by Ron Roy
“I am so not going in there,” Josh announced. “Dink, let me have your phone so I can call a cab.”
“Joshua Pinto!” Ruth Rose said. “We are your best friends, and we are not going to leave you out here all alone with 560,000 dead people! Come in with us, please.”
Josh took a baby step. “Okay, but if I see one dead body, I’ll be up in that tree with Mr. Parakeet!” he said.
Ruth Rose pulled the door open all the way.
“Wait a sec,” Dink said, taking his cell phone from a pocket. “I want a picture of you guys going into a crypt!” He took the picture and checked the result.
Dink and Josh followed Ruth Rose down the steps. Josh made sure the door was left partly open.
They tiptoed into a dark room about the size of Dink’s bedroom. Light from the doorway showed a floor and walls made of stone. Dink could feel the cold dampness through his clothing. The place smelled like a blanket that had been left out in the rain.
The corners were dark. The ceiling was low. Dink wiped a cobweb from his face. He snapped a picture of a pedestal near a wall. There was nothing else in the room except a pile of dead flower stalks on the floor. They were tied together with a rotting white ribbon.
“Yuck,” Josh said, kicking at them. “Oh, double yuck!” One of the brown stalks turned out to be the skeleton of a bird that had been dead for a long time. A few feathers still clung to the sad little corpse.
“There’s your dead body,” Dink said, grinning at Josh. “Are you going to fly away, Mr. Parakeet?”
“I meant a human body,” Josh said. “Can we leave now? This isn’t fun.”
“We didn’t come here to have fun,” Ruth Rose said. “And I don’t think my grandmother broke in here and stole a vase, either.”
A small circle of light came from the front wall. It shone on one corner of the floor, like the beam from a flashlight.
“What’s that light from?” Josh asked.
Dink pointed up at the wall. “It’s the sun coming through that hole where the parakeet flew in,” he said.
“But what’s the hole for?” Josh insisted.
“It could be an air vent,” Ruth Rose said.
“Dead guys don’t need air,” Josh muttered.
“It’s not an air vent,” Dink whispered. “The hole is so Royce ghosts can fly in and out.”
“It’s a shame your jokes are lame,” Josh said. “And it’s creepy in here!”
Dink turned on the flashlight on his phone. He shone the light around the room. “Because you’re my friend,” he told Josh.
“Thank you,” Josh said. “But I’m still creeped.”
“Well, don’t get used to it, because my phone’s running out of power,” Dink mumbled as he lit up the pedestal.
It was made of smooth white marble and stood about three feet tall. The letter R had been carved into the base. The pedestal and the floor around it were dusty.
“Guys, look at this,” Ruth Rose said. She pointed to a circle on top of the pedestal that was dust-free. “I’ll bet this is where the Royce Vase was.”
Behind the pedestal, a tattered velvet drape hung on the wall. It looked and smelled a hundred years old. The letter R was sewn onto the center of the drape. There were holes and rips in the cloth, as if something had been chewing on it.
“The R must stand for Royce,” Josh said. “Like the one on the pedestal.”
“I wonder where old Mr. Royce’s body is,” Ruth Rose said.
Dink swung his light around. It lit up some words on a brass plate embedded in the stone floor. He knelt down and wiped away dust and dirt. Then he read out loud:
joseph royce, 1822–1890. may he rest in peace.
“He’s under this floor?” Josh whispered.
“I guess so,” Dink said.
Josh backed away. “Guys, I’m going to have nightmares for the rest of my life,” he said. “Can we please—”
Just then, the light from Dink’s phone went out.
“What happened?” Josh cried.
“Sorry,” Dink said. “My phone’s dead.”
“Perfect,” Josh said. “We’ve got dead birds and dead batteries.”
“Don’t worry,” Ruth Rose said. She was digging around in her backpack. “Aha!” She brought out a small flashlight and turned it on.
“Please tell me your batteries are working,” Josh said.
