Willa peeked out the window. The little man reached the sidewalk, looked right, then left, then right again, before marching off to the right.
“Now you’ve done it,” Belle muttered ominously. “Do you know how hard it is to find a good brownie? He worked day and night, nonstop. And never asked for a penny in return. Lived entirely on tea and biscuits.”
Willa was stunned. “That was a brownie?”
Before anyone could answer her, Miss Trang re-entered the living room, ducking to fit through the doorway. Her eyes were really ablaze now. Her hair had worked its way out of her neat little bun and was floating like snakes in the air around her head.
“You interfering little pest! Why do you keep bothering us?” Her voice boomed, lower than before. And she was getting larger by the minute. Her head brushed the ceiling now, and her shoulders had broadened. The room seemed crowded, too small to hold her. As she advanced on Willa, teacups and china figurines fell crashing to the floor. Belle and Baz disappeared into the kitchen. Horace remained, trying to make peace.
“Miss Trang, please! Think of your blood pressure.”
She loomed over Willa now, her head hunched forward as her shoulders pressed up against the ceiling. She became wedged there for a moment and flailed around with one arm, smashing the ceiling lamp. The room went dark. Willa dropped to the floor and crawled between Miss Trang’s tree trunk legs as the woman thrashed about in the dark, breathing noisily through her nose and grunting like a great beast.
Willa reached the dim light of the hall, stumbling through the tin cans to the front door. Behind her Miss Trang, or the thing that used to be Miss Trang, roared out after her as she made her escape.
“Don’t tell anyone what you saw here! I’m warning you!”
Willa didn’t tell a soul. In fact, as the next few days dragged on in their boring and ordinary way, it became harder and harder to believe the incident had happened at all. Willa couldn’t stop thinking about the place. It seemed every time she pondered one of the house’s mysteries another five or six came to mind. First the coins, then Miss Trang, then the old man in the tree who had pelted her with acorns again as she ran away that day. And what about the loud crashing upstairs, and the strange bird, and the little man behind the armchair? Was it possible? Did brownies really exist?
And then there were the tin cans. The ones she had tripped over in the front hall. Cat food.
Chapter Three
A new job and a shocking discovery
The summer was definitely not working out as planned. Willa’s odd jobs work hadn’t really taken off. She spent one hot day cleaning out Mr. Santos’s garage, and another afternoon washing Mrs. Blanding’s St. Bernard dog, who managed to get soap suds all over her, the yard, and the neighbour’s fence, which she then had to wash off as well. Other than those jobs and three lawns to mow, for the next week or so Willa didn’t have much to do except think about the old folks in the boarding house. Once she had regained her nerve she began to wander by there once in a while, walking slowly, hoping to see someone but ready to run if it was Miss Trang. To her disappointment the curtains were always drawn tight and not a soul could be seen. She wondered if they’d all left town. Maybe Belle had finally gotten her way and they’d gone to the seaside for a vacation.
“Honey! You’ve got a job this morning! Hurry up and I’ll take you on my way to work.”
Her mom was rushing around the kitchen as Willa straggled down the stairs, trying to flatten her crazy slept-on hair with her hands. She was tired but glad for the work — she felt guilty she hadn’t been making much money so far this summer.
Mom pushed some toast toward her with a glass of juice. “A lady just called, wants you to come by right away.”
Willa spread some marmalade on her toast and grimaced. “I hope it’s not another garage.”
“She didn’t say what she wanted you for. It’s at that old place, the rooming house near the park. Now hurry and eat, I’m running late.” Her mom hurried out the door, not seeing her daughter turn deathly pale.
“Miss Trang!”
During the drive Willa tried to think of a way to tell her mom, but what could she say? That she saw a tiny little man and this lady got mad and grew real big, so Willa ran away? Not a chance. The only way out was to walk up to the front door, and as soon as her mom was out of sight, get the heck out of there.
Willa got out of the car very slowly. The house looked quiet, the windows dark.
“See you later, hon,” her mom called.
Willa smiled weakly as she started up the walk. She paused below the willow, glancing up, but Tengu wasn’t in the tree. She looked back. Her mom was still there, waiting until she was inside. Her heart thumped as she tiptoed up the porch steps. At the front door she reached out a shaky hand but just pretended to ring the bell. She’d say there was no one at home, it was a crank phone call. Her mom was still watching as she turned, did a big shrug, and started down the steps again. Behind her the door swung open.
“Come on in, dearie. She’s waiting for you.”
Baz stood in the doorway, eyes narrowed and grinning slyly. Willa was trapped. She was steered inside as her mom waved and drove off.
Baz ushered her into the parlour. Willa stared in shock. It didn’t look like the same room at all. Dirty plates and teacups were perched on every available flat surface, books and magazines were scattered everywhere, the plants were yellowed and droopy. Paintings hung crooked on the walls and broken glass crunched under her shoes.
“This is what happens when a brownie quits.” Willa jumped, her heart in her throat. Miss Trang stood in the kitchen doorway, but she was normal size again. Her hair was neatly tucked into her bun, and though stern, she looked very ordinary.
Willa looked down at her shoes, not sure of what to say. Miss Trang continued. “But let’s not talk about that, shall we? Let’s get right to the reason you’re here. I can’t keep up with the work around here. I need help, and despite my reservations, it was suggested to me that you would be the best choice for the job.” She held up a paper — one of Willa’s posters.
“Will you help us out with the cleaning until we can find another brownie?”
Willa nodded dumbly. And that was how she came to work for Miss Trang.
Willa was hired to come in three times a week, arriving promptly at nine a.m. and leaving at noon. She was to clean the entire main floor — entrance, hall, parlour, dining room, and kitchen — except for Miss Trang’s office, which she was not to enter. Upstairs she had to clean the hallways and the washroom, but was not under any circumstances to go into any of the bedrooms or the library. The backyard and stable (Stable! thought Willa excitedly) were expressly out of bounds. Most importantly, she was not to tell anybody anything about the house or its inhabitants. Miss Trang was adamant about that. “And I will know it if you do,” she said ominously, and Willa believed her. On top of everything else the hourly wage was very generous. Willa began right away.
As she loaded stained teacups into the kitchen sink, Willa took a deep breath and tried to still her trembling hands. She couldn’t believe she was actually there. For weeks she had been dying to know what was going on in this place, and now she had her own