The Secret of Smith’s Hill
Chapter 14: Suspicions
It now seems that Frances Smith wrote the diary and that she is haunting the Clavers. But despite the message “FIKGREF,” the twins don’t know what she wants.
Kelly and James went to bed after their “conversation” with Frances Smith, or rather, with her ghost. For a long time though, Kelly lay awake, trying to puzzle out what FIKGREF could possibly mean. She got up and tried rearranging the letters, since that had worked with LEEAPSHELPEM, but that didn’t help. The closest she could come to a real word was GRIEFFK, which didn’t make any sense. Finally, discouraged, she went back to bed.
After a while, Kelly managed to fall into a restless sleep. She dreamed she was walking beside a gently running brook; it was pleasant and peaceful, with water flowing smoothly, making a gentle whooshing sound. But then the brook’s water rose, turning into a waterfall. Suddenly Kelly was standing under it, unable to move ....
She woke up, soaking wet–with sweat, not water, she realized after a second or two. But the whooshing sound was still going on, and now she could hear hurrying footsteps and Mom’s voice calling, “Roger! It’s in the kitchen! Hurry up!”
Kelly leapt out of bed and ran downstairs in time to see Mom wading through a couple of inches of water to the kitchen sink and Dad sleepily fumbling among brooms and dustpans and mops in the corner.
“There,” said Mom. “I’ve turned the water off and pulled out the plug. That should do it. What a mess!” She took a sponge mop from Dad and began cleaning up the water. “One of us,” she said to Kelly, “must’ve left the faucet running and the plug in.”
“I didn’t,” Kelly said quickly, taking a bucket to help bail up the water. But both her parents looked at her oddly and she had the uncomfortable feeling they didn’t entirely believe her.
•••
The next morning when Kelly went down to breakfast–James was so sound asleep she couldn’t wake him–she found Mom sitting at the table, close to tears, and Dad sweeping up a whole bag’s worth of Sphinx’s dry cat food, which was scattered all over the damp floor.
“Kelly,” Mom said in a quavery voice, “really, this has got to stop.”
“What does?” Kelly asked carefully–but her stomach did an uncomfortable flip flop. “These pranks.”
“But Mom .... ”
Dad put the cat food bag away and sat down, too, pouring himself and Mom each a cup of coffee. “Kelly,” he said, pushing the sugar bowl toward Mom. “Look. I know it’s hard to adjust to living in a much quieter place, and I’m sure you and James miss your friends and the, er, excitement of the old neighborhood. Maybe you’re bored here. But when school starts you’ll meet new friends. And, sweetie, we aren’t going to move back to the city. You know that where we were living isn’t safe any more.”
“I know,” Kelly said. “And I don’t want to move back. Neither does James. We’re not bored, Dad, really!”
Mom spooned sugar into her coffee mug. “Good,” she said, glancing at Dad. “But then why all the noises and crashes?” She took a swallow of coffee.
“Actually,” Kelly began carefully, “James and I have been looking for an explanation–”
“Mmrmph!” Mom made a choking noise and spewed coffee into her cereal bowl. “That’s it!” she gasped. “Kelly, I want you to get James right now. This has got to stop! Someone,” she said, getting up and dumping the contents of her mug and the sugar bowl into the sink, “has put salt in the sugar bowl.”
It got worse. After Kelly got James up, their parents gave them a long lecture about “family responsibility.”
“But we’re being responsible,” Kelly wailed.
“We’ve been trying to find out what’s going on, too,” James said. “Honest! And .... ”
Dad sighed. “Kids, look,” he began, “we want to believe you. But you have to admit that it’s pretty hard. Are you protecting someone, maybe, some new friends we don’t–”
There was a loud knock at the door. James, obviously as glad about the interruption as Kelly, jumped up and opened it.
Sam burst into the room, his face livid with rage. “We’re about to pour concrete for the floor,” he said. “But someone has dumped a lot of junk in the cellar hole.”
“No!” Dad barked when Kelly ran to the door; James was already halfway out. “This time you’re staying in. You’re both staying in till we get to the bottom of this.” To be continued Monday, May 28 Next Time: FIKGREF