ing time makes up for the fact that she stays at the War Department every night until ten and I usually eat supper alone.

But when Mamma is off on one of her trips, I sleep until the very last minute and rush off to Sanctuary School without my breakfast, but with an extra half hour of snore.

Now, the Butler may be banished, but that doesn't mean that the House is entirely dead. Occasionally it groans and thrashes a bit, li

Excerpt
The following is an excerpt from the book Flora Segunda
by Ysabeau S. Wilce
Published by Harcourt, Inc.; January 2007;$17.00US; 0-15-205433-2
Copyright © 2007 Ysabeau S. Wilce

ONE
Mamma. Sleeping Late. An Overdue Library Book. The Elevator.

As commanding general of the Army of Califa, Mamma is in charge of just about everything, so she is not much home -- she's always off on an inspection, or maneuvers, or at a grand council somewhere, or just working late. Thus, Crackpot's crumbling is no particular bother to her. Idden, too, is nicely out of it, even if her current post, Fort Jones, is the back end of Nowhere. At least she can count on having someone else do her laundry and cook her supper.

Mostly just Poppy and I are stuck home alone, which really works out to just me alone, because Poppy only comes out of his Eyrie when the booze and cigarillos run out. Then he's just a thin shadow in a worn cadet shawl and bloodstained frock coat creeping out the back door, off to buy more booze, so he hardly counts at all. Thus, it is me who reaps all the inconvenience.

When Mamma is home, she gets up at oh-dark-thirty and makes me get up with her, so that we can have family time at breakfast. This, of course, is not really family time, since Poppy isn't there, and Idden isn't there, and the First Flora isn't there. On these occasions, it's just Mamma and me, half a family, having half-a-family time. And since that's all we are ever going to have, that's what we have to learn to like.

It makes Mamma happy to pretend we are a happy family, so I sit and suffer through warmed-over takeaway and caf? au lait, and she asks me about school, and I ask her about work and this morning time makes up for the fact that she stays at the War Department every night until ten and I usually eat supper alone.

But when Mamma is off on one of her trips, I sleep until the very last minute and rush off to Sanctuary School without my breakfast, but with an extra half hour of snore.

Now, the Butler may be banished, but that doesn't mean that the House is entirely dead. Occasionally it groans and thrashes a bit, lik

, or maneuvers, or at a grand council somewhere, or just working late. Thus, Crackpot's crumbling is no particular bother to her. Idden, too, is nicely out of it, even if her current post, Fort Jones, is the back end of Nowhere. At least she can count on having someone else do her laundry and cook her supper.

Mostly just Poppy and I are stuck home alone, which really works out to just me alone, because Poppy only comes out of his Eyrie when the booze and cigarillos run out. Then he's just a thin shadow in a worn cadet shawl and bloodstained frock coat creeping out the back door, off to buy more booze, so he hardly counts at all. Thus, it is me who reaps all the inconvenience.

When Mamma is home, she gets up at oh-dark-thirty and makes me get up with her, so that we can have family time at breakfast. This, of course, is not really family time, since Poppy isn't there, and Idden isn't there, and the First Flora isn't there. On these occasions, it's just Mamma and me, half a family, having half-a-family time. And since that's all we are ever going to have, that's what we have to learn to like.

It makes Mamma happy to pretend we are a happy family, so I sit and suffer through warmed-over takeaway and caf? au lait, and she asks me about school, and I ask her about work and this morning time makes up for the fact that she stays at the War Department every night until ten and I usually eat supper alone.

But when Mamma is off on one of her trips, I sleep until the very last minute and rush off to Sanctuary School without my breakfast, but with an extra half hour of snore.

Now, the Butler may be banished, but that doesn't mean that the House is entirely dead. Occasionally it groans and thrashes a bit, li

Eyrie when the booze and cigarillos run out. Then he's just a thin shadow in a worn cadet shawl and bloodstained frock coat creeping out the back door, off to buy more booze, so he hardly counts at all. Thus, it is me who reaps all the inconvenience.

When Mamma is home, she gets up at oh-dark-thirty and makes me get up with her, so that we can have family time at breakfast. This, of course, is not really family time, since Poppy isn't there, and Idden isn't there, and the First Flora isn't there. On these occasions, it's just Mamma and me, half a family, having half-a-family time. And since that's all we are ever going to have, that's what we have to learn to like.

It makes Mamma happy to pretend we are a happy family, so I sit and suffer through warmed-over takeaway and caf? au lait, and she asks me about school, and I ask her about work and this morning time makes up for the fact that she stays at the War Department every night until ten and I usually eat supper alone.

But when Mamma is off on one of her trips, I sleep until the very last minute and rush off to Sanctuary School without my breakfast, but with an extra half hour of snore.

Now, the Butler may be banished, but that doesn't mean that the House is entirely dead. Occasionally it groans and thrashes a bit, li

y isn't there, and Idden isn't there, and the First Flora isn't there. On these occasions, it's just Mamma and me, half a family, having half-a-family time. And since that's all we are ever going to have, that's what we have to learn to like.

It makes Mamma happy to pretend we are a happy family, so I sit and suffer through warmed-over takeaway and caf? au lait, and she asks me about school, and I ask her about work and this morning time makes up for the fact that she stays at the War Department every night until ten and I usually eat supper alone.

But when Mamma is off on one of her trips, I sleep until the very last minute and rush off to Sanctuary School without my breakfast, but with an extra half hour of snore.

Now, the Butler may be banished, but that doesn't mean that the House is entirely dead. Occasionally it groans and thrashes a bit, li

ing time makes up for the fact that she stays at the War Department every night until ten and I usually eat supper alone.

But when Mamma is off on one of her trips, I sleep until the very last minute and rush off to Sanctuary School without my breakfast, but with an extra half hour of snore.

Now, the Butler may be banished, but that doesn't mean that the House is entirely dead. Occasionally it groans and thrashes a bit, like a sleeping person whose body moves though her mind drifts far away. But it never moves like you would want it to, like before, when the potty would be next to your bedroom in the middle of the night, but tucked Elsewhere otherwise. Sometimes the long way is the short way and the short way is the long way, and occasionally there is no way at all.

This does not happen too often, because Mamma is strict that it should not. Before, the Butler kept Crackpot in order, but now it's Mamma's Will alone that keeps the House in line. She likes to be in control of things and usually is. But when Mamma is gone, her grip slips a bit, and then so does the way downstairs, or to the back door, or maybe even to the potty. The House moves not in a good and useful way, but in a horribly inconveniently annoying way. Sometimes you have to be careful.

Like the Elevator. Our rooms are spread along three floors, and it's a bit of a hike to get from the kitchen in the basement up to my second-floor bedroom. The Elevator would be much quicker, but we aren't supposed to use it without Mamma. Once, when I was just a tot, Poppy tried to take the Elevator back to his Eyrie. Mamma warned him not to, but he was drunk, and he roared that he would see her in hell before he'd take another order from her, General Fyrdraaca, sir! When he staggered onto the Elevator, the iron grille slammed just like an eyelid snapping shut in fear, with Poppy still cursing blue as the cage moved upward.

The Elevator came back empty a few minutes later, and for a full week, we could hear distant howling and shouting drifting around us, but always out of our reach. Poppy finally staggered out of the Door of Delectable Desires, disheveled and pale, and, without