“But there must be,” Patricia continued. “We saw them, so we know they’re real. And I’ve got to find some way to prove it to my parents.”
“How?”
“Well, I don’t really know. But maybe we can think of something.”
Terri wasn’t sure if she thought this was a good idea. “Patricia,” she said, “the only way to prove it would be to go back to the boathouse and try to catch one of the toads or salamanders.”
“Okay. Why don’t we do that?”
“Because it’s dangerous!” Terri exclaimed. “And, anyway, I can’t go there anymore because…I got caught.”
“Ter-ri! Who caught you?”
“My Uncle Chuck,” Terri glumly reported. “When he got back from driving my mother to work, he came down to the lake and caught me.”
“Did you get grounded?” Patricia asked.
“I don’t know yet. I’ll find out when my mother gets home from work, and I’m pretty sure that’s what’s going to happen. But my Uncle Chuck made me stay in my room all day.”
“Bummer,” Patricia said.
“Yeah, I know.”
“But what are we going to do?” Patricia logically asked next. “There are a lot of weird things going on, you have to admit. And—jeeze—you said you saw more toads and salamanders with teeth in the backroom of the boathouse. That can only mean one thing.”
“What?” Terri asked.
“Your mother and your Uncle Chuck—they’re the ones who are behind it.”
««—»»
Terri knew exactly what Patricia meant; she’d already thought of that herself. All those toads and salamanders in the glass tanks proved that her mother and Uncle Chuck must know what was going on. And Terri had to admit something else: whatever was going on, it was definitely weird…
Terri wanted to talk more, but just then Uncle Chuck stepped into the kitchen and sternly said, “You’ve talked long enough, young lady. It’s time for you to hang up and go back to your room.”
Terri explained to Patricia that she had to go, and then she hung up the phone. Her eyes averted to the floor, she walked back to her bedroom.
“And make sure you stay there, young lady,” Uncle Chuck called behind her. “I’m going to pick your mother up from work now, and you better not even think about coming out of your room. Do you hear me?”
“Yes,” Terri peeped. She shuffled back to her bedroom, closed the door. A few minutes later, she heard the car door thunk closed from outside, the engine started, then the car pulled out of the driveway and drove off down the road.
Instantly, Terri felt frustrated and bored. At least Patricia’s all right, she thought. But—
There was just too much to think about, and worry about.
And be scared about…
She had to find the answers, and she knew the answers had to be in the backroom of the boathouse. I could go again now, she realized. Uncle Chuck was gone, picking her mother up. But with her luck he’d come right back just to see if she was still in her room. I can’t risk it, Terri wisely decided. She could get into too much trouble. The only other thing she could do, she knew, was look up some of those complicated words she’d seen on the computer screen, the tanks, and the bottle labels, but—as hard as she tried—she still couldn’t remember any of them. So she was still faced with the problem of getting to the backroom of the boathouse, so she could look at the words again, write them down, and then look them up in the dictionary. That was the only way.
Or…
Was it?
There was still one other thing she could try, wasn’t there?
Something that hadn’t occurred to her.
Yes! she thought.
Maybe the boathouse wasn’t the only place where she could read those words again.
Uncle Chuck, she knew, had been working down there all afternoon. And when he’d come back up to the house, what had he been carrying with him?
The briefcase! Terri realized.
Maybe those words were in the briefcase too.
And—
There’s only one way to find out, she told herself.
Right now, Uncle Chuck wasn’t in the house; he was picking Terri’s mother up at work.
She could sneak out of her room right now, couldn’t she?
And look in the briefcase herself…
««—»»
One thing in Terri’s favor was this: if Uncle Chuck came back home unexpectedly, she’d be able to hear the car pull into the driveway. So she’d have time to get back into her room before he came in. But she knew she couldn’t fool around, she had to be quick about it, and of course, the first thing she had to do was find the briefcase. She brought a Bic pen and a piece of notebook paper with her, stuck them in the pocket of her shorts. Then, very quietly, she opened her door and left her bedroom.
The house seemed very quiet right now, maybe because she was doing something she knew she wasn’t supposed to be doing. As always, the floor of the foyer went creeeeak! when she stepped on it, and that reminded her of how Patricia had scared her this morning, by hiding in the coat closet. Terri could only guess that the wooden tiles of the foyer had gotten old, and that’s why they creaked whenever someone stepped on them.
The hall to the kitchen was dark. She tiptoed quickly across the carpet and slipped into the kitchen. She wished she’d thought of this before; she could’ve been looking for the briefcase earlier, while she was on the phone with Patricia. Darn! Why didn’t I think of that? she scolded herself. She pranced around the kitchen, looking everywhere, but—
Uncle Chuck’s briefcase wasn’t anywhere to be seen.
Where is it!
Terri looked all over the place: the kitchen table, the big veneered walnut cabinet her mother kept her bills in, the closet, even the regular cabinets. She couldn’t find the briefcase anywhere!
It must not be here, she finally realized. And that could only mean:
It must be somewhere else, like maybe in the dining room, or—
Terri’s thoughts stopped short.
Maybe it’s in his bedroom…
She searched the dining room from top to bottom. The briefcase wasn’t there.
Now this really was risky. Going into Uncle Chuck’s bedroom without his permission. But Terri had no choice; she needed to look in that briefcase, and this was the only way. She walked quickly back down the carpeted hallway, put her hand on the knob to Uncle Chuck’s bedroom.
She paused, took a deep breath—
Here goes nothing, she thought.
—and entered the room.
Uncle Chuck’s bedroom was neat as a pin. The bed was made, the fern-green drapes were tied open, showing the sunny front yard. All of Chuck’s clothes hung neatly in the closet, like in the men’s section of a department store. But Terri’s eyes glanced about the room in total dread—
Where’s the briefcase!
She didn’t see it anywhere! Where else could it be? It wasn’t on the floor anywhere; it wasn’t in the closet. If she didn’t find it this minute, she knew she’d have to give up because Uncle Chuck would be back soon, with her mother. That’s all I need, Terri thought. First I get caught in the boathouse, and now I’m about to get caught in Uncle Chuck’s bedroom!