Chapter Two
Not Your Ordinary Basement
Jack had soon come to learn that Uncle Lefty was a man of a rather odd reputation within the town of Hollow Oak. He was known as an outsider, a recluse, and a man of what might perhaps be called strange genius.
It was rumored that he had once been a scientist for the federal government, lauded for his brilliance and revolutionary concepts. Far more alarming were the further rumors that he had been released from his employment with the government… following a breakdown that was a consequence of his strange genius, spiraling out of control.
None of this could be confirmed, however. There had been a great deal of secrecy not only concerning his research with the government, but also the terms by which his employment had been severed.
What could be confirmed was that Lefty O’Houlihan had managed to accrue a vast amount of money during his earlier years, whatever he might have been up to. It was rumored that he was an inventor, and that his royalties from patents he held for his various creations kept his bank accounts full. Not only did he now enjoy a life free of regular employment, but he had also purchased the vast, weird estate that he now resided in, at the outskirts of town.
It was a history (as you might imagine, my astute reader) that inspired very little in the way of Jack’s confidence in Lefty. After all… when odd men from the state placed a ten-year-old with a previously unknown uncle who was rumored to have lost his job with the government, when his “strange genius began spiraling out of control”… it stands to reason that the available options were pretty darned slim. Jack realized that there might have been a very good reason why his father had never spoken of Lefty… it was entirely possible that the man was bonkers.
Jack, however, had done his best to embrace the change. It was exciting to learn that there was a relative that he had previously never known of (although Uncle Lefty had proven to be rather aloof and distracted). Jack was always up for adventure, and his new home was a place that seemed ripe for exploration.
The residence of Lefty was a huge, weird house, built hundreds of years ago at the edge of Hollow Oak, and it had been further expanded upon several times. At this point, it was a sprawling property, perhaps even reaching the status of a mansion.
It was filled with countless rooms and fireplaces, and Jack suspected that there were most likely hidden passageways located somewhere in the house. This conclusion only stood to reason, based on all the oddities that he had thus far witnessed, in the short span of a week at “Lefty’s Manor” (as he had come to call it). He had seen much weirdness, and he had heard things within the walls that he could not explain or identify.
Needless to say, he had not been sleeping particularly well in this new environment, and his teacher, Ms. Waffler, had found it necessary to wake him from time to time when he dozed off at his desk. She took it easy on Jack, however, for she seemed to be sympathetic to the fact that he had been having a rough go of it lately.
The bedroom he had been staying in at Lefty’s Manor was located on the second floor, and it was so big, it was as spacious as some small homes. It had its own fireplace, enormous bookcases that were filled with dusty tomes, and even a towering suit of armor. Although this all looked undoubtedly awesome by the hours of daylight, it made for less than ideal sleeping arrangements.
At night, Jack would lie awake, with the covers pulled up to his chin, and listen to the many creaks and groans of the old house. He knew that it was just the ancient wood of the residence, moving about and settling, as it was prone to do in elderly homes. But still… it was eerie.
Additionally, the whistling wind rattled the panes of the old windows. Leaves and branches would scrape against the glass, and this at times sounded like the slow drag of long fingernails, seeking a point of weakness that could be exploited.
The light of the moon would cause these swaying branches to generate dancing shadows throughout the bedroom. The suit of armor, meanwhile, cast its own, rather dubious silhouette, as it loomed in the corner. Jack would listen to these noises, and eyeball these shadows, as he lay beneath the covers, fruitlessly counting sheep. He was not afraid, of course… but it was a bit hard to sleep with such an abundance of eeriness.
Nibbler would lie atop the bedspread, his ears twitching at every sound, his snout turning toward every strange shadow. His furry tail would thump reassuringly against Jack from time to time, and his company was as welcome as ever.
Earlier tonight, Jack and Nibbler had been hoping for sleep as they lay in bed, listening to the wind whistle through the old, drafty windows. And then, there had come the other noise… the strange and startling sound that had prompted them to rise from bed, their curiosity engaged.
Thoom! …Thoom! …Thoom!
And so it was that Jack, dressed in pajamas, had eased from bed with a flashlight in his hand, and Nibbler by his side. Tracing the source of the noise, they had tiptoed down the creaking staircase, journeyed through several winding hallways, crossed the gargantuan kitchen, eased across the parlor, and finally found themselves at their current location: the door that led to the basement.
It was one of the few places that Jack had not yet explored within the manor. Lefty had not exactly forbidden him from entering it, but it had seemed to Jack to be a personal area for his uncle. Lefty spent the vast majority of his time in the basement, where he could be heard tinkering about and muttering to himself. For this was no ordinary basement… it was a basement laboratory.
Slowly… cautiously… ever so carefully… Jack moved his hand to the doorknob. Were he still prone to the occasional bouts of fear that any ten-year-old boy was sure to feel from time to time, he undoubtedly would have refrained from such bold action. But he was not just any ten-year-old boy. He was possessed of experience (particularly in the realms of weirdness) that defied his young age.
As his fingers wrapped around the doorknob, there passed from the metal to his skin a feeling that was difficult to describe. It was an electric shock! A blue-white wisp of electric current arced through the air, clearly visible in the dim lighting of the hallway.
As the mild jolt passed into his body, Jack’s eyes came to resemble saucers, and a hushed utterance passed between his lips. “Gears and sprockets!” he exclaimed.
Nibbler leaped back, eyeing the doorknob with renewed suspicion. After a moment, his tail started wagging, and he licked Jack’s shocked fingers.
“Woo,” Jack gasped, as he flexed his hand, and the fingers were doused with dog slobber. “That was an electrifying experience, as Coach might say.”
He shook his hand once more, and then bolted for the nearest door to the outside, with his dog at his heel. “Come on, Nibbler… Neil’s going to want to know all about this, isn’t he?”
The Green Beans, Volume 2: The Strange Genius of Lefty O'Houlihan Page 2
