Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism

by Georgia Byng

  “What do you want me to do?” Molly asked, taking the envelope as if it were about to blow up in her hand.

  “I want”—Nockman sighed lazily—“well, the first thing I want, of course, is the book Hypnotism. That goes without question. The second thing, this favor thing, is this … I want you to help me rob a bank.”

  Twenty-three

  “Rob a bank?” Molly gagged at the words, and Nockman laughed condescendingly.

  “Hadn’t it crossed your mind, Miss Moon, that you might be able to use your skills to rob a bank? There you were, dancing your little feet off to earn your dough, when you could have had millions of times as much just by visiting a bank.”

  “No, it never occurred to me,” said Molly in a daze.

  “Come on now,” said Nockman incredulously. “You don’t have to be shy. You’re showing all the signs of being a star criminal. You should be proud of yourself.”

  “But I would never rob a bank,” insisted Molly.

  “Oh, yes, you would. And you will. And I think that when you get back to the Waldorf and open that envelope, you’re going to be very impressed.” Nockman, Molly noticed, was looking very pleased with himself.

  “Inside it, you will find plans that will make your tiny head spin. You will see, kiddo, how big-time crime is done.” He breathed heavily. “I want you to rob Shorings Bank. You may have heard of it. It’s in New York’s diamond district, on Forty-sixth Street. It’s where every jewelry dealer and every major jewelry owner keeps their stones. The place is stuffed to the brim with rubies, sapphires, diamonds. You name a precious stone and there’ll be mountains of them at Shorings. It’s not a gold-bullion bank, and it doesn’t hold large amounts of cash. No, what it houses is jewels. And why does everyone keep their jewels there? Because Shorings is the most impregnable bank in the world. Breaking into it is as difficult as traveling to the center of the earth and back again, if you see what I mean. Every criminal’s dream is to crack Shorings, and I’ve had that dream since I was a boy.”

  “But you’re a professor!” exclaimed Molly, and it sounded very prim to her, even as she said it.

  “Come on, Moonie,” scoffed Nockman. “Wake up and smell the whisky. I’m no professor … well, a professor of crime, perhaps.” He grinned at his own joke. “And I’ve been studying this job for a very long time. Is Shorings impregnable? Yeah. But not for a criminal genius like me. I was determined to crack it. So I worked there as a cleaner. And I cleaned real good, so there was no way they were gonna fire me. I mopped floors, I cleaned bathrooms, but all the time I was studying the place and seeing how it worked. But after my stint there, I still didn’t know exactly how I was gonna rob it. Then I found out about the hypnotism book, and after that I found out about you.”

  Molly’s mouth had dropped open in amazement.

  “I was going to rob the bank myself,” he said. “But since you stole the book and have held me up so much, I thought I’d let you do the job instead.”

  “Thank you,” said Molly weakly.

  “So I’ll leave it all in your capable hands.” Nockman pulled his sheepskin coat around him. “You should look on this as a privilege. This is your chance to be associated with the greatest bank robbery of all time. You’ll see. We’re gonna go down in history.”

  With that, Nockman turned to go. He felt good. He’d never spoken to anyone about his ambitions or his work. “I’ll call you to tell you when,” he added. “And don’t go doing anything stupid like talking to the cops…. Just remember, I’ve got the pug.” Then he waddled away.

  The meeting was over. Molly was left clutching the heavy envelope, horrified. The idea of stealing millions of dollars’ worth of jewels from Shorings Bank made her feel sick. But if she didn’t, then Petula would die. Suddenly everything felt very out of control.

  Molly left the bandshell and pushed the bicycle along the path. She felt guilty about the bike now. Even though she had always planned to return it, she felt like a thief. Then she thought about what Nockman had said, about her being a fraud. She was a fraud. She thought about the money that she’d won at the Briersville Children’s Talent Competition, and the way she’d pushed Davina Nuttel out of Stars on Mars. Molly was appalled at herself. Davina might be an annoying, spoiled upstart, but at least she had worked her way to the top. Whereas Molly had conned her way up. How could Molly despise Nockman for wanting to rob a bank, when she had been robbing people all along in her own way?

