He takes out another biscuit and gives it to the dog. ‘Come on Bruce, let’s go upstairs now.’ He climbs the stairs two at a time. At the top is a landing with a hallway leading off. There are doorways on both sides of the hallway. Edward, followed by Bruce, walks along the corridor, opening every door and examining each room. Finally, after they have looked in every room, they return to Edward’s own room. ‘What a great old house,’ he says to Bruce. ‘But no signs it’s haunted yet,’ he says, slightly disappointed. Just then, he hears music – it sounds distant. He listens carefully. ‘Can you hear that music, Bruce?’ He listens again. ‘It sounds like an accordion and fiddle being played a long way off.’
‘It seems to be coming from over there,’ he says, pointing towards the corner of the room. He walks towards the corner past the large wardrobe and notices a small door in the corner of the room. ‘The music is definitely louder over here.’ He puts his ear to the small door. ‘I think it’s coming from in here,’ he says to Bruce. The dog appears uninterested as he scratches his ear. Edward’s attention has been so occupied with exploring the old house and now the music that he has not realised that he has started to talk to the dog as if he were a person. He slowly grips the door handle, carefully turns it and quickly pulls the door open. The music stops instantly. Edward peers in. ‘It’s very dark in there,’ he says, ‘it seems to be a cupboard or storage area of some sort. But what happened to the music, I am sure it was coming from in here.’ Suddenly he hears giggling right next to his ear. Startled, he falls back away from the door with a shriek. ‘What was that? Did you hear that? It sounded like a child giggling.’ Edward looks at Bruce but he is still displaying a complete lack of interest in anything apart from what is living in his fur.
CHAPTER 12
Sometime later, Edward is lying on his bed with his hands behind his head. He is talking to the dog, as naturally as if he was chatting to one of his friends back at school. ‘Well I know what I heard, I definitely heard music and then someone giggled right next to my ear.’ A shiver ran through him. ‘Horrible giggling right next to my ear,’ he repeated. ‘I knew this place was haunted.’ ‘Well of course it’s haunted,’ replies Bruce. ‘I knew it,’ Edward shouts excitedly, sitting up. ‘I knew from the first…’ Edward suddenly realises that Bruce has just spoken to him. He spins round to look at Bruce. ‘What did you say?’ ‘I said of course it’s haunted, what’s up with yer, are you a bit mutt?’ ‘You can talk, I wasn’t imagining it and it wasn’t Harry playing a trick on me. You really can talk.’ Bruce, back in his indifferent mode, replies gruffly. ‘Well of course I can talk.’ ‘But you have not spoken a word all day,’ Edward says. ‘Well you were talking such rubbish I could’nae be bothered to reply,’ Bruce replies offhandedly. ‘What does mutt mean?’ asks Edward. Bruce looks at Edward with a confused look. ‘You asked me if I was a bit mutt.’ ‘Mutt and Jeff, deaf, not very bright are you?’ the dog says rudely. Edward repeats it a few times. ‘Mutt and Jeff, Mutt and Jeff, deaf.’ Then a smile spreads across his face as the penny drops. ‘Oh I get it, it’s rhyming slang.’ Bruce raises his eyes upwards and says sarcastically, ‘Brilliant.’ Edward, still smiling, says, ‘Wow this is really cool, a talking dog.’ ‘What’s so clever about that?’ ‘Well of course you are clever,’ Edward replies, exasperated. ‘I don’t think I’m that clever; I am not as clever as the sheepdog at Home Farm.’ ‘Why, what’s so clever about him?’ Edward asks. ‘Well he can speak French as well,’ Bruce replies. Edward laughs but, looking at the stern expression on Bruce’s face, realises that the dog is not joking.
‘How incredible, in fact everything that’s happened in the last couple of days seems incredible. What were those noises I heard earlier, the giggling and the music?’ Edward asks. ‘The ghosts, of course,’ Bruce replies. ‘Ghosts!’ Edward looks at his new talking pal, wide-eyed. ‘Well of course ghosts, didn’t you see them earlier when we got to the top of the stairs?’ says Bruce. ‘No,’ says Edward, amazed. ‘I didn’t see anything.’ ‘Well that does not surprise me.’ ‘Why not?’ asks Edward. ‘Well ghosts are quite choosy, they don’t show themselves to anyone, you know. They prefer the more sensitive types, like me,’ the dog says arrogantly. ‘Wow, ghosts, that’s brilliant,’ says Edward. ‘Well that depends on which ghosts you are talking about,’ Bruce replies. ‘What do you mean?’ ‘Well, not all spooks are brilliant,’ Bruce says mimicking Edward. ‘There are some you would be well advised to leave alone.’ Edward, intrigued, wants to know more about the “bad” ones, but Bruce will say no more, adding only, ‘Do not dabble in things you don’t understand, laddie.’ ‘Oh well, perhaps I will find out more about them during my stay here.’ There is a short silence, then Edward says to himself. ‘Mutt and Jeff, deaf,’ then he giggles. That’s funny.