“Of course they are,” Ruth Rose said. “We have plenty of light!”
Dink heard a noise behind him. He turned just as the door slammed shut.
“Okay, Dink,” Josh said. “Thanks for trying to scare me to death!”
“I didn’t shut the door,” Dink said.
“Maybe it was the wind,” Ruth Rose said. She aimed her flashlight at the door. It was definitely closed.
“Stop fooling around,” Josh said, sprinting for the door. “Help me, okay?”
The three kids leaned against the door and pushed. It didn’t move an inch.
“It’s locked on the outside,” Ruth Rose said.
“So this isn’t a joke?” Josh asked. “We are locked in here?”
“Yes, but don’t worry,” Ruth Rose said. “Dink can call someone.”
“My phone battery’s dead, remember?” Dink said.
The three kids stared at each other over the beam from Ruth Rose’s flashlight.
“So we have light, but we’ll starve to death,” Josh said.
“No, we won’t,” Ruth Rose said. She handed Josh her flashlight and opened her backpack. She pulled out a package of peanut butter crackers.
Dink moved to the far corner and sat next to the round beam of light from the parakeet’s hole.
“Josh, I think you should shut off my flashlight,” Ruth Rose said. “We’re wasting the batteries. Our eyes will adjust to the dark in a few minutes.”
“Great,” Josh mumbled, but he switched off the flashlight.
“Ouch!” Dink cried. A tiny drop of blood appeared on his finger.
“What’s wrong?” Ruth Rose asked.
“Something on the floor cut my finger,” Dink said.
Ruth Rose walked to where Dink was sitting. She crouched down and looked at the round spot where the light from the hole lit up the floor. “There are tiny pieces of glass,” she said. She gathered them into a tissue.
“Can I have one of those tissues?” Dink asked. She handed him one, and he wrapped it around his finger.
“Josh, do you want a cracker?” Ruth Rose asked.
“No, I want a stick of dynamite to blow this door open,” he answered. Then he walked over and sat between Dink and Ruth Rose. “But I’ll take a cracker.”
They each ate a cracker.
“A hundred years from now, someone will find my skeleton, like that bird’s,” Josh said. He began pulling on the strand of yarn hanging from his sweater sleeve. “They’ll name this place the Joshua Pinto Crypt.”
“We have plenty of oxygen,” Ruth Rose said. She pointed at the hole. “We just need to figure out how to get out of here.”
“Maybe I can squeeze through that hole,” Josh said.
“Josh, it’s only six inches across,” Dink said. “And it’s eight feet off the floor.”
Josh walked over and stood under the hole. He shouted, “HELP! WE’RE LOCKED IN! HELP!”
“Josh, these walls are about a foot thick,” Ruth Rose said. “Solid stone.”
“But if we all yell, someone might hear us,” Josh said, pointing up. “Through that parakeet hole!”
“It’s worth a try,” Dink said. He and Ruth Rose stood next to Josh and yelled, “HELP! WE NEED HELP! HELLLLP!” They continued yelling until their throats got sore.
Dink put his ear against the door. “Nothing,” he said. He sat on the fl
oor with his back against the pedestal. Josh and Ruth Rose sat next to him.
“Why couldn’t I be Gummy Guy?” Josh muttered.
“Who’s that?” Ruth Rose asked.
“He’s a guy in my comics,” Josh said. “He can stretch himself real thin like a rubber band, only he’s made of candy. He could slip through that hole like a snake!”
“I might have some candy,” Ruth Rose said. She felt around inside her backpack. “Sorry.”
“No candy, Andy,” Dink joked, but he felt like crying.
Ruth Rose pulled her scarf from her backpack and started to wrap it around her neck. “I have an idea!” she cried. “Josh, pull a piece of yarn from your sweater!”
“Why? You always tell me not to,” he said, but started tugging on the yarn.
“What’s your idea?” Dink asked Ruth Rose.
