Granny Relda smiled. "But you're so good at being a hero. Maybe you're supposed to be one and just don't want to admit it."
Puck shook his spoon at her. "Don't even joke about that, old lady. I'm serious. I'm going to have to do an awful lot of bad stuff just to break even."
"Oh, so you did this when you were being a saint," Sabrina said, pointing at the doodles on her face.
"I could have tattooed it, Captain!" Puck said.
Sabrina threw down her fork and rose to her feet. "Come here and let me show you how bad I can be!"
Puck leaped up, spun around on his heels, and morphed into a parrot. He leaped onto Daphne's shoulder and shrieked, "Shiver me timbers, it's Captain Doodieface, scourge of the smelly seas!"
"Children!" Granny cried as she stepped in the midst of them.
Just then a series of short honks followed by a long impatient blast came from outside. "Who's that?" Daphne asked.
"Oh, my, he's early. Children, let's hurry and get our coats on," Granny said.
Puck morphed back into a boy. "Where are we going?"
"To the dedication for the new school. Ms. White invited us," Granny said. "Everyone will be there."
"What new school?" Sabrina said.
Granny ignored her and hurried to the closet for the coats. "But I'm not done eating," Daphne complained. "Hurry, lieblings"
the old woman said.
Daphne grumbled to herself as she got up from the table. She peeked in the old woman's direction and, apparently seeing she was out of view, snatched a handful of pancakes and wrapped them around some link sausages. She dipped them all into the syrup on her plate and shoved them into her pants pocket.
"That's going to smell fantastic later," Sabrina said as Granny returned to the room with the children's' coats.
"It's better to be smelly than hungry," Daphne said matter-of-factly as she tried to put on her mittens with sticky fingers.
Puck crossed his arms in a huff. "I just want to be clear. If a monster attacks while we're at this dedication I am not going to help out. In fact, I might actually help drive the crowd into a frenzy. Are you sure you want me to go, old lady?"
"We'll take our chances," Granny Relda said.
Elvis trotted into the room. Seeing that everyone was leaving, he began to whine. Daphne rushed to the big dog and hugged him.
"Honey baby sweetheart, we wouldn't leave you," she assured the Great Dane and gave him a big smooch on his lips. Elvis licked the girl's maple syrup-covered face and then went to work stealing the pancakes from her pocket. Daphne squirmed away from the furry breakfast bandit. "Hey, get your own, you traitor."
"Come here, boy," Granny said and the big dog darted to her. The old woman quickly dressed him in his Christmas vest and hat before he could get away. Elvis dropped his head and sighed. "Don't be a baby. It's cold out there.
"And what are we going to do about you?" she said, cupping her hand under Sabrina's chin and eyeing her face closely. "Honestly, Puck. This time you've gone too far."
"Really?" Puck cried. "That's the nicest thing anyone's said to me in a long time."
Granny took a bright orange toboggan hat, put it on Sabrina's head, and pulled down until it covered the writing on her forehead. Then she wrapped an itchy wool scarf around the girl's face all the way up past her nose. "Perfect!" the old woman declared.
Once everyone was ready, the family stepped outside. A bright yellow taxicab with fuzzy dice hanging from the rearview mirror was parked in the driveway. Sitting in the front seat was an incredibly old man with a long white beard. His head was tilted back and even from the porch the girls could hear his loud, raspy snores.
Granny stepped over to his window and tapped on it several times. When this had no effect, she knocked even harder, but still the man dozed away. Finally, Granny opened the front door and pushed down on the car's horn. The blast shocked the old man and he jumped in his seat.
"Great Jehoshaphat!" he cried.
"Mr. van Winkle, we're ready to go," Granny Relda said. The tired old man rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and climbed out of the car. He wore a black bomber jacket and gray slacks. He looked like some of the cab drivers Sabrina had ridden with back home in New York City, except for the fact that he had a bristly white beard that hung down to his ankles. "You didn't say anything about a dog," he grumbled.
"Mr. van Winkle, this is Elvis. He's perfectly tame," Granny Relda insisted, ushering Elvis, Daphne, and Puck into the back of the cab, leaving the front seat for Sabrina.
"Has he got all his shots?" the driver grumbled.
"Have you?"