26 The New Beginning

The New Beginning The only people who didn't want signatures from Gloria were Miss Muddle and the orphanage children. The children didn't need signatures, because Gloria had decorated every surface of the orphanage with her handwriting, whilst Miss Muddle was too fascinated by Bethany's now-dormant superstinkrats. "So… this was all part of the show?" she asked. "Were the frogs in the shop a planned part of the experience as well, then?"

Bethany jumped down from the stage. She saw that Miss Muddle was perfectly ready to believe anything that she had to say. "No," said Bethany with a sigh. "I had nothing to do with those frogs, and I was cross when you thought it was me, so I was gonna unleash these in your shop. Super soz, Miss Muddle—I promise, I'll never come to buy sweets from you again." Miss Muddle picked up one of the rats. "Why are you telling me?" she asked. "You could have gotten away without me ever knowing what you did." "I know. But it didn't seem like a do-gooding thing to do," said Bethany. "That stuff Ebenezer said was true. I really am trying to be better—even though I'm rubbish at it."

Miss Muddle rasped a knuckle against the rat's metallic body. She shook her head with disappointment. "You know, this is quite a clever little trick —most inventive. But you should have found a way of simulating the fur as well; otherwise it would have been way too obvious to the health inspector," she said. "When I was younger, I came up with something similar. The librarian refused to lend me a book I wanted to borrow, so I filled her sugar pot with dyed-white chili powder." "You were a prankster?" asked Bethany. She had pulled the same exact prank on Miss Fizzlewick when she was living at the orphanage. "Oh yes. There's a lot of overlap between pranking and sweet-making—both require a

very similar set of creative skills. These days I put all my mischief into my shop," said Miss Muddle. She paused and sized up Bethany again. "Are you still interested in working with me on the baskets?" "Abso-fricking-lutely!" said Bethany. "Good—everyone deserves another chance. Arrive on Monday in your finest apron. And I want you to have read the first three chapters of Quantum Mechanics for Morons," said Miss Muddle. "You'll be exhausted by the end of the day." She turned her back before Bethany could say anything like Whoopee! or I can't even get past the first sentence of that book! Geoffrey quickly came running up the aisle to speak with her.

"Sorry, I couldn't help overhearing, because… well, because I was trying to overhear. I can't believe you're going to be a sweet-maker! That's incredible!" he said. "Geoffrey, are you okay?" Bethany asked. She gave him a few thwacks on the arm to check that he was really back. "Hmm? Oh, ah, yes—that puddling trick you did on me was very clever. I feel ever so refreshed," he said. "Thank you for involving me in the show. I love magic tricks!" "Geoffrey, none of that was part of the…," Bethany began. But then she saw the pleased look on his face and realized that his version of the evening might be better as it was. "Oh, never mind. You're welcome, I guess," she said instead.

"What sweets are you going to make first?" asked Geoffrey. "The whistlepip wonders are my very favorite!" "Then those are the ones I'll ask Miss Muddle to show me first," said Bethany. "If you'd like, I can come and tell you about it on Monday, after I've finished." "YES, PLEASE!" said Geoffrey. They both blushed because he had spoken with way too much eagerness. "I mean, only if you want to, of course. We can talk about Sergeant Tortoise as well." "Soz. The only thing I'll be reading this weekend is Quantum Mechanics for Morons. I guess we'll just have to talk about something other than comics." "Something other than comics?" said Geoffrey. They both frowned as they tried to