The Gum Tree Gang and the Mystery at the Old Queenslander (2 page)

hole in the
middle of the ceiling where a light was
missing.
The windows were broken and
boarded up, except for
one small
glass-louvered window at the left side of the
room. The glass was so dusty the light hardly broke
through.
At the back of
the room there was a deep ledge, and on
top
of the ledge one remaining ‘cupboard’ that looked
like part of the wall. It was painted a drab grey
colour
like the rest of the
wall.

“This would make a great
hiding place for us spooks.” Krystal gazed at the high cupboard. “I
wonder if we can open it? She leaped up
on
the ledge and reached for the handle of the door on one side.
“
Waw,” she uttered as the
door swung open in her hand and she almost lost
her
balance on the ledge. She pulled the
door right open on
its hinges. It creaked a
little.

“This is terrific. It’s
really big inside.” Krystal peeped into
the
cupboard. “Wish we had a torch though, it’s pretty dark.” She began
to crawl around the opened door and
went
right inside, checking everything with her hands.
“
Ouch! Watch out for splinters.

They forgot to paint
in
here.” She sucked her finger to try and
remove a small
piece of wood.

“Maybe we could bring old
sheets and leave them here.
Look, I can
stand up. It’s great, ’cept for the splinters!”

“
Krystal, someone’s coming,”
said Tracey, with panic
in her
voice.

~~~
Chapter four
~~~~

Boy t
alk

“Don’t be silly, nobody
lives....” Krystal stopped
speaking and
listened. Yes, she could hear voices getting
closer; someone was coming!

Tracey grabbed both bags,
dragging them to the
cupboard.

“You're right! Quick, come
in here.” Krystal held her
hand out to take
the bags.

Tracey scrambled up. She
just had her knee on the edge
of the
cupboard when the footsteps could be heard on the
verandah. She gasped and stiffened.

“Hurry,” Krystal urged,
yanking Tracey inside the
cupboard. She
quickly stretched to reach the open door
and had almost drawn it shut when footsteps could be
heard inside the entrance of the house. Krystal
gently
released her fingertips from the
centre of the doors, and
both girls kept
very still in the darkness.

They could hear each other
breathing. Tracey thought she could hear her own heartbeat. She
felt almost faint.
She hugged her knees as
she crouched on the floor of the
cupboard.
Krystal stood as still as a
statue. She noticed a small crack in the woodwork of the door, and
placed her eye
near the crack, remembering
not to lean on the door in
case it opened.
Her eye took a few moments to focus. She could just make out two
boyish looking figures
disappearing into
the room with the fireplace. The
footsteps
became louder and were coming towards the
room they were hiding in! Krystal could feel herself
tense up. She could hear Tracey gasp.

“Pray,” Krystal whispered to
her frightened friend. She
was determined
not be scared by a few humans. Two
figures
stomped into the room. They sure don't try to be
quiet, Krystal thought. She watched, then almost
gasped
out loud. They were Nathan and Davo
from their school.
For a moment she almost
opened the door of the cupboard
and yelled
out ‘boo’, but decided to wait and see what
they were up to.

The boys were reading
something. They plonked
down on the floor
and waited for a few minutes. They
seemed
distracted by noises outside the building. Krystal
realized someone else was coming! Before she
could
blink, two young men came into the
room. One was tall
and thin, the other a
bit shorter and had a stocky build. She did not
recognise them. There was silence for a moment.

“Up!” The thin young man
directed his instruction to
Nathan and
Davo, who quickly rose to their feet.

“Yes, Sir Chevy,” Krystal
could hear them say as they
made a sort of
salute to ‘Chevy’. They stayed standing
while he spoke.

Krystal strained her ears,
but all she could catch were a
few words
here and there. After a few minutes, ‘Chevy’
dismissed the group with a salute. Nathan and Davo were
heading for the door when he y
elled out,
"Get back here Toy and Maz. Show your
respect to Merc and me, now!"

Well, at least they heard
that part of the
conversation, Krystal
thought. She watched as Nathan
and Davo
returned to the centre of the room and saluted
Merc and Chevy. The two younger boys were then
allowed to go. Merc and Chevy headed for the room
with
the fireplace and they could only hear
muffled noises.
After a few minutes the
front door creaked as they left.

“Are they gone?” Tracey
whispered, staring up at
Krystal.

“Yeah, I think so. Just wait
a minute to make sure.”
Her eye was still
on the small crack in the door.

~~~~
Chapter
Five
~~~~

H
ome
Safe

All seemed completely quiet,
so Krystal took her eye
away from the crack
and sat down beside Tracey.

"Man, that Chevy sounds like
an army general or
somethin'." She looked
at her friend. Even in the
darkness of the
cupboard her face looked white. "You
really
look like a spook. You okay Trace?" Krystal
asked, feeling concern for her friend.

