The Gum Tree Gang and the Mystery at the Old Queenslander (10 page)

"No, it's fine. She's still
small enough for me to
handle. You go on to
the meeting." Mrs. Cormack gently
brushed a
golden lock off Kathy's angelic face. "She
looks so beautiful when she's sleeping; reminds me of
Krystal at the same age," she
whispered.

Steve Cormack smiled. "You
children should be asleep
when I come home,
so I'll say goodnight now." He
turned
towards Krystal and Kevin as he put his warm
jacket on. "It's a bit cool tonight."

"Night, Dad," the two said
quietly, so as not to disturb
Kathy.

"I'm off to bed too, Mum,"
Krystal added, yawning."Oh, that's unusual for you. Have you done
all your
homework?" Mrs. Cormack asked,
rising and placing
Kathy against her
shoulder.

"I didn't have any." Krystal stretched and
looked away from her Mum. Why did she feel guilty?

"I may as well go to bed
too." Kevin rubbed his eyes
and looked at
Krystal.

"Well, it'll do you both
good to have an early night. I'm a bit tired myself looking at all
the sleepy people
around here. Kevin, could
you please turn Kathy's doona
cover down
for me," Mrs. Cormack asked as she headed
towards the little pale pink coloured bedroom at the
end
of the passage.

Kevin hurried to help.

Both children gave their Mum
a goodnight kiss and
headed for their
room.

"Remember to have a quiet
time with the Lord," Mrs.
Cormack reminded
the two.

Krystal sat in bed reading
the Psalms. She found it
difficult to
concentrate as she read. She loved the Book
of Psalms; however, tonight her mind seemed unsettled.
She felt strange knowing she was going to leave
home without telling her parents; the thought really
bothered
her. The others probably felt the
same, she concluded.

Maybe they should leave a
note or something, in case
their
parents missed them, Krystal mused. She hated to
think they might be worried. That would be terrible!
She
flipped the pages of her Bible
over to Psalm twenty-three.
She began to
read the Psalm. She had memorised it a
couple of months ago.
Though I walk
through the Valley
of the Shadow of Death,
I will fear no evil...,
she read. The words
made her feel uneasy. She hopped out of bed
and took a pencil and notepad from her back pack.

Dear Mum,
she wrote.

Sorry we could not tell you but

we are going to the old Queenslander

on Underwood Road.

Something bad is going on. We had to go!

Love Krystal.

Krystal sighed as she tucked
the note under her bedside
lamp. She hopped
back into bed and snuggled under the
covers; somehow she felt a bit better now. She closed
her eyes. She could see Tracey's smiling face in
her mind,
her dark eyes dancing, then
Matthew's solemn face with
drips running
down his chin. She wondered what they
were
doing right now?

Tracey was lying in bed, staring at the
ceiling.

Matthew was sleeping. He was
tired after taking the
dog for a walk. He
left it up to his sister to wake him up on time.

A moment later, it seemed,
Krystal could hear her alarm
under her
pillow. It sounded loud in her ear. She quickly reached under the
pillow and turned it off. "Noisy thing!" she muttered, glaring at
the round face. Her bedside light
was still
on. She blinked at the bright light and rubbed
her eyes. After a moment she leapt out of bed
quietly.
She had put her long nightie over
her outdoor clothes and
was ready to go as
soon as the nightie was dragged over
her
head.

Krystal reached under the bed and grabbed
her

joggers. She pushed her
nightie and a pillow under the
blankets and
stuck her brown teddy bear just under the
top sheet. Surveying the shape, she thought it looked
just
like her, well almost! She flicked the
light off.

Krystal wondered if her dad
had come home from the
prayer meeting. She
hoped they'd not meet him on the
way out.
She could hear Kevin moving around his room.

She wished Kevin would hurry
up and join her as she
quietly opened and
closed her bedroom door.

As if he had heard Krystal's
thoughts, Kevin's door
gave a creak and
Krystal could hear a slight squeaking of
floorboards as he moved along the hallway.

Krystal turned as he came behind her.

They both headed for the
front door. Suddenly they heard a car. They stopped and waited. The
headlights
shone through the lounge-room
window.

The two looked at each other
thinking the same
thought. They knew it was
their dad returning from the
prayer
meeting. They stood still for a moment. The
garage door opened and then closed with a slight
thud.

"Now!" whispered Krystal,
heading towards the front door. Dad should come up the back stairs,
as he usually
did. They stood near the
door, waiting, until they could
hear Steve
Cormack unlocking the back door. Krystal
immediately opened the front door and the two hurried
through and drew it shut with a click.

They quietly ran down the
front steps and hid behind a
bush and
waited. A light went on in the house.

"Let's go," said Krystal,
heading towards the grassy
pathway in front
of the house.

Kevin followed silently.

The two moved speedily along
the pathway away from
the house, not even
glancing back. It seemed like ages
before
they reached the corner where Krystal and Tracey
met every morning.

Krystal stopped almost
automatically. Her heart was
beating fast;
she could hear her brother breathing heavily.