“If we tie Josh’s yarn to my scarf, we can dangle it outside that hole,” she said. “The scarf is bright red. Somebody is bound to see it!”
Dink got up. “That could work,” he said. “But how do we get the scarf through the hole? It’s too high for us to reach.”
“We need Gummy Guy,” Josh said. “He could reach it!”
“We need a ladder,” Dink said.
“Guys, we can use this!” Ruth Rose said. She turned and put her hands on the pedestal. “If we drag this under the hole, Josh can climb on it because he’s tallest. Then he can poke the scarf through the hole!”
They grabbed the pedestal and tried to move it.
“Stupid thing won’t budge,” Josh said.
“It’s solid marble,” Dink said. “And probably weighs more than the three of us together.”
“Got another idea,” Josh said. He tugged on the velvet drape. The rotted fabric fell to the floor, leaving a long curtain rod. Josh stood on the pedestal and lifted the rod out of the wall brackets that held it in place.
“What are you going to use that for?” Dink asked.
“We can tie the scarf to one end of the pole,” Josh said. “I think the pole is long enough to reach through the hole!”
“Now I get it!” Dink said. “Pretty smart, Art!”
“You’re right, Dwight,” Josh said.
Josh held the curtain rod while Dink tied the scarf to one end.
“Tie it tight,” Ruth Rose said. “I don’t want to lose my favorite scarf!”
Dink gave the knot an extra tug. Josh held the curtain rod up against the wall until the scarf was in front of the parakeet’s hole. After some poking, he was finally able to force the scarf through the hole.
“Now let’s just hope someone sees it,” Ruth Rose said.
Dink checked his watch. The numbers glowed in the dark. “Maria is expecting us home in ten minutes!” he said.
Nothing happened.
“Let me try,” Dink said. He took the pole from Josh and jiggled it up and down. He pretended he was fishing and the bright red scarf was the worm on his line.
A few minutes later, they heard a knock on the door. “Yo, is anybody in there?” a voice yelled.
“YES!” the kids all cried together. “WE’RE LOCKED IN!”
“Okay, wait a minute!” the voice outside said.
And then the door opened, letting in fresh air and sunshine.
A man in a T-shirt and running shorts was standing there. He was surprised to see the three kids rush out of the crypt.
“How the heck did you get in there?” the man asked.
“We were exploring the crypt, and we got locked in,” Ruth Rose said. She untied her scarf and put it around her neck.
“How did the door get locked?” Dink asked.
The man showed the kids a stick he was holding. “This was jammed inside that metal hasp loop,” he said. “No matter how hard you pushed, it wouldn’t budge. Good thing I saw your red flag!”
“Yeah, good thing,” Josh said. “All we had to eat was one lousy cracker!”
“Bummer,” the man said. “Have a nice day!” He jogged down the path.
“Thank you!” the kids called after him.
“How do you think a stick got through that loop thing?” Ruth Rose asked.
“I’ll bet the parakeet did it,” Josh said. “Maybe he thinks this crypt is his private place.”
Dink shook his head as he looked at his watch. “Guys, it’s after two-thirty!” he said. “We’re supposed to be back at Maria’s place!”
It took the kids ten minutes to get back to the apartment. They rode the elevator to the fifth floor, where they found a note taped to Maria’s door:
Where were you???
I tried to text Dink. No luck.
I’m at the police station.
Heading to Kip’s Place.
Meet me there.
—M.H.
“She didn’t say anything about Gram,” Ruth Rose said.
“Maria told us she’s getting a lawyer,” Dink reminded her. “Maybe she’ll have good news when we see her.”
They left the building and headed for Kip’s. “All this exploring is making me hungry,” Josh said. “That cracker in my stomach is very lonely!”
“I have some money,” Dink said. “I’ll treat us to lunch at that sandwich place.”
When they got to the traffic light across from Kip’s Place, they saw a white van parked in the alley between Kip’s Place and Wrap It Up. A sign on the van’s door said gus’s glass repair.