CHAPTER 13
Later, Edward is still thinking about what Bruce had told him. I know what I will do, he thinks, I will look in the library to see if there are any books on ghosts and haunted houses.
Edward opens the door next to the sitting room and peers into the library. There are books from floor to ceiling. He enters the room and slowly walks past all the volumes. Against one of the bookcases, he notices some steps that run from floor to ceiling. They are attached to a rail at the top of the bookcases that runs around the whole room and there are wheels on the bottom of the steps. Edward gently pushes the steps and they slide effortlessly along the bookcases. Well at least I will be able to reach the books on the higher shelves, he thinks.
Edward stares around in confusion. There are thousands of them, he thinks, still that means more chance there will be a book on ghosts, I suppose. Edward looks at the books, wondering where to begin; it could take the rest of the holiday to find any books on ghosts in this huge library. Oh well, might as well give it a try. He starts looking at the book titles on the lower shelf of the nearest bookcase.
His attention keeps returning to the steps and decides that it would be quite good fun to climb them and inspect the volumes higher up. He climbs the steps, gradually looking at the titles of the books as he passes them, finally getting to the top. This is going to take forever. Suddenly, a thought occurs to him. The search would be quicker with a little bit of help.
‘Bruce,’ he shouts. ‘Here boy!’ He follows this with a whistle. ‘Here Bruce, there’s a good boy.’ Bruce’s head appears around the door. ‘Where’s the fire?’ the dog asks sarcastically. ‘No fire,’ Edward laughs. ‘I am looking for a book and I need your help.’ ‘I don’t think I can help you,’ Bruce replies. ‘I may be able to talk, but I never quite mastered the old reading skills,’ he says with a hint of embarrassment. ‘Which is a bit of a shame,’ he says as he spots a book with pictures of Dalmatians on the cover.
‘No, I don’t need you to read, I just need you to push the ladder along to save me having to climb up and down every time I want to move along.’ ‘Oh, I see I’m your servant now, shall I dance a Scottish jig as well?’ the dog says, laughing at his own wit. He starts to turn away, ‘Oh come on Brucie, please help. It is a very responsible job pushing these steps along with me on the top and I still have a few biscuits left.’ ‘I can’t be bought that easily, you know,’ says Bruce turning back towards Edward. ‘OK let’s get started then, I suppose I have nothing better to do.’
Edwards starts reading the titles of the books in front of him, then he shouts down to Bruce to move the steps along so that he can read the next ones and that’s how they proceed and for a while all is going well. Every time Edward needs to move, he shouts down to Bruce who puts his shoulder against the base of the steps and pushes them along, halting when he hears the “stop” command from above him.
Edward again shouts, ‘Move!’ Immediately the steps start to move, he shouts, ‘stop,’ but Bruce did not seem to hear him, and the steps continue to move, taking Edward past where he wanted to be before coming to rest. ‘What are you doing?’ Edward shouts down. ‘You have pushed me too far.’ ‘Not me laddie,’ Bruce shouts back. ‘
I stopped when you said.’ Suddenly the steps start to move again and then stop abruptly. Edward clings on quickly, only just avoiding falling off. ‘Bruce, be careful, I nearly fell off.’ ‘I did’nae do anything,’ Bruce shouts back. Then the steps give a violent jerk backwards, then jerk forward and again stop, and then go forward again, this time not stopping but gathering speed. Edward clings on for his life. ‘Stop! Stop!’ he screams in fear. ‘I’m not pushing them,’ Bruce shouts back. Bruce is now standing in the middle of the room, staring in shock as the steps with Edward clinging to the top move around the library faster and faster. Suddenly they both hear hysterical laughter coming from all around them. The steps come to a screeching halt and Edward, losing his grip, is catapulted off with a scream. He flies through the air and hits the bookcase in front of him with a thud. He desperately grabs at the books in an attempt to save himself from falling, but the books just come off the shelves as he grabs them. Edward and a number of books fall. Bruce rushes forward with his paws outstretched in a brave attempt to catch the falling boy. Unfortunately Edward is quite a bit larger than Bruce and the dog is flattened beneath Edward and the volumes. The laughter from around them ceases as suddenly as it started.
