Chapter Eleven
The Investigation Begins
On most days, the Beans would have reported for baseball practice immediately after school. Since they had a game later in the day, however, they had a couple of free hours following the final bell. Now, their bicycles were piled up on the lawn of Lefty’s Manor, and the four of them were prepared to begin their investigation.
As they tiptoed through the gargantuan house, which was odd, and weird, and more than a bit spooky, they felt tingly with apprehension and excitement. The manor contained a personality… almost as if it were alive, and watching them as they prowled through the property.
They crept about, with Jack in the lead, and Nibbler beside him. The Labradoodle was on full alert, with his snout sniffing and his ears twitching. When they reached the basement door, Jack and Nibbler paused, while Neil, Sara, and Maria waited right behind them.
“Okay,” Jack said, as he let out a long and shaky breath, and wiped a trembling hand across his forehead.
He was not afraid, but nervous, and none too excited about the prospect of receiving another electric shock, mild though it may have been.
“This is it. This is the basement,” Jack told his friends. His hand hovered just above the antique, brass doorknob. “This is where I got shocked last night.”
“Well, don’t grab it with your bare hand!” Sara told him. “Ms. Waffler was right. You guys really weren’t paying attention in class.”
“Well, we didn’t get a whole lot of sleep,” Neil pointed out in their defense. “Wait… are you telling me Ms. Waffler went over doorknobs in class today? And I missed it?”
“No, we didn’t go over doorknobs,” Sara said with a giggle. She pulled her notebook from her backpack and began leafing through it. “We went over electricity. And we covered the types of materials that conduct electricity.”
Maria had wandered off a bit, and she suddenly returned with an iron poker she had retrieved from a nearby fireplace. “This should do it!” she announced. “Just pop the door open with this.”
“No!” Sara shouted, and she grabbed the poker away from her sister. “Metal is a fantastic conductor for electricity. If there’s any juice in that doorknob, it’ll be conducted through the metal, and into you. It’ll zap you right out of your shoes!”
Nibbler sniffed at the doorknob suspiciously, but was careful not to touch it. His nostrils quivered about, and his ears quirked this way and that. His tail began to wag, very slowly, as if uncertain of what to make of the doorknob. He eyed it with what seemed an increased alacrity, and his ears suddenly pressed flat against his head.
“Ah-roo?” Nibbler asked softly.
With a distinct clicking sound that was clearly heard by all, the latch – somehow – became disengaged, and the door popped open. All four of the Beans jumped back, startled, and more than a bit bewildered.
“What the…?” asked Jack.
They started giggling among themselves, as if to prove that they had not truly been frightened when the door popped open.
“I wasn’t scared!” Neil boldly declared. “Nah, I was just a bit taken off guard, that’s all.”
“Yeah, that’s the ticket,” Sara said.
“Yep, me too,” Maria added.
Nibbler sneezed, and skeptically eyed the four of them in turn.
The Beans crowded into the open doorway. What lay beyond was a long staircase, winding down into the basement. The stairs eventually went around a corner, so that they could not see what was at the bottom. Fluorescent bulbs cast a strange light, flickering and dimming from time to time.
They stood at the top of the stairs for a moment, absorbing the atmosphere, and contemplating what might await them. Nibbler sniffed at the air with great thought.
And then, confident in the companionship of their friends, they began their descent.