The light turned to walk, and the kids crossed to Kip’s Place and went in. The second door in the rear wall was open, revealing a small office. Kip was sitting at a desk in front of a laptop.
“Maria isn’t here,” Ruth Rose said.
Dink looked at the floor under his feet. He saw tiny pieces of colored glass.
Kip noticed the kids. “Be out in a minute,” he said.
While they waited, Dink glanced at the pictures tacked to the shelf above the pottery wheel. He stepped closer to the photo of the vase, and he saw numbers and letters on the picture: 21H—7W.
Kip came out of his office and closed the door. “What’s going on?” he asked.
“We went to see—” Josh started.
“To see Ruth Rose’s grandmother,” Dink interrupted. “She’s still at the police station, but they let us talk to her. We even had lunch with her, right, guys? Those sandwiches were awesome!”
Ruth Rose and Josh stared at Dink.
“Um, okay, we’ll just take off,” Dink said. “Just wanted to say…hi.”
“Where are you headed?” Kip asked.
“Um…,” Dink said.
“Dink’s buying us lunch!” Josh said.
“I thought you had lunch with Ms. Hathaway,” Kip said. “At the police station.” He stared at them through his purple sunglasses.
Dink let out a laugh. “Josh likes two lunches,” he said.
Just then, a woman walked into Kip’s Place. The kids had seen her earlier. She waved to Kip and hung her jacket over a chair. The woman opened a drawer under a worktable and pulled out sheets of colored glass.
“Be right with you, Dawn,” Kip told her. He walked to the door and opened it for the kids. “Have a nice second lunch.”
Dink watched the woman begin to cut a piece of yellow glass with a small metal tool.
“If my grandmother’s friend comes, will you please tell her we’re having lunch next door?” Ruth Rose asked. “Her name is Maria, and she has red hair.”
“I know Maria,” Kip said. “She’s one of my favorite customers.”
Inside the sandwich shop, the kids chose a booth next to a window. A server brought them shiny plastic menus. “My name is Simon,” he told them. “What’ll you have?”
They each ordered a shrimp wrap and lemonade. Simon came back with stra
ws and napkins.
“Do you have a charger cord I can borrow?” Dink asked. “I need to charge my phone.”
“I can lend you mine,” Simon said. “Be right back.”
Josh ripped the end off his straw wrapper and blew the paper tube at Dink. “Awesome sandwiches?” he said. “You told Kip a big, fat lie!”
“I didn’t know what else to say,” Dink admitted. “I didn’t want Kip to know we’d been to the cemetery.”
Simon brought a cord and plugged it into an outlet. “See if this works,” he told Dink.
Dink inserted the cord’s other end into his phone. “It’s perfect, thank you!” he said. Simon gave him a thumbs-up and walked away.
“Why didn’t you want Kip to know we went to the crypt?” Ruth Rose asked.
“Because I think something weird is going on in his studio,” Dink said in a low voice. He glanced through the window at a sign painted on the side of the repair van. It said let gus fix this! below a drawing of a window frame with most of the glass missing and sharp pieces sticking out of it.
“Funny weird or scary weird?” Josh asked Dink.
Dink pointed at the van. “See that sign?” he asked. “Well, if you were a robber, would you crawl through a window with sharp pieces of glass sticking out of the frame?”
“I wouldn’t,” Ruth Rose said.
“Me either,” Dink said. “You’d break out all the sharp pieces, right? But the broken window in Kip’s bathroom still had those jagged pieces.”
“So what’s the weird part?” Josh asked.
Dink thought for a minute. “Guys, I don’t think any burglar climbed through that window,” he said. “They’d get cut.”
“But why smash the window and not climb through it?” Josh asked.
“I don’t know,” Dink said. “That’s weird, right?”
“But somebody stole Gram’s vase from Kip’s Place,” Ruth Rose said. “How did the robber get in?”