  Then Molly imagined what would happen if she did rob Shorings Bank. She’d be caught, of course. Banks, unlike theaters, were on the lookout for thieves. They had all sorts of high-tech equipment—alarms, cameras. Molly would be arrested, tried in court, and then sent to a juvenile prison. She could imagine how the papers would love it. Her picture would be splashed across the front pages, and the public would loathe her. Maybe the news would even reach Briersville, and everyone there would know what Molly had done. Molly imagined how ashamed Mrs. Trinklebury would be, crying as she made cupcakes. Molly saw herself in a concrete cell, sitting on a bed, lonely and unvisited. Mrs. Trinklebury would be too far away to come, and Petula wouldn’t be allowed. What about Rocky? Would he visit her?

  Molly’s eyes burned. She longed for a friend to confide in. She needed Rocky. Molly thought of him, and for the first time in weeks, her eyes filled with tears. She realized that she could have easily found him by now, if she hadn’t been so caught up in herself. She felt awful for forgetting him and for chasing fame and fortune instead. Those things felt like nothing now compared with her precious friendship with Rocky.

  Tears drenched Molly’s cheeks as she passed a wishing well. She stopped. An old saying came into her head: “You never miss your water till your well runs dry.” Her well of friendship had run completely dry.

  She reached into her pocket and pulled out her pendulum. Even in the dark, it shone. Molly thought how the pendulum was just like all the things she’d been chasing in New York. It was expensive and beautiful, but at the end of the day, it was useless. Molly didn’t need it at all. She liked her plain old soap-on-a-string pendulum better now.

  She turned the heavy golden object over in her hand, and then, with a sudden gesture, she hurled it into the well. As she did, she wished with all her heart for Petula and Rocky. With a splosh, the pendulum hit the water and sank.

  Molly cycled back to the Waldorf in the rain, turning the situation over and over in her mind. If she refused to rob the bank, Nockman would expose her and she’d end up in jail. But worse than this, Nockman would dispose of Petula. Nightmare visions of Petula being left to starve in a cellar, or Petula being thrown in a river, or Petula being dropped off a skyscraper, filled Molly’s mind. Molly despised Nockman and felt very violent toward him. She felt like pushing him off a skyscraper. Her worry for Petula and her hatred of Nockman were all mixed up with her longing for Rocky and her general confusion. By the time Molly had returned the bicycle and sneaked into the service elevator, rain soaked and bedraggled, she was in a truly miserable state.

  Back in her suite, she sat down sadly on the bed and opened the envelope. The first thing she pulled out was a map. It was a plan of the inside of Shorings Bank. One part showed the layout of the ground floor; another showed the layout of the bank’s basement. The basement was where all the safes and deposit rooms were. Molly groaned as she saw that Nockman had written, Empty all these rooms.

  One strong room was called the Small Customer Deposit Box Room. Molly thought of the innocent old ladies who kept their precious family heirlooms in the bank. They’d have heart attacks when they heard their jewelry had been stolen. Stolen by Molly. She couldn’t do it.

  She saw a note at the bottom of the page.

  The job is simple. I want all the stones, jewels, and jewelry from the strong rooms. Forget gold and cash. I have a checklist and will be using it.

  Molly pulled out other documents from the envelope. There was a page with a list of all the people who worked in the bank, and where t
hey worked. The last page was entitled “Operation Hypnobank.” It read:

  Hypnotize all members of bank staff, clerks, secretaries, manager, security guards

  Hypnotize customers in bank

  Instruct manager to close bank and to turn off all internal cameras and alarms

  Gain entry to basement strong rooms

  Rob

  Load up vehicle in bank garage (hypnotize driver)

  Blank minds of all bank workers

  Drive to warehouse (address to be given later)

  And where was Nockman to be in all of this? Miles away, of course, where he would never be a suspect.

  Molly read on. She was supposed to accompany the loaded bank vehicle to a warehouse, where she would find a brown truck. The hypnotized driver was to move all the stolen stuff from the bank truck to the brown truck; then she was supposed to send him off with a story in his head about where he’d been. And only when this was all done would Nockman arrive to drive his stolen treasure away. Once he had traveled far enough away and checked that the truck contained everything from the bank, then, and only then, would he call Molly at the warehouse and tell her where she could find Petula.

