“What sort of a study?” asked Judy. “I wouldn’t want anybody sleep-teaching me. I want to know what I’m learning.”
Everybody agreed with Judy except Clarissa. She said she thought she’d like such a pillow if it would make her stop dreaming.
“I’ve had a terrible time,” she confessed. “I haven’t been able to draw a peaceful breath. I found out right away that this couple had planned to kidnap Francine Dow. They were so angry when they found out I’d substituted for her that I knew my only chance was pretending I cared for them and wanted them to be my mother and father. They thought they had my mind controlled, I guess, but they didn’t. All the time I was awake I was making plans. The nights were the worst because I did have nightmares. Maybe they’ll stop now that I know what caused them. I thought fear did. I was never so afraid.”
“You aren’t afraid any more, are you?” Honey asked anxiously.
“No,” Clarissa replied with a deep sigh. “I’m with friends now—real friends. It’s all over—all the fear and the pretending. I know I can act now, and I think I can take things a lot better, too. I mean little things like my brother’s teasing.”
“I used to find my brother’s teasing pretty hard to take, but I teased him right back, and I guess there were times when it was harder on him than it was on me,” Judy said with a glance toward Horace.
“I’ll bet your brother wouldn’t remove the glass from a silver mirror on purpose to make you think you didn’t show. They tell lots of witch tales at home, and one of them is that if you look in a mirror and don’t see your reflection, a witch has stolen the real you and you’re a changeling. But now that I’ve really been stolen by a witch—That’s what she is, Judy! That Mrs. Lawson or whatever her name is. She looks like somebody’s mother, but she’s nothing but an ugly old witch.”
“There aren’t any such things as witches,” Judy laughed.
“I’ll never believe it,” Clarissa continued, “but I do know I’m no changeling. My brother was just trying to play a joke on me when he took out the glass and then put it back to prove he could see himself in the mirror all right. I’m going to tell him I know, and then he’ll confess to it. I thought it all out, but I still can’t understand why I didn’t show on television. Everybody could see me when I took Francine Dow’s place on Irene’s show.”
“A picture tube blew out,” Judy started to explain. “That makes the picture close in—”