‘You saved me,’ Edward exclaims, looking at Bruce under him. ‘Well done, I could have been killed or worse.’ A strained ‘Great’ squeezes from the lips of a winded Bruce. ‘All this for just a few lousy biscuits,’ he mutters. Just then a final book falls from the shelf above and hits Edward squarely on the head with a loud thud. The disembodied laughter begins again. ‘What, who?’ Edward splutters in shock, but just then his eyes focus on the book that has just hit him.
‘Look Bruce, look,’ Edward says, pointing at the book. Bruce says sarcastically. ‘Yeah it’s a book, who would have thought it in a library? Now would you kindly get off me!’
Edward gingerly climbs to his feet, feeling a bit bruised and sore. He continues to point at the book, saying in a whisper, ‘Look at the title.’ Bruce, brightening says, ‘It’s not Lassie is it?’ ‘No,’ Edward reads the title in a quiet voice. ‘All You Need To Know About Ghosts, it’s a book about ghosts,’ ‘Oh,’ replies Bruce disappointedly.
Edward says. ‘It must have been them, the ghosts who made the steps move and sent me flying into the shelves and dropped this book onto me.’ Bruce, totally unimpressed, says, ‘Good, it saved a lot of time, we would have been here all day. Anyway, what do you want a book about ghosts for?’ ‘So that I can learn more about them, maybe even find a way of communicating with them.’ ‘I told you not to dabble in things you don’t understand,’ Bruce replies seriously. ‘But they may be trying to get in touch with us, all this giggling and whispering, it might be a cry for help.’ ‘It was me who needed help when you fell on top of me,’ says Bruce, unmoved. ‘Anyway, all this exercise has made me hungry. Where’s my biscuits?’
Edward, with a faraway look on his face, is still thinking about the ghosts. ‘I must help them,’ he says earnestly. ‘Oh whatever,’ Bruce replies, tired now of the whole ghost thing. ‘I’m off to see Annie in the kitchen to see what scrummy things she will give me. I’ll give her one of my “aren’t I cute” looks and flash my eyelashes at her, she can’t resist that, it never fails.’ With that Bruce headed off in the direction of the kitchen.
Edward picks up the fallen books and replaces them on the shelves, then picks up the book on ghosts and returns to his bedroom.
He starts to read and soon he becomes totally engrossed in the book. ‘Mmm that’s interesting’ or ‘well I never,’ he mutters to himself, scribbling down notes now and again. Finally, after several hours, he finishes reading and thoughtfully closes the book. ‘I think I need to carry out an experiment,’ he says to himself excitedly. ‘There’s work to be done.’ With that, he rushes off to find the items he will need for his experiment.
CHAPTER 14
That evening Bruce is lying on the floor of Edward’s bedroom watching with interest as Edward sets up his experiment. First he takes a ball of string and ties one end to the handle on the window, then he loops it around the light fitting on the ceiling, down around the dressing table leg and finishes up by tying it to the bedstead. Then he fixes two large bulging paper bags to the string close to the ceiling. ‘What exactly are you doing?’ asks Bruce. ‘I’m preparing a little experiment,’ he replies. ‘I got the idea from the ghost book. These,’ says Edward importantly, pointing at the bags, ‘will enable me to make contact with the other side.’ Bruce starts to say, ‘Have I mentioned that you should not…’ but Edward finishes the sentence for him. ‘I know, dabble in things you don’t understand. You worry too much,’ Edward says, smiling at the dog. ‘It will all end in tears,’ Bruce mutters to himself. ‘Shush, listen,’ says Edward. They both hear a shuffling noise and then a hideous moaning sound – no, not moaning, in fact, singing – the voice slurred and tuneless. ‘I think they are here,’ Edward whispers to Bruce. Edward picks up a pair of scissors he has borrowed from Annie. He positions himself by the string with the open scissors poised ready. The shuffling and singing gets louder. ‘Wait,’ says Edward to himself. The singing becomes louder and louder, closer and closer. Suddenly Edward shouts, ‘Now!’ and with that he cuts the string tied to the bedpost and instantly the two large bulging bags swing down from high up, slamming into each other and bursting on impact. The whole room is engulfed in a huge white cloud of… talcum powder.
The next few seconds are quite chaotic. As the white cloud of talcum powder starts to thin out, a very large, very angry and very ugly man gradually appears. He is having a coughing fit brought on by the unexpected dousing in talcum powder. Edward stares wide-eyed at the apparition, who is dressed as a sailor but not a modern sailor. He is dressed in old-fashioned clothes from another age. As the man gradually manages to bring his coughing and spluttering under control, he notices Edward and as he slowly turns his face in Edward’s direction, his expression turns to rage. This makes him look even uglier than before. He is wearing a black patch over one eye and has a large scar running down his face from his black greasy hair, passing under the eyepatch past his nose to his chin. His nose is an odd mauve colour and there is a large wart right on the end. Edward realises that the man is dressed like an old pirate.
