The Secret of Smith’s Hill
Chapter 11: Another Clue
The twins hid, hoping to see who or what has been disturbing the Clavers. But the culprit lured them away–and has just spelled PLEEASGOOEY with Cory’s blocks.
“It can’t be anyone breaking in,” James said after he’d checked all the downstairs windows and doors. “And if it’s someone holed up inside, they sure move fast. Inhumanly fast.” Kelly thought he sounded relieved, almost as if he’d rather deal with something inhuman than something human! “Anyway, it’s getting better at spelling,” he added, staring down at the blocks.
Kelly added PLEEASGOOEY to her list of clues. “Sort of,” she said. “I guess it’s saying pleasesomething, anyway. But what’s ‘gooey’?”
“I wish I knew,” James said. “We’d better build another tower.”
When they’d almost finished, Cory whimpered sleepily upstairs in his room.
“I’ll go get him.” Kelly put the last block in place.
“You know he screams if anyone wakes him,” James warned.
“Yeah, but he whimpered, so he’s probably awake.” Kelly went upstairs to Cory’s room. “Hey, Cory, hey, baby,” she said softly the way Mom did, as she bent over his crib. “Hey, little boy, it’s time to get up, it’s .... ”
Cory opened his mouth and howled.
“Now you’ve done it,” said James, coming into the room.
Kelly touched Cory’s back, about to stroke it soothingly the way Mom sometimes did when he woke up screaming.
“No-no-no!” Cory wailed. “No. Go way! Go way!”
Kelly pulled her hand back. “Gooey,” she said under her breath.
“Huh?” James dangled Cory’s favorite stuffed bear in front of the screeching baby. “Cory, look, here’s Bear. Nice Bear. He wants to go to sleep, just like you.”
Cory stopped yelling long enough to reach for Bear. Then he curled up tightly and closed his eyes.
“It’s easy if you know how,” James said smugly.
Kelly ignored that. “James, don’t you see?” she said. “‘Gooey’ means ‘Go away’! Or it could, anyway.” She pulled him excitedly out of the room, just as Mom came down the hall in her nightgown.
“Is everything all right?” Mom asked sleepily. “I heard Cory .... What are you two doing up?” “It’s a long story,” James said. “Cory woke up, but he’s okay now,” Kelly said impatiently. “We– um, we had something to do. So we’re up.”
“Have you been to bed?” Mom asked suspiciously.
“Well, no, not really,” Kelly said. “Dare one ask what you were doing?”
“We .... ” Kelly looked desperately at James, who explained that they’d stayed up to see if they could find out what was making the noises.
Mom smiled thinly. “I see,” she said. “Kids, I...I really would like the noises to stop.” She gave them a funny look. “Did you find anything?”
“Not really,” Kelly said evasively. Did Mom think she and James were making the noises? Kelly wanted to explain, but she was pretty sure Mom would join James in the “There’s-no-such-thing-asghosts” camp.
Mom didn’t ask any more questions. Instead, she went into the kitchen–and the day began.
•••
“Why does it want us to go away?” Kelly said to James after breakfast when they were watching the construction crew take down the forms. Sam had brought Clemmie again, but tied her up near his truck. “And who is it? That’s what we have to find out.”
“Well,” said James, “if it’s someone who used to live here, maybe they didn’t want to move out when Mom and Dad bought the house.”
“Okay. But what if it’s someone dead who used to live here?” She went on quickly before James could object–but this time he didn’t seem to be going to. “Let’s say it’s FS who’s using the blocks. Let’s say she’s a girl and she had the locket. She’s dead, and she used to live here. And she had her boyfriend’s hair in the locket. And the house used to be Number 782. And .... ” “And what?”
“And I’m stuck. Even if we’re right about all that, we still don’t know why she wants us to go away.”
“If that’s what gooey means,” James said. “And if she’s a she. And if she’s dead and you’re right about the locket and the blocks. But what about the stone and the horseshoe? What about 782 and– Now what?”
Kelly followed James’s glance over to the dirt pile. Clemmie had broken loose and was digging in it. Sam was running toward her, shouting and waving his arms.
When Kelly and James got there, Sam was picking up another stone fragment like the first one. But some of the writing on this one was clear:
CES SMI
To be continued Monday May 14 Next Time: The Name’s the Same