!’ said Maggie. She watched as her friend walked away, trying to move like an old woman. It was convincing enough if you didn’t look too hard.
Bob was already bringing Leonard out of his stall when Maggie walked back inside. She held the horse’s head while Bob trimmed his hooves. Then she took Leonard back into his stall and shut the door. Maggie was about to fetch Randal to get his hooves done when she heard Zelia’s voice. Her stepmother was standing just inside the stable door talking to Bob. Peter was there, too, trying to hold on to a squirming sack.
‘I came to tell you that you’re making a big mistake,’ Zelia told Bob as Maggie walked up. ‘Maggie shouldn’t be working here. She makes up stories and can’t be trusted to do what you tell her. I don’t know how many times she walked out on Peter when he needed her. She steals things, too. One day she took my red shawl and tried to make up a ridiculous story when I caught her. I’m sure you’ve found that things have gone missing in your home now that she’s moved in.’
Maggie felt her face turn red as she listened to Zelia. These were the same things that her stepmother had accused her of doing all along, and none of it was true. Hearing it all again made Maggie angry. And she was sure that Peter had done such awful things over the last few days just to turn Bob against her. She didn’t think Bob would believe Zelia, but what if he did? Could her stepmother ruin everything even now?
‘If you ask me –’ Leonard began.
‘Not now, Leonard!’ said Bob.
‘If you need help, you should hire Peter,’ Zelia continued. ‘He’s strong and smart and very reliable. He’s good at finding magical animals, too. Show him what you found this morning, Peter.’
‘It’s a flying pig,’ Peter said as he dumped the contents of the sack on to the floor.
Maggie gasped when she saw the little animal. It was a baby wild boar and wasn’t much bigger than the piglets they’d been teaching to fly. Although it had wings, Maggie could tell right away that they weren’t real. Someone had glued feathers on to the creature’s sides. The little boar looked miserable. It was already biting at itself and squealing as it tried to rip off the pretend wings.
‘You see!’ crowed Zelia. ‘My son can do a lot of things. I’m sure Maggie can’t catch a flying pig.’
‘Watch out!’ Peter shouted as the baby boar twisted in his hands and got away.
Maggie ran to shut the stable doors while her stepbrother lunged after the little pig. She and Bob watched as Peter chased the animal up and down the aisle. Zelia tried to corner it, but the baby boar was too fast for her.
‘I think I should help them,’ Maggie finally told Bob. ‘Otherwise they’ll be at this all day and we won’t get any more work done.’
When Bob nodded, Maggie studied the little boar. The moment she saw the little animal coming towards her, she snatched it off the floor. Peter’s jaw dropped when she dumped the boar into his hands.
‘Actually,’ said Bob, ‘Maggie is very good at catching flying piglets. She’s had a lot of practice with the real ones. Now, I want you to take your little boar and leave. Trying to deceive me like that is not going to make me want to hire your son. I don’t like liars!’
‘We’re not liars!’ Zelia snapped.
‘Nothing you said about Maggie is true, and that pig is not a real flying pig,’ said Bob. ‘You lied to me, and if you don’t agree, we’ll ask the sheriff what he thinks.’
Zelia sneered at Bob. With her head held high, she turned and started to stalk from the stable. Maggie hurried to stand in her way.
‘I thought you didn’t believe in flying pigs,’ said Maggie. ‘When I told you about them, you said I’d made them up. What changed your mind?’
‘Nothing changed my mind. I still don’t believe they’re real. But if pretending we do will get Peter a job, we’ll say we believe anything,’ Zelia told her.
‘And what about you?’ Maggie said, turning to Peter. ‘Why do you want to work here?’
Peter shrugged. ‘We need the money. Mother says that if you can do it, so can I.’
‘Yes, but do you really want to work here?’
Peter snorted. ‘Not with that crazy old man! Anyone who believes that flying pigs are real has got to be out of his mind.’
‘Is that so?’ said Maggie. ‘Stay here. I’ll be right back.’
Carmelita was still outside taking a break from her babies, so it was safe for Maggie to go into the stall. Grabbing the closest piglet, Maggie carried it out of the stall and latched the door behind her.
‘Hey, Zelia, catch!’ Maggie called and tossed the piglet at her stepmother.
Zelia shrieked and threw up her hands as if to ward off the little pig. She gasped when the piglet began to fly. She made a squeaking sound when Bob caught it in mid-air.
‘Now who’s crazy?’ Maggie asked, glancing from Zelia to Peter.
Zelia’s jaw had dropped, but she closed it with a snap when she looked at Maggie. ‘You can keep your flying pigs and your crazy old man. We’ll find other ways to make money. Come along, Peter.’
Maggie watched as Peter hurried after his mother. When they were gone, she turned to Bob. ‘Thank you for believing in me. I don’t know what I would have done if you had believed Zelia.’
‘I’ve never believed a word that woman has said,’ Bob replied. ‘There’s no reason I should start now. If you ask me, your stepmother is crazy. Imagine thinking I would ever hire her son after all the things he’s done! You, however, are one of the nicest, sweetest, most reliable girls I’ve ever met. You’ve never given me any reason to doubt you, and I don’t think you ever will.’
Maggie felt all warm inside when she heard what Bob said. She already felt as if he was the grandfather she’d never known. With a soft cry, she threw her arms around him. She was still giving him a hug when Nora came into the barn.
‘Is everything all right?’ she asked. ‘I saw that terrible woman walk out just now with her horrid son. I hope they didn’t say anything to upset our Maggie!’
‘They didn’t upset me,’ Maggie said and drew Nora into the hug. ‘And as long as I have you two, nothing they say will ever bother me again!’
‘You’ve got me, too!’ Leonard called from his stall. ‘Next time they come around, let me do the talking! I really want to give them a piece of my mind.’
Maggie grinned. Who cared about Zelia and Peter anyway? She had a family who really loved her, and in the end, that was all that mattered.
About the Author
E.D. Baker is the author of the Tales of the Frog Princess series, the Wide-Awake Princess series and many other delightful books for young readers, including A Question of Magic, Fairy Wings, and Fairy Lies. Her first book, The Frog Princess, was the inspiration for Disney’s hit movie The Princess and the Frog. She lives with her family and their many animals in rural Maryland.
talesofedbaker.com
Bloomsbury Publishing, London, Oxford, New York, New Delhi and Sydney
First published in Great Britain in December 2017 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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First published in the USA in October 2017 by Bloomsbury Children’s Books
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This electronic edition published in January 2018 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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Text copyright © E. D. Baker 2017
Illustrations copyright © Lisa Manuzak 2017
The moral rights of the author and illustrator have been asserted
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ISBN: 978-1-4088-8458-4 (PB)
ISBN: 978-1-4088-8459-1 (eBook)
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E. D. Baker, Maggie and the Flying Pigs
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