Any thoughts Edward may have had regarding bravely introducing himself to this intimidating vision are soon forgotten when the man unsheathes the largest and scariest sword Edward has ever seen. Actually it is the only sword Edward has ever seen, but this fact does not take away from the effect that this weapon has on Edward and Bruce. Within a blink of the eye, and as one, they both dive under the bed and they lay there quaking in fear.
A terrible, angry roar emits from the man which makes the blood in Edward’s veins run cold. Edward hears the hideous man’s footsteps slowly getting nearer and nearer. The man’s voice is now much quieter and somehow this makes it even more menacing. He is telling them in a little too much detail for Edward’s taste exactly what he intends to do to them. He is going to tear them from limb to limb and cut them into minced meat. Edward can’t help thinking that it would probably be easier for the pirate to cut them into minced meat if he did not tear them from limb to limb first but his mouth had gone too dry to pass this helpful advice on to the man. A lot of the stuff he was describing seemed to involve the huge sword which Edward can hear swishing backwards and forwards through the air, getting closer and closer.
Suddenly the room is filled with a long, blood-curdling scream, Edward shuts his eyes tight. What is happening? With a shock, Edward realises it is the pirate who is screaming. Something or someone is attacking him. Edward and Bruce hear the sounds of a violent struggle, the air full of screams and curses. The angry shouts of the man then become more distant; he is running away from this new terrible opponent.
There follows a few seconds of silence. Edward then hears quiet footsteps approaching their hiding place under the bed. Whatever this new menace is, it is now turning its attention towards them; at a
ny moment it will toss the bed aside and they will be done for.
The bed starts to lift. Edward and Bruce try to crawl back away from this terror from hell. The bed lifts up a bit further and then three things happen simultaneously – first Edward screams, secondly Bruce faints and thirdly the terror from beyond the grave starts to laugh.
As the laughing continues and becomes more uncontrollable, Edward cautiously opens his eyes. Edward stares in astonishment. There in front of him, both in fits of laughter, are a young girl of a similar age to himself and a black and white cat; both appear to be slightly transparent as Edward can see the room and furniture through them.
Edward nervously peers past them and finally finds the courage to speak. ‘Where is the creature that chased off that horrible man?’ he asks. The girl, her mirth pretty well under control, asks what Edward is talking about. ‘The creature or monster or whatever it was that chased away the pirate with the sword, where is it?’ he asks. The girl and the cat stare at Edward and then both burst into another fit of uncontrolled laughter.
Bruce is just beginning to awaken from his faint; Edward is now beginning to get slightly cross with the pair and their annoying, unexplained laughter. He bends down and asks Bruce if he is OK. Bruce in a shaky voice asks. ‘Where has the monster gone?’ This makes the strange pair laugh louder still. Edward glares at them. ‘Well if you two are going to laugh every time someone says something, we might as well just leave you to it.’ ‘Ooooh, steady tiger,’ says the girl to Edward. The girl for the first time notices that the room is completely covered in white powder. Controlling her laughter, she asks, ‘What happened here anyway, why is the room covered in white powder?’ ‘Ah, that was me,’ says Edward proudly. ‘I read in a book that it was possible to make ghosts visible if you cover them in white powder, like talcum for instance.’ ‘You should not dabble in things you do not understand,’ says the girl, with a smile on her face. ‘See,’ says Bruce. ‘I told you it would all end in tears.’ ‘Yes OK, but you still have not told us what kind of monster that was that chased away that horrible man and where it has gone and if it’s likely to come back.’ Edward glares at the pair and the girl and cat, with some effort, restrain themselves from laughing again. ‘The monster as you call it has not gone anywhere.’ ‘You mean it is still here?’ Edward gasps, nervously looking around the room. ‘He sure is,’ laughs the girl. ‘I would like to introduce you to the terror from the black lagoon.’ She points her finger and sweeps it around the room, finally coming to rest at the cat. There are a few seconds of stunned silence, then Edward looks doubtfully at the cat and says, ‘What, him? Are you telling me it was your cat that chased away that huge man with that huge sword?’ The cat does an exaggerated theatrical bow. ‘Sam at your service and this,’ he says pointing at the smiling girl, ‘is my good friend Lucy.’ The girl does a neat little curtsy. ‘But how, how did you scare him away?’ asks Edward. ‘You don’t look that frightening.’ ‘I can see you are not going to be satisfied until we explain everything,’ says Lucy. ‘You may as well come out from under that bed, sit down and make yourself comfortable and I will try to explain it all.’
The Wreckers Page 4
