“Amy, what in the world is the new broom doing in the stall shower?” Mrs. Perkins asked.

“Oh, is that where she’s hiding?” Amy said. She was getting undressed to go to bed. “Jean and I were playing a game with her.”

Mrs. Perkins came into Amy’s room. She handed Amy the little blue broom. “Take it down to the laundry room and put it away. I’m going to take a shower. Or do you think the broom wants to take one first?” Amy’s mother laughed and went back to the bathroom.

Amy felt the broom shudder. “What’s the matter, Wispy?” She patted the blue bristles. “You’re not afraid of my mother, are you?”

The broom stayed still while Amy carried her downstairs. There was a large box of rags in the laundry room. Amy put Wispy to bed there. Then she went back upstairs.

After her bath Amy went to bed and fell asleep. Sometime later in the night she woke. Light was coming through the slats in the venetian blind and streaming across her pillow.

She slipped out of bed and ran to the window to pull up the blind. It had stopped raining, and all the clouds had blown away. A full moon had risen over the houses behind the back yard. It was the moonlight that had wakened Amy.

There were still a few lights on in the houses. And Amy could hear the sounds of Brooklyn traffic. But all the birds had gone to sleep. A breeze rustled the leaves of the peach tree.

Something brushed against her shoulder. Amy turned to see the broom floating in the air beside her.

Amy looked out of the window again. “It’s a lovely night for a ride,” she whispered.

There was just enough moonlight in the shadowy room for Amy to see the broom nod.