Jane and the Fire – Part XXII

In 1958, young Jane has just moved to the city of Chicago, Illinois with her parents and cousins Billy. Jane and her friends are trying to find out what the abandoned house – er, houses. The Three Thugs are exploring the upstairs hallways because they believe the intruders headed upstairs; meanwhile, Jane and the twins are looking for a way out.

The children had passed from the second, dingy, chalkboard-like room to the source of the light. Once they entered the second room, they’d discovered that it was merely a hall connecting the entrance hall to two passages – one with light and one dingier.

“It doesn’t look like sunlight,” whispered Paige. “It’s a very bright light set up here.”

They crept forward, careful not to leave footprints or fingerprints, but they needn’t have bothered. This room wasn’t cobwebbed and dusty; it smelled of dirt and renovation.

They took cautious half-steps forward in the dark, which was as well, because Don almost tumbled into an enormous crater in the ground. The other two grabbed his arms and pulled him back just in time.

“What…is that?” They peered over the edge of the crater. The Thugs, or someone, had removed floorboards from the kitchen floor and stacked them neatly by the wall. From the dirt below, an enormous hole had been dug. It was wide enough for the three of them to climb down inside had they wanted to.

“But, why a crater? Here, in the kitchen?” whispered Don.

“Keep walking,” whispered Paige. “And it isn’t just a crater, it goes a little farther toward the left, underground, see?”

“Not to the left, toward the north,” corrected Don patiently. “It’s pointing sort of toward the main road outside.”

“It’s a tunnel,” Jane said. “The beginning of a tunnel leading outside…from underground?”

Suddenly, they heard thundering feet hurrying down the stairs. The Thugs must have realized that the rooms upstairs were quite empty.

“He’s in here somewhere,” growled Mr. McCawley. “Find him!”

The children ran from the kitchen, deeper into the drafty, dark house.

The Thugs had reached the hall, and some unerring instinct was leading them forward, past the motheaten sofas to the dark tunnel kitchen. The children hurried forward faster, as the Thugs gained speed concurrently. The house wound around a central staircase, which was the one Jane had noticed as they entered the house. The children went from room to room, staying just a room ahead of the Three Thugs.

Finding themselves finally in the entrance hall again, they yanked open the door, and hurled themselves outside, before jumping the porch wall and running to blend in with the busy main road.

The Thugs reached the adjoining corridor just as they heard the door slam. Mr. Bennet wrenched the door open, and the Thugs hurried to the edge of the porch.

The kids had disappeared among the crowd. Mr. Peele, out of breath and furious, spat bitterly on the ground.

“There was more than one in there! I heard many running feet!”

“Well, there isn’t any way to find out who it is now,” said Mr. McCawley. “And even if it was Wallace Joyce, what can he do with the knowledge that we dug a deep hole in the kitchen?”

Jane and the twins ran a full two blocks before collapsing on park benches.

“That was too close. Almost got caught.”

They whipped their heads around and gasped. 🌳 The story will continue next month!