"Martin, Ann M - Baby-sitters Club 009 - The Ghost at Dawn's House" - читать интересную книгу автора (Martin Ann M)

"Mom!" I exclaimed. "The power's off here, it's all dark, and there's this secret passage from my room to the barn Ч I know I should have told you about it, but I didn't Ч and Jeff and I looked in it, and we have a ghost."
"We heard noises!" Jeff shouted into the receiver from behind me.
"Dawn. Slow down. What are you saying?" asked my mother.
"I found a secret passage in our house. A real one." I paused. "Mom, the power's off here. Jeff and I are in the dark, except for a flashlight."
"I understand that, honey. But we've had power failures before. Now what is this about a secret passage?"
"You know how I'm always looking for one?" I asked.
"Yes."
"Well, I found one the other day. I promise it's not a figment of my imagination or anything. But I kept it a secret. I didn't even tell Mary Anne."
"And where is this passage?"
"It runs from under the barn Ч there's a trapdoor in the floor Ч to my room. You know the wall with all the molding? It swings out into my room when you press a corner of the molding."
"Are you positive, Dawn?"
"'Yes. Cross my heart and hope to die. And tonight Jeff got bored, so I decided to show him the passage. We'd almost gotten to the other end when we heard these noises. It really did sound like Ч "
Mom interrupted me before I could finish. "Trip and I will be right there. Sit tight, stay
calm, and don't go back in the passage." She hung up.
"So?" Jeff said as soon as I'd hung up the phone, too. We both felt a little more relaxed. "What'd she say?"
"Mr. GWynne's name is Trip," was all I could answer. "Trip. Can you believe it?"
Jeff laughed. "Oh, yeah. Man, that is so cool," he said sarcastically.
"I bet he wears pink socks and alligator shirts and his friends call him, like, the Trip-Man or something."
"I bet he plays golf," said Jeff, with a snort of laughter.
"I bet his idea of an amusing afternoon is balancing his checkbook. And," I added, "I bet he has real short hair, wears wire-rim glasses, and has gray eyes, but wears contacts to make them look blue."
Jeff laughed so hard that he collapsed on the floor. I joined him Ч but mid-collapse I let out a yelp.
"What is it?" cried Jeff.
"What are we laughing for? That ghost could be sneaking into my room this very second. We've got to go block the wall off!"
"In the dark?"
"Do you want the ghost in here with us?"
"No." Jeff flew out of Mom's room and into mine before I'd even gotten up off the floor. "Shove something in front of the wall/' he commanded as soon as I ran in.
We moved my dresser in front of the door to the passage. Then we put a chair on top of it, and, puffing hard, slid my bed against the front of the dresser.
We were unloading books from my shelves and piling them on the chair and bed when two things happened at once: the power was restored, and Mom and Mr. Gwynne came home. When the lights flicked on, Mom found Jeff and me standing on my bed, stacking books onto a pile of furniture. And Jeff and I saw two people standing in a doorway that we thought was empty.
Everyone screamed.
"What are you doing?" cried Mom at the same time that I yelled, "When did you get here?"
Then we answered each other at the same time, too. "Keeping the ghost out," I replied as Mom said, "Just now."
"Whoa! Everybody calm down," exclaimed Mom's date.
Jeff and I jumped to the floor.
"Kids," said my mother, who was trying to
catch her breath. "This is Mr. Gwynne. Theodore Gwynne."
(My mother had no idea why Jeff and I looked at each other and began to laugh then.)
"And," she went on, ignoring us, "this is Dawn, and this is Jeff."
"Hi," the three of us said uncomfortably.
I have to admit that the Trip-Man didn't look exactly as Jeff and I had imagined, but he was pretty close. He was wearing glasses, but not wire-rims. The frames were tortoise-shell and very round. His blonde hair was short, but behind the glasses, his eyes were brown. He was wearing a suit and tie, so there were no alligators anywhere, and his socks weren't pink but his shirt was.
"Dawn," said Mom, sounding exasperated, "what are you and Jeff doing?"
"Blocking the entrance to the secret passage so no one can come in."
"You mean the ghost?" she asked with a smile.
"Yeah."
"I thought ghosts could float right through walls."
"Urn ..." I said. (Why hadn't I thought of that?) "Of course they can. But the passage is his home base." What a stupid excuse.
And now I had something new to worry about.
"Well, let's just see what we have here," said the Trip-Man.
He and Jeff and I moved the books and furniture away from the wall. Then I pressed the molding and the wall opened up.
Mom gasped. I don't think she'd really believed I'd found a secret passage until then.
The Trip-Man held out his hand. "If you'll let me have the flashlight, I'll go take a look-see," he said.