"I'm fine. I was just a bit
scared, that's all, but I asked
the Lord to
help me and I felt better. At least I didn't
faint. Who were they? I thought some of the voices
sounded like I knew them," Tracey
questioned.

"You do. They were Nathan
and Davo from school. I
nearly called out
to them. It's stuffy in here..." Krystal
kicked the cupboard door open with her foot. "That's
better!" she exclaimed breathing
deeply.

"So, what did they do?"
Tracey felt revived with the
door
open.

"They were reading
something; then they sat on the
floor. I
heard noises and two other guys came in. Nathan
and Davo saluted them. One was called Chevy and the
other Merc. Nathan and Davo had funny names
too,"
Krystal continued.

"I heard that: Toy and Maz!"
Tracey concluded
Krystal's speech. "But
what did they do?" she
questioned.

Nothin' really, just talked.
Then Nathan and Davo
left, and the other
two left after that. Oh, yes, they went
into the fireplace room before they left, that's all,"
Krystal concluded.

"Weird, eh?" Tracey's face looked
bewildered.

"Sure is. I wonder what
those boys were reading when
they came in?"
Krystal said her thoughts aloud.

"They probably borrowed
library books," Tracey
suggested.

"No. I couldn't even see
what they were reading it was
so small,
definitely not library books. Well, we'd better
get home before Mum sends a search party for me. The
rain might be stopped now." Krystal rose to her
feet,
remembering why they came into the
old house.

"Yeah, I'm getting stiff
sitting here," said Tracey,
standing
up.

Krystal jumped out of the cupboard.

Tracey handed her the bags
one at a time, then climbed
down. She
didn't feel up to jumping right now; her legs
felt a bit wobbly. She brushed her skirt.

Krystal walked around the
room. "We were having so
much fun. They
spoilt it."

"Hey, we should have
pretended to be spooks." Tracey
grinned
impishly.

"That's exactly what I was
thinking. But we didn't
have bed sheets.
Next time, why don't we do it?"
Krystal
urged.

"Yeah, that would be fun.
What's that?" Tracey
pointed to Krystal's
foot.

Krystal looked down. "What?"

"This piece of paper under your foot," said
Tracey, bending down towards the spot.

Krystal lifted her foot.

Tracey peered at the little
piece of grubby paper. "It's
got something
written on it. Let's read it outside; it's too dark in
here."

"Let's go then." Krystal put
her school bag on her
shoulders and headed
for the front door.

Tracey picked up her heavy
bag with a groan and
followed behind
Krystal.

"It's bright out here."
Krystal was the first to go
outside. The
sun was shining again and the sky was
clear. Everything looked 'washed' and clean.

"Maybe it was just dark in
there." Tracey blinked in the
strong
sunlight.

"Let's see that note."
Krystal looked over Tracey's
shoulder at
the slip.

"Awful writing. Something about cars. What do
you reckon?" Tracey handed the piece of paper to Krystal.

"Nathan and Davo were
reading something small. It was probably this. I think we should
keep it." Krystal
folded the note and
pushed it into her pocket.

As they walked together, the
two girls were deep in
thought. Krystal and
Tracey wondered about the boys'
names and
the little note.

After a couple of minutes Krystal stopped.
"Trace, their names are car names, Chevy, Merc, Maz, Toy!" she
exclaimed. "Like, Maz for Mazda, Toy for Toyota."

"Struth, I think you're
right, Krysty. See, I called you
Krysty
instead of Krystal." Tracey halted. "And I was
wondering about the messy writing, all different sizes.
Maybe there's a message. I've read in books
where
people leave coded messages." Tracey
couldn't help
feeling excited about the
whole matter, even though she had never been so scared in her life.
"Where's that note?"

Krystal searched in her
pocket. "Here it is!" She took
out the
crumpled piece of paper and tried to straighten it.
"You're right about the letters. Some of them
are
different, they're capitals, and the
others are small. That
is strange," said
Krystal, as they stopped near their
parting
corner.

They both wanted to know the
answer to the puzzle. "Why don't you come to my place and we'll try
to work
it out?" Krystal
suggested.

Tracey stared at her
wristwatch. "Oh no, it's after half past four. I'd better get home.
I'll try to come over a bit
later, after I
see Mum, and change out of my school
things," said Tracey, glancing at her watch again.

"That'll be cool. See you
later then?" Krystal carefully
folded the
little piece of paper and pushed it deep into the
corner of her pocket. She didn't want to lose
it.

Krystal walked around to the
back of the house. "Hi
Mum," she called
through the security screened door.
Krystal's Mum came hurrying from the family room.