“No, that’s a baby room. My favorite room is the library.” He led her past the playroom door, which was now closed, then past the foyer to the other section of the house until he finally opened sliding wood doors to reveal a large and well-stocked library. “See?” he proudly proclaimed. “These are my books.”
“Your books?” she hid her amusement at him claiming all these impressive titles. “Do you read them?”
“Some of them. Before I’m old, I will read all of them.” He went over to a large desk where several volumes of nature books were spread out, some opened. “I am studying these ones now.”
“Do you read the words or just look at the photos?”
“I read the words, of course.”
“How old are you?”
“Eight.” He picked up a book with a photo of a lion and began to read. Quite well, in fact.
“You are a good reader.” She came over to see if he was actually reading or simply making it up to impress her, but he was reading the words. “That’s excellent, Mishka.”
He looked up at her and smiled. “You remembered my name.”
“Of course.”
“I like you, Meri.” His dark eyes gleamed. “And you are pretty.”
“Well, thank you, Mishka. I like you too.” She glanced at the open door, wondering what his sister was up to…and how much she should say. “I was sad to see you and your sister fighting like that.”
“Her name is Katerina, but I call her Kat. She’s like this.” He pointed to the lion. “A wild cat that preys on smaller animals.”
“Why do you think she does that?”
“Because she is mean. Mean, mean, mean. And ugly. She is ugly, isn’t she? Don’t you think so?”
“No, I don’t think she is ugly.”
He looked skeptical. “Kat thinks she’s ugly. She says it all the time. But when I agree with her, she gets mad.”
Meredith slowly shook her head. “No one wants to be called ugly, Mishka.”
“I don’t care if she calls me ugly.” He closed the lion book.
Meredith considered another approach. “What if she called you a name?” She glanced around the boy’s beloved library and books. “What if she called you stupid? Would that bother you?”
He seemed to consider this. “No. That would be a lie. I’m not stupid. I can read as well as Kat. Maybe even better. She hates reading. I love it.”
“Oh?” Meredith was beginning to get the picture. “What does Kat love? I mean to do. What does she enjoy doing? What is she good at?”
“Nothing. She hates everything and everyone. She’s just mean, mean, mean.”
“I’m sure it must seem like that to you, Mishka. But she must love something.”
He shrugged then shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
“Well, your library is quite superb.” She decided to change routes. “Now what about my tour? Will you show me the rest of your home?”
He reached for her hand again. “Let’s go.”
Mishka gave her the full tour of the first floor including a large living room, smaller parlor, and a guest room. He then pointed out, but didn’t go into, the rooms used by the Warners. He even took her down to the dark musty basement that, besides storage of a lot of old furnishings, contained a wine cellar and a dusty billiards room. “No one likes to come down here,” he explained as he led her back to the stairs. “It’s haunted.”
“Haunted?” She tipped her head to one side.
“Ghosts live down here.”
