 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||||
Choose from these exciting, original kids’ audio stories.
Clem
the Detective Dog | Boris the KittenOne fine morning—over 100 years ago—two young girls, Emilita and Maddy, were riding with their Mom and Dad in a tall, rattly old stagecoach on their way to the little seaside town of Tippodnoc for their summer vacation. Now you may never have heard of Tippodnoc—even in the days of horses and wagons it was so tiny and old-fashioned people used to say “Why, Tippodnoc, it’s the town that time forgot.” Now it so happened that Emilita’s and Maddy’s parents had rented an old, grey and white wood-sided house on a little hill overlooking the sea just outside Tippodnoc. It was a tall house with a steep roof and a big chimney, just like your great-great-grandmother might have lived in. On the wide front porch there was one of those comfortable old couch-swings that hung from ceiling chains. You know, the kind that has thick, soft cushions perfect for reading and daydreaming on a lazy summer afternoon. Inside the front door was a large parlor full of rocking chairs and pictures of sailing ships. Behind that was a dining room with shiny silver candlesticks on a long oak table. And at the back of the house was the kitchen, with lots of windows, a gigantic wood stove, a small ice box and a green wall clock that ticked almost as loud as a cricket chirps. Upstairs, four big bedrooms overlooked the sandy beach and the sea. At the very top of the house there was an attic full of dusty books, mysterious boxes and plenty of slightly dented things that were far too interesting to throw away. Hardly anyone ever went up there—especially not children. Finally, just before supper time, the stagecoach carrying Emilita, Maddy and their parents pulled up in the grassy field in front of the old house. After the girls patted the four hard-working horses and gave each a carrot, everyone bustled back and forth, carrying suitcases, groceries and even a bag of duck food to the house. That reminds me: I haven’t mentioned Snowball and Midnight, the two big white ducks who lived in the pen out behind the barn, which—fortunately for the ducks—had a claw-footed bathtub for splashing in. And I guess I haven’t said a word about the barn, either. It was small (as barns go) and red (of course) and located on the opposite side of the house from the sea. At the front there was a big creaky wooden door. Inside was a loft to store hay up above the three stalls where the ponies—Clem, Zeke and Christobell—lived. That first evening, Maddy and Emilita were too tired from their long trip to make friends with the ducks and the ponies. Instead, they took a short run down the hill to the wide sandy beach and dipped their toes in the ocean. Then there was just time for a bath, a bowl of oxtail soup and piece of fresh gooseberry pie before getting ready for bed. But just as the girls were going upstairs, their friends the Huckabees arrived with their boy Benjamin, who everyone called Bongo. Although the girls liked Bongo—who was just about their age—and were looking forward to having a playmate for the rest of the summer, they more or less pretended he didn’t exist. And why not, since after all, Bongo was a boy and he was late. When all the adults had finally finished hugging and talking at once, and Bongo was given his soup and the last two bites of pie, all three children were bustled upstairs to bed in the two big, clean, high-ceilinged bedrooms at the back of the house. Because they were so tired from their trip, they hardly had time to admire the bright blue curtains or the old-fashioned wallpaper covered with red roses and marching camels—before they fell fast asleep. Much later that night, long after even the adults had gone to bed, some noise woke Emilita. She was just falling back to sleep when the sound startled her again. This time she sat straight up in bed and listened—. But no matter how hard she concentrated, everything was quiet. “Have I just been dreaming of thumps and bumps?” she wondered. Thump!Thump!Thump! —No, there it was again. “Yowser!—It’s coming from right over my head,” Emilita thought. Even though she was wide awake now, there was no more noise. Finally, after listening hard for the longest time, she yawned and snuggled her head back on the pillow to rest her eyes for just the tiniest moment. Thump!Thump!Thump! —And
then quickly again, but this time louder and faster— Emilita knew she had to do something—But since she wasn’t sure just what, she poked her sister, which is what she often did when things were a little confusing. But Maddy didn’t budge. So of course Emilita poked her again, this time a little harder. Maddy rolled over and made a snorfulling sound—but still didn’t open her eyes. So Emilita found the lantern their Dad had given them in case the old house seemed a little too dark on their first night. Carefully lighting it, she held the lantern so the light fell right on Maddy’s face. This time when she poked, Maddy mumbled, “Emilita, why are you bugging…?” Thump!Thump!Thump! “That’s why. That’s why,” said Emilita. “You just wait a minute and it will start again. And it’s coming from right over our heads. What are we going to do? No one can sleep through that racket.” Maddy, who was still barely awake, tried to say she had been sleeping just fine, thank you, and wanted to sleep some more, when suddenly Bongo put his head around the corner of the doorway. “Did you two hear that? I’m pretty sure there is a ghost in the attic. In fact, it’s so noisy up there, there might be two or three…or maybe even a herd.” “Scaredy-cat,” said Maddy. “There is no such thing as a herd of...” Thump!Thump!Thump! Again, the sound echoed around the big bedroom, causing even Maddy, who was mostly pretty brave, to suddenly look wide-eyed and pale. “C’mon,” Emilita said, “Let’s go up there and find out what’s going on.” “You mean up that creaky stepladder in the hall to the attic?” Bongo asked. “No way, Emilitay!