They paused for a moment to
catch their breaths, then
hurried along the
street towards the old Queenslander.
They
could hear a couple of dogs barking as they made
their way along the familiar paths.

As they neared the old
Queenslander they slowed down
a bit. It was
darker in this part of town. New houses were being built in the
distance, but except for Mrs.
Potter,
nobody could see the front of the old
Queenslander from here.

The two arrived at the house
and leaped quickly up the
steps.

Krystal pushed open the
front door. Everything looked
black. She
hesitated a moment. It was strange going into
such blackness, and she knew it would be even darker in the
attic.
Kevin was right behind. The two
groped their way
towards the room with the
cupboard. Kevin shone his
torch into the
cupboard as he pulled the door open.

Two scared faces looked at them.

Tracey dropped her torch.
"Give me a fright, why don't
you?" she
exclaimed crossly as she bent to pick it up.

"Sorry." Kevin shone his
torch on Matthew, who was
peering through
the hole in the ceiling, with a hammer in
his hands.

"Don't crowd me. I'm fixin'
this door thing," said
Matthew, putting the
last little screw into its place on the
hinge. "Tracey, shine the torch. I can't see what I'm
doin'," he whinged.

Tracey flashed her torch on the ceiling of
the cupboard.

Kevin and Krystal decided to
wait a few moments
before climbing into the
cupboard. All they could hear
was the
graunching noise of the screwdriver and a few
sighs.

"Did you leave something in
the bed in case Dad looks
in?" Krystal
looked at her brother.

"Yeah. I chucked a few
trucks and cars under the
blanket, and my
bulldozer," Kevin replied.

"What! Cars and trucks, and a bulldozer;
sounds like a wrecking yard!" Krystal exclaimed.

Kevin shrugged his
shoulders. "It looked just like a
body to
me."

Matthew leapt down and shone
his torch at his finished
work. The four
looked upwards, admiring their new
entry.

"Can I try it?" Kevin asked.

"If you want." Matthew wiped his brow.

"Yeah, you go up, Kevin and
Tracey; it's best we split
up, just in
case," said Krystal.

"Why me?" asked Tracey. I'd like to stay with
you.

"No. It's better if Kevin
and Matthew split," Krystal
continued,
"otherwise they'll be too noisy. And if you
stay with Matthew you'll just argue about everything.
It's safer up there," she added,
encouragingly.

"Fair enough. Will we take
the bags up too?" Tracey
asked.

"Yeah, do that," Krystal replied.

Matthew shone his torch on
the ceiling of the cupboard
as Kevin
reached up.

Kevin pushed the flap open
and grabbed the edge of the
opening.

Krystal handed Kevin all their bags.

Tracey then leapt up and
grabbed the ledge; Krystal
caught her legs
and gave her a push up.

Tracey had the most
difficulty getting into the attic
from
here, being shorter than the others. Soon her face
beamed down on Matthew and Krystal. "What do we
do
now?" she whispered.

"Just wait," Krystal suggested.

"I hear something. Quiet."
Matthew turned his torch
off.

Kevin and Tracey closed the
flap of the opening and
waited. It was pitch
black in the attic.

Tracey felt a shiver run
down her spine. She hoped the
night would
go quickly.

Matthew and Krystal put
their ears to the cupboard
doors.

"They are coming," Matthew
whispered. "I think it's
them!" He was
feeling so elated that he forgot to feel
scared.

"Be quiet!" Krystal snarled.
She felt relieved that
someone was coming,
but really scared at what might
happen if
they were discovered.

~~~~
Chapter Twenty
~~~~

Monster or
Gorilla
?

Loud footsteps and voices
came closer. Krystal and
Matthew strained
their eyes to see who was coming into the room. A light shone and
Krystal could see the shapes
of two boys.
They must be Nathan and Davo, she
thought.

Matthew had trouble seeing
through his small crack in
the door and
shifted. The cupboard boards creaked.

Krystal froze. She felt like
boxing Matthew's ears.
Maybe Tracey should
have stayed in the cupboard. At
least she
would have froze with fright and been still,
Krystal thought.

Matthew glanced at Krystal
and sensed her annoyance.
He bit his lip to
keep quiet.

Nathan and Davo sat on the
floor. They shone their
torches on their
hands; they appeared to be reading
something. They were quiet for a few moments while
they read.

"Hope this is gonna be worth
it. Mum and Dad will be
mad if they find me
missin'," said Nathan. Although he
spoke
quietly, the words could be clearly heard in the
crisp night air.

"Me too," Davo admitted.

The lights from a vehicle
shone through cracks in the
boarded up
windows. An engine was turned off, and
doors closed.
Footsteps came briskly
through the house. Nathan and Davo rose to their feet and stood
still.

Two lights were followed by
two figures. They were
Chevy and Merc.
Chevy shone the torchlight into the
boys'
faces. Both boys put the backs of their hands up to shield their
eyes.

"Attention!" Chevy addressed
the other three. Heels
clicked.

Chevy strode up and down the
floor, staring at the two
boys. The noise
of his heavy boots going clomp, clomp,
was
the only sound to be heard in the stillness of the
night.