  When I have checked that all the boxes are there, I will telephone and give you the address where to find your dog, and you will find her safe and comfortable.

  Molly moaned. What if Nockman didn’t give Petula back? What if he held on to her and got Molly to rob another bank? Or what if he made off with the loot and never told Molly where Petula was? Molly wondered whether she should call the police. But Nockman’s words rang in her ears. “If you get the cops involved, I’m tellin’ you, the dog dies.”

  Molly went into the bathroom to splash water on her face. She looked up at herself in the bathroom mirror and she stared and stared. She wanted to hypnotize herself into feeling in control of the situation.

  But instead of changing, her face stayed the same. No fusion feeling crept up her legs. Her sad, tear-stained face looked back at her, and try as she might, she couldn’t conjure up a confident-looking Molly. She realized how adrift she was. So helpless that she seemed to be losing her powers. This was horrible.

  Molly shook herself away from the mirror and turned back into the bedroom. A light was flashing on her telephone. Someone had left a message. Her heart sank as she realized it was probably from Nockman with the address of his warehouse and robbery date. Molly pressed the voice-mail button with a shaking finger.

  “Hi, Molly!” came Barry Bragg’s voice. “Just to tell you again, you were fab, just fab in the show last night … Call me, it’s Barry.”

  Beeeeeeep.

  “Molly, this is Superintendent Osman. Please call—we would like to talk to you about other ways we might be able to track your dog. I’m at 555-7889.”

  Beeeeeeep.

  “Molly, my name’s Mrs. Philpot. I got your number from Barry Bragg. He said you might be interested in some pug puppies I’ve got…. Call me at

  Beeeeeeep.

  “Hi, Molly! Guess who this is?” Molly sat up…. It was Rocky’s voice! “I’m in New York, in the lobby of your hotel, but you’re not in. I’m going to wait here till seven forty-five; then I’ll go back to my apartment…. The number there is 555-3366.”

  Molly looked at the clock. It was seven forty. She rushed out of her room and was soon whizzing down to the ground floor in the elevator. As the door slid open, Molly’s eyes frantically scanned the people milling about in the lobby. Then she saw a head of curly black hair poking up over the back of a pink-and-white patterned chair.

  “Rocky! You found me!” Molly couldn’t believe it.

  Rocky’s fantastic brown face looked around at her in surprise. Molly had never been so pleased to see anyone in her life.

  “Hey, Molly!”

  The two friends rushed at each other and hugged. For a moment Molly forgot all her worries, she was so happy to see Rocky. It was like having a part of herself back again.

  Then they let go and stared at each other. Molly drank in Rocky’s face. He looked as sunshiny as ever. He’d had a haircut and was wearing a new denim jacket. Otherwise he was just the same.

  They stood there with huge grins on their faces. Then Molly said, “Quick, come upstairs away from all these people.”

  As she pressed the elevator button, she whispered, “You don’t know how glad I am to see you. Really, Rocky, you don’t know …”

  “Same here,” said Rocky.

  “Oh, Rocky, really? I’ve got so much to tell you. How did you find me? You couldn’t have come at a better time. I’ve been wishing and wishing for you. I’m so happy you’re here. How did you know I was here? Did Gerry tell you?”

  “Gerry? No. I saw you on television this morning, when you were telling the whole world that Petula had been lost,” explained Rocky. “And then you actually said hello to me. It was surreal! I could hardly believe it was you here in New York. But I was really pleased because I didn’t know where you were, Molly. Every time I called Hardwick House, Hazel answered the phone, and she had no idea where you were either.”

  They stepped into the elevator arm in arm.

  “I was just having breakfast … and I half choked on it when I saw you on TV. I coughed it all over the table…. I was so, so shocked….”

  “Sorry.” Molly began to laugh.

  The elevator stopped at Molly’s floor. “I couldn’t believe it was you, old Molly Moon, on American breakfast TV!”

  “WOW … this is fabulous,” said Rocky as he stepped into Molly’s suite. “This is amazing. You’ll have to tell me everything that’s happened to you, Molly. I mean, this is so cool. Is this all yours?”

