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I ot back, to tell hi for his van, Truska - the lady as able to grow an incredible beard - grabbed ns that she wanted me to follow her

She led me to her tent It was decorated more than most of the other tents and vans The walls were covered withtables and a hu in her weird seal-like voice, then stood n that I wasn’t supposed totape and measured ht for a few seconds, then clicked her fingers and hurried to one of the closets She dug through it, co out with a pair of pants She found a shirt in another closet, a jacket in another, and a pair of shoes in a large chest She let me pick -table drawers

I stepped behind a silk screen to put the clothes on Evra must have told her about lad that he did, because I probably would have kept on forgetting

Truska clapped her hands when I came out and quickly shoved me in front of a mirror The clothes fit perfectly and, reen, the pants were dark purple, and the jacket was blue and gold Truska found a long piece of red satin cloth and wrapped it around my waist like a belt That coreat!"I told her "The only thing is,"I said, pointing at ht"

Truska took back the shoes and found a new pair They were roomier than the first pair and the toes curled up just like Sinbad the Sailor’s They were really cool

"Thanks, Truska,"I said, and started to leave She raised a hand and I stopped She pulled a chair over to one of the taller wardrobes and stood on it, reached up, and brought down a huge round box She plopped it on the floor, opened it, and pulled out a small brown hat with a feather in it, the kind that Robin Hood wore

Before I could put the hat on, she ave me a haircut, which I badly needed

The haircut and hat were the icing on the cake I alnize myself in the mirror when I looked this time

"Oh, Truska,"I said "I I"I couldn’t find the words, so instead I threw , sloppy kiss I felt elad none of

I rushed off to show Evra reat, but swore he’d never asked Truska to helpme look so scruffy, or Mr Crepsley had asked her to fix me up, or she’d done it because she liked me

"She does not like"Truska loves Darren"

"Oh, shut up, you slihed, not the least bit offended

"Darren and Truska sitting in a tree,"he sang, "k-i-s-s-i-n-g First coe, then coe"

I juround, and wouldn’t let go until he cried forcare of his snake, and I went outside and continued with the day’s jobs I was on the go nonstop, because I had to cover for Evra and do the work of two With all that co new clothes, I totally forgot about RV and telling Mr Tall about the ecowarrior’s threat to investigate the disappearing anis would have turned out differently, and maybe our stay wouldn’t have ended in a bloodbath