Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Practicing the Piano (But She Does Love Being in Recitals) by Peggy Gifford

chapter 10
Which Begins with
Ms. Killingher Saying,
“Are You There,
Mrs. Maxwell?”
    “Are you there , Mrs. Maxwell?” said Ms. Killingher. Ms. Killingher thought Moxy’s mother was behaving the
slightest bit
like Moxy today: She didn’t seem to be listening.
    There was a pause while Mrs. Maxwell realized how restful her trip to Kenya had been. Even though she had spent most of it sitting in an orange plastic chair at Nairobi General Hospital, reading a 1972 issue of
National Geographic
, while waiting for her sister to get unconfused enough to fly back home to Ohio.
    “Mrs. Maxwell, did you get the note I sent home with Moxy last week?” continued Ms. Killingher.
    “Note?”
said Mrs. Maxwell. “I’m sure we did.”
    Mrs. Maxwell started to drag the phone across the kitchen floor to her husband’s office, which was just ten feet away. But the cord attached to the wall got tangled in some marshmallow-frosted cupcakes just as she reached the hall outside his door.
    “I’m sure we got the note,”
Mrs. Maxwell said in a loud voice. Now she was staring at her husband, whose name was Ajax. (In addition to being Mrs. Maxwell’s husband, Ajax was also Mark and Moxy’s stepfather and Pansy’s
real
father.)
    But Ajax, who was also a famous children’s poet, was too busy to think about
the note
. He was desperately trying to finish apoem he was writing about an extinct species called the elephant bird. The poem had been due yesterday.
    The first verse was perfect. Here it is:
    Eggs the size of dinosaur’s

Legs as big as a beam

The Elephant Bird, the Elephant Bird

Was the ten-foot bird supreme
.
    Unfortunately, while Mrs. Maxwell had been in Africa, “The Elephant Bird” had slowed down considerably. That was because Ajax had been left in charge of
everything. Everything
might not seem like a lot …. But
everything
had stopped Ajax from finishing the second verse. All he needed was one more word.
    Here is the second verse (minus the last word) so you can get an idea of what he was up against:
    Claws as sharp as razor blades
Beak like a broad-head spear
The Elephant Bird, the Elephant
Bird Had nobody else to     ?    
.
    Suggestions are welcome.
    In fact, Ajax was so busy muttering to himself,
“Beak like a broad-head spear—the Elephant Bird—the Elephant Bird—had nobody else to … to what? To beer? To rear? To be near?”
that Mrs. Maxwell finally put the phone receiver down on the hall floor. Then she walked to the bottom of the stairs and called out, “Moxy?”

chapter 11
Encore
    When Moxy didn’t answer , Mrs. Maxwell called out again, “Moxy Anne?”

chapter 12
Once More!
    When Moxy
still
didn’t answer, Mrs. Maxwell called out one last time, “Moxy Anne Maxwell!”

chapter 13
In Which We Learn
Why Moxy Anne
Maxwell Did Not
Reply
    Moxy Anne Maxwell heard her mother calling. But she didn’t answer. She didn’t answer because she was in the guest room watching Aunt Susan Standish sleep. And Moxy didn’t want to wake her. All the shades were drawn. It was quite dark. But you could still see Aunt Susan Standish’s sleeping mask.
    Aunt Susan Standish always slept in a sleeping mask. This one was made of white satin. It had quite a shine, as you can barely see from this photograph Mark took of it.Mark is the most famous photographer in the neighborhood.
    (Mark did not use a flash because he did not want to wake her.) Mark called this photograph “Sleeping Beauty.”

    “Sleeping Beauty,” by Mark Maxwell
.
    Aunt Susan Standish was the most enchanting person Moxy had ever met. Sometimes Moxy couldn’t believe that she wasMoxy’s 100% Aunt and not just a Step-Aunt or a Half Aunt or a Family Friend Aunt. It meant that she and Aunt Susan Standish had some of the same genes. And Aunt Susan Standish’s genes made Aunt Susan Standish do some very brave things.
    One time Aunt Susan Standish was alone in a cage with an only somewhat tamed tiger. Another time she paddled down the Amazon in