—No way, Maday! No, no, no. I’m not going up there until morning—and even then I’ll get a big stick or a baseball bat and go right behind my Dad.” “Pock, pock, pock,” Maddy said in imitation of a chicken. “If you’re that scared, Bongo, you just stay here and wait for us to find out what’s going on. Or better yet, why don’t you go back to sleep and we’ll tell you all about it at breakfast.” “Yeah,” said Emilita. “We don’t need any help from chickens. The two of us will just solve this mystery by ourselves.” “Ok, ok, I’ll come,” said Bongo, “but I’ll take the hardest job—I’ll go up the ladder last to guard your backs. When you’re dealing with a pack of ghosts, being at the end of the line is the most dangerous spot, you know.” “I guess it is if you’re a scaredy-chicken,” mumbled Emilita, who was already out in the hall and starting up the ladder, holding the lantern high so she could see the trapdoor in the ceiling. Maddy followed just a step behind, and then came Bongo, who kept looking over his shoulder as if he really was afraid that a bunch of white and slithery things . When Emilita climbed to the seventh and top rung of the ladder, she reached up over her head, getting ready to push on the trapdoor. Thump!Thump!Thump! Not only did the sound come again, but because the children were closer to the attic now, it was much louder and scarier. You might have expected all three to scurry back down the ladder and hide under the covers. But only Bongo retreated a couple of steps, and even he stopped when he saw that the girls hadn’t moved. After a long minute in which Emilita seemed almost glued to the top of the ladder, Maddy reached up and tugged the back of her pajamas. “Keep going, Emi,” she encouraged. “Let’s really find out what’s making that sound. One thing is for sure: No pale old ghost could bang that loud.” Nodding her head, Emilita handed the lantern down to Maddy so she could push with both hands. No matter how hard she shoved, the trapdoor didn’t budge. But then—perhaps because she was just a little scared after all—Emilita gave it an extra hard push. This time the little door in the ceiling flew open with a sh—rrr---i—eee--kkkk. All three children froze. Then Maddy felt something move on the ladder behind her. For just the tiniest second she thought it might really be a ghost sneaking up from behind. But then she saw it was just Bongo—sliding down the ladder and running into his bedroom. Maddy took a long deep breath—and then another, even more slowly—just as her Mom had taught her to do when things seemed kind of tense. “C’mon, don’t pay attention to him. Let’s keep going,” Maddy urged. Emilita, who obviously agreed, was already climbing through the hole in the ceiling into the large dark attic, which covered the whole top of the house. As soon as she was safely up, she reached down one hand to grab the lantern and then the other to help her sister scramble up. Then the two girls slowly crept around the attic so they could see behind all the piles of stuff and even into the darkest corners. Under a little window, they spotted a pile of old ice skates, some broken tennis racquets and a huge kid-sized doll, missing one arm. And over in the north corner were some tall rubber boots, a round hat box, a kid-sized piano with mostly broken white keys, and an ancient leather trunk. Thump!Thump!Thump! “It’s coming from that trunk,” Bongo said from the top of the ladder where his head poked up into the attic. “Look who has finally arrived,” said Maddy. “Better late than tomorrow morning, I guess.” As Bongo climbed up through the open trapdoor, he asked, “What? Afraid to open a little trunk? I’d say whatever has been making that thumping has to be inside.” “Oh yeah, Mr. Suddenly-Brave-Used-to-Be-a-Chicken Guy. Let’s see you lift open the lid,” said Emilita, moving the lantern close to the front of the trunk. Much to the girls’ surprise, Bongo calmly walked across the attic, reached down, grabbed the two leather handles, and slowly—very, very slowly—pulled. As he got the hinged lid halfway open, something dark, graceful and fast jumped out and raced across the floor just outside the lantern’s glow. Emilita, who had jumped almost as high, almost as fast and almost as far as the little animal, turned and raised the lantern very high so it would cast a big circle of light. Then all three children carefully peered around.
But there was a little black shadow under the window and behind the tennis racquets. What was it? The children crept closer and, as the lantern light grew brighter, they saw something small and furry trying to hide. “What is it?” Bongo asked. The three children crept slowly and cautiously closer, with Emilita still holding the lantern out front. Finally they could see who had made all those thumps. It was a little black kitten with one white paw. “Meow, meow,” the little animal said in a very polite, but slightly worried kind of way. Maddy laughed first, and then Emilita and Bongo joined in. “I knew it was a kitten even before I opened the trunk,” Bongo bragged, pointing at the little cat tracks on the dusty floor. "I never would have been so brave otherwise.” Just then the kitten walked over and rubbed against Maddy’s leg. She slowly reached down and picked it up. “Hold the lantern close, Emilita. Let’s see what his collar says,” she said. All three children crowded together, each straining to be first to see. “Boris,” Bongo said. “His name is Boris the Kitten.” “I wonder how little Boris got shut up in that trunk,” Emilita said. “Maybe the top was open when he came up to play and somehow it fell closed when he bumped it.” “Maybe,” Maddy yawned. “But right now I think we need to get Boris the Kitten a cup of warm milk and all crawl back into bed. There won’t be any more loud noises tonight and we’ll have plenty of time to figure out what happened in the morning. Emilita and Bongo nodded and the three climbed carefully back down the ladder, with Maddy cradling the already purring Boris under her arm. The End
|
