Chapter four: Through the Magnifying Glass

My best friend Matt and I are sitting cross-legged on the driveway, conducting experiments with a magnifying glass. It’s another lazy summer day, hot and sunny, with nothing to do but burn holes in stuff. Or get a suntan.

 

Which is what my sister Melinda is doing. She’s laying on the chaise lounge in the back yard, wearing her bathing suit and movie star sunglasses, soaking up the rays.

 

Dad’s at work, of course, and Mom and Grandma are off somewhere, probably getting their hair done.

 

I’m telling Matt about last night. About the creaking sound. About the attic door being opened. About me hanging the bamboo cane in front of the attic door as a sort of alarm system.

 

Matt’s also 14, so this makes perfect sense to him.

 

He asks where the cane came from, and I tell him my grandfather, who died before I was born. Grandma says it was his walking stick.

 

We’re bringing our death beam to bear on a line of marauding ants, when Melinda comes charging around the corner of the house. Her dark eyes flash with fear.

 

“There’s a man in house,” she says.

 

Gasping for breath, she explains what happened in short, choppy sentences. She was laying on the chaise longue. She heard a loud bang from inside the house. She looked up. She saw a man’s face in the upstairs bathroom window. He was staring at her.

 

I immediately think of our dog Rex. He’s still in the house. We have to get him out.

 

I jump to my feet.

 

To be continued…

Done