Libby placed the food in front of her mother. On the TV was a lady, almost as fat as Sal, walking on a treadmill. By the end of the show, she’d be standing on a cruise ship, wearing a crown and waving at the peasants on the shore.
How nice if Sal could get on that show and have a makeover. Maybe then she’d be happy.
Libby waited until Sal’s hand began the automatic movement from plate to mouth to make sure the chopped liver was okay.
Then she tiptoed down the stairs to the basement.
Her hands shook as she inserted the key into the lock. Carefully, she turned the key, then twisted the doorknob. It stuck. She jiggled the key a little. The door swung open.
The room was dark. The smell of dust and chemicals floated toward her.
Libby’s heart was pounding; she considered running back upstairs. But what she really feared was that there would be nothing interesting in the basement.
She felt along the wall for the light switch and flipped it on. A strange laboratory appeared.
There was a table with three large metal boxes on it. What were they? Across from that were shelves with bottles and jars and curious objects: a plastic eyeball floating in a glass globe, an orange that had grown a head of hair, a cactus dripping a purple substance into a jar, a pair of men’s shoes with wings, and a tiny maple tree. There were tubes connected to a bubbling pot, and a large contraption with a metal arm shooting out of it, like the cuckoo on a clock. A sign on it said LIGHTNING ATTRACTOR. Why did Mal need a sign? Didn’t he know what it was?
Libby was about to examine these treasures when she heard skittering and scattering noises coming from the metal boxes. Were they cages? She froze, then bolted for the stairs. At the bottom, though, she stopped. This was her one and only chance. Mal was sure to notice the missing key.
Besides, whatever was in those boxes was locked inside. Keeping her back to them, she returned to the shelves to read the labels on the jars.
Those on the top shelf seemed to be ingredients: GREEGLE, PETAL POWER, GROUND CRECIO BUGS, CYANIDE, ROSE PETAL WATER, ROSE RED, LOTUS LEAVES, ROSE EXTRACT, EYE OF NEWT (she recognized that from books), COCKROACH TENTACLES, CONCH SHELL OIL, ROTGUT, JEEPERS CREEPERS, MAROONED WHALE, SNAKE OIL, TREE FROG BELLY, CROCODILE TEARS.
The jars on the next shelf had labels in Mal’s writing: Curio Drops, Obedience Ointment, Magnifying Wax, Popple Tree Poison, Hypnotic Spray, Metamorphosis, Head Antiache, Telepathy Tapenade, Rose Rot, Hair Today-Gone Tomorrow, Comprehension Cream, Rat Vat, Lifting Soda, Aloe Anguish, Belly Buster.
Libby had just read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, where Alice eats and drinks things that make her bigger or smaller. What will happen if I try these potions? she thought.
Not to try something would be like looking at the cover of a book without opening it.
She picked up the bottle labeled METAMORPHOSIS. A metamorphosis was a change. But what kind?
She set it back down. OBEDIENCE OINTMENT? That was the last thing she needed.
COMPREHENSION CREAM? Comprehension was understanding. There couldn’t be much wrong with that.
She opened the bottle. The cream was purple.
She applied the cream to her hands. Nothing happened. She put a drop of it on her tongue. It tasted bitter. Liberty set down the cream and picked up the bottle of lifting soda.
All of a sudden she heard a mumbling sound, like a news station. She shoved the bottle into her big pocket. She turned. The boxes were indeed cages. She was face to face with one of their occupants.