Mrs. Grimm wrapped her arms around her and gave her a big hug. "Liebling, it's OK now. You can stop crying."
Sabrina wiped her face and felt the tears on her hand. She hadn't known she was crying.
? ? ?
In the morning, Sabrina was as hungry as she had ever been. But she was still not going to eat. She'd already looked like a crybaby in front of the old lady. She wasn't about to give up any more ground. By the time the girls heard Mrs. Grimm calling them for breakfast, Sabrina had spent twenty minutes trying to explain her philosophy to her sister.
"You can stay up here if you want, but I'm starving," said Daphne. The idea of skipping a meal was beyond the little girl's imagination.
"We're not eating that woman's food," Sabrina said, her stomach growling. "We can't let her think she's breaking us down. We have to stay strong."
"I have an idea," Daphne said. "Why don't we have breakfast, eat her cookies, play with Elvis, and enjoy the bed. She'll think she's won us over and then one day, when she least expects it, we'll be gone."
Sabrina thought about her sister's plan. She had to admit it was pretty good. She just wished Daphne hadn't sounded so sarcastic when she said it.
The girls got dressed and walked tentatively into the hallway. As they approached the stairs, Sabrina heard something coming from the locked room across from Mrs. Grimm's. It sounded like a voice, but she couldn't be sure. She put her head to the door and the noise stopped.
"Did you hear someone talking in there?" Sabrina asked her sister.
"It was my belly. It's screaming for breakfast." Daphne grabbed Sabrina's hand and dragged her downstairs to the dining room. Much to Sabrina's relief, creepy Mr. Canis was nowhere to be seen. After several moments, Mrs. Grimm came out of the kitchen with a big plate of pancakes.
"I hope everyone likes flapjacks," she sang.
"Yum!" Daphne cheered as the old woman stacked three on her plate, along with a couple of sausage links, then turned to serve Sabrina, whose mouth was watering. Sabrina hadn't had pancakes since her parents disappeared. Her empty belly was telling her to seriously consider Daphne's plan.
"Hold on, lieblings. I forgot the syrup," Mrs. Grimm said, rushing back into the kitchen. As soon as she was gone, Daphne looked underneath her pancakes as if she were expecting a buried surprise.
"They're just pancakes," she said.
"You sound disappointed," Mrs. Grimm said, laughing, as she returned with a large gravy boat.
"Well, after last night's spaghetti I thought maybe you cooked like that all the time," Daphne said wistfully.
"Oh, liebling, I do." The old woman tilted the gravy boat over Daphne's pancakes and a sticky, bright pink liquid bubbled out. To Sabrina it looked like gelatin that hadn't had time to set. When Daphne saw it her eyes grew as wide as the pancakes on her plate.
"What's that?" she cried.
"Try it," Mrs. Grimm said with a grin.
Naturally, Daphne dug in, greedily wolfing down bite after bite. "It's delicious!" she exclaimed with a mouth full of food.
"It's a special recipe. It has marigolds in it." Mrs. Grimm, proudly poured it onto Sabrina's pancakes before the girl had a chance to refuse. Sabrina looked down at the funky, fizzing sauce. It smelled faintly of peanut butter and mothballs and Sabrina's stomach did a flip-flop in protest. She dropped her fork and pushed her plate away.
Suddenly, there was a pounding from upstairs.
"So, perhaps we should discuss last night's excitement," said Mrs. Grimm as she sat down at the table and tucked a napkin into the front of her bright green dress. She gazed across at Sabrina and arched a questioning eyebrow.
"It wasn't my idea," Daphne said. Sabrina scowled at this betrayal.
"Well, no harm done. No broken bones or anything," the old woman said.
"Granny, you have some mean bugs in your yard," Daphne said as she poured more of the syrup on her breakfast.
"I know, liebling. They sure are mean."
"What is that hammering?" asked Sabrina.
"Mr. Canis is nailing your windows shut," Mrs. Grimm said as she took a bite of her breakfast.
"What?!" the girls said in shocked unison.
"I can't take any chances that something could get into the house or someone might try to get out," the old woman replied over the loud banging.
"So, we're your prisoners?" Sabrina cried.
"Oh, you're just like your opa." Mrs. Grimm laughed. "What a flare for the dramatic. Let's put it behind us. Today is a new day with a new adventure. This morning I received a call. There's been an incident that requires our attention. How exciting! You two haven't even been here a full day yet and already we're in the thick of it."
"In the thick of what?" Daphne asked as she placed a fat pat of green butter on her second stack of pancakes.
"You'll see." The old woman got up from her chair, went into the living room, and came back with several shopping bags. She placed them next to the table.