  “Mmmnn, except, well, it was mine and Petula’s.”

  Rocky picked up Petula’s space suit and sighed. “I’m sure she’ll be found,” he said. “I mean, everyone’s looking for her…. You were very persuasive on that program … My new parents thought you were lovely…. They were saying things like, ‘Oh, isn’t Molly Moon sweet…. She’s like Shirley Temple…. She’s adorable….“‘

  An awful thought suddenly hit Molly. Had Rocky been hypnotized by her over the airwaves? She couldn’t bear it if her only true friend had been hypnotized into liking her, just like everyone else. “Rocky,” she said quickly, “before you start thinking anything about me, stop right now, because I’m going to tell you how I got all this, how I got to be in Stars on Mars and everything, so don’t decide that you like me until I’ve told you. And I warn you, you may not like me when you hear what I’ve done, but I have to tell you the truth, because otherwise you won’t know who I really am.”

  “Calm down, Molly,” said Rocky, frowning and sitting down on the sofa. He helped himself to a marsh-mallow from the large bowl on the table.

  “Okay,” Molly said, taking a deep breath. “First, I’ve got something to show you.” Molly went to a cupboard and opened it. “It’s the thing that changed my life…. It’s what helped me get here.” Molly clicked a combination lock and opened the safe’s heavy steel door. She pulled out the hypnotism book, which she had wrapped in silk, and carried it over to Rocky. “Inside here is the most incredible book. And I’m not joking, Rocky, it really is something special. This book is what brought me to New York. It brought me all this success … but it’s all ended in disaster.”

  As Molly poured them both a Qube, Rocky opened the package. And for the next hour Molly told him the whole story. From when they had had the argument by the cross-country track in Briersville to hearing Rocky’s message just now. She showed him the envelope of instructions from Nockman and Petula’s red collar. When she’d finished, Molly tried to look Rocky bravely in the eye.

  “So now you know what I’ve been up to. The worst thing is that I got so wrapped up in myself and blown away by fame and money and flashy stuff that I forgot about you. Then, when I lost Petula too, I realized how awful it is without friends. You’ll probably want to go now, but I just had to tell you everything.”

  Rock
y’s expression was thoughtful. He rolled a piece of golden paper from a chocolate around in his hand until it was a small ball. “You nitwit,” he said. “I’m not going to go. I’ve only just found you. Why would I want to leave my best friend, who has been almost impossible to find and who I’ve missed like mad?” Rocky held up the golden ball and twisted it from side to side, so that it caught the light and shone. “I mean, she may be half crazy and have done some things that she maybe shouldn’t have, but so what? She’s still the best person I know. I mean, look at this ball. If it was the only precious thing you owned and if you’d had it all your life, you wouldn’t just go and throw it away when a little bit of rust showed on it, would you?”

  Molly shook her head and looked at the golden ball.

  “You can relax, Molly. I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to stay right here, by your side, okay? So you can relax and feel good.”

  Molly did feel good. Better than she’d felt in ages. It was wonderful to have Rocky back. He was talking to her now, but she didn’t hear what he was saying. She was just listening to his warm, kind voice, realizing how much she’d missed it. It made her feel as if she had come home.

  “But what am I going to do about Petula, Rocky? I can’t see how to get out of this trap. All because of me, Petula is somewhere lonely and scared. She’d be better off feeling sick with Adderstone’s chocolate cookies. Because now she might die, she really might…. I mean, this guy is really mean … and it’s all my fault…. I should have just stayed at Hardwick House and put up with life there. I may have been bad at everything and unpopular, but at least Petula was safe and I wasn’t being blackmailed into robbing a bank…. In fact, I wish I was back there … I wish I’d never found this stupid hypnotism book … I wish I could turn the clock back and all of this would just disappear.”

  All at once Rocky clapped his hands, and with a whoosh the hotel room disappeared. In its place was a wood. The wood beside the cross-country track, outside Briersville. Rocky and Molly were sitting on a bench, just as they had been the afternoon of their argument. They were in gym clothes, with sneakers on. It was raining and they were wet.