CHAPTER 6
The Plan, Part Two
I went back into my room. “What took you so long?” asked Robbie. “And what was all that screaming about?”
“Oh, nothing … nothing,” I said. “The good news is I got the camera.” I pulled the camera out of my pocket.
“Great!” said Robbie. “Now you will have a picture to prove to Max that there really is a big, ugly monster in your attic.”
I gulped. “Yeah,” I said.
“Then Max won’t be able to call you a baby,” said Robbie. “Babies don’t go monster hunting.”
“Right,” I said, trying to sound brave. “Babies don’t go monster hunting.”
I sighed. “There’s only one problem with our plan.”
“What’s that?” said Robbie.
“The attic stairs are really heavy, so we have to think of a reason to go up there right now so my dad has to pull them down.”
“Why don’t you ask him if we can look at his old baseball card collection?” said Robbie.
“Good idea!” I said. “Come on!”
Robbie and I ran down the stairs.
“What’s up, boys?” said my dad.
“We wanted to go up in the attic,” I said.
“Now?” said my mom. “It’s almost bedtime. You can go up there in the morning.”
“But, Mom, we have to go now,” I said.
“What do you need up there?” asked my dad.
“Robbie and I wanted to look at your old baseball card collection, Dad.”
“Freddy said that you had some famous rookie cards,” said Robbie. “That is so cool! I brought my collector’s guide over. We wanted to see how much they’re worth.”
I smiled at Robbie. “Good job,” I mouthed at him.
“All right,” said my dad.
“But once you boys get the cards, you have to put on your pajamas and get into bed. You can look at the cards for a few minutes before you turn your light off,” said my mom.
“Okay, Mom,” I said.
We went back upstairs with my dad. “If you can find some of those cards in your guide, I’d love to know how much they’re worth,” said my dad.
“Sure thing, Mr. Thresher,” said Robbie.
We walked into the guest room. That was where the attic stairs were hidden in the ceiling. My dad gave a big tug on the string and pulled the stairs down. “Boy, these stairs are really heavy. They’re also very shaky, so be careful climbing up.”
We followed my dad up the attic stairs. When we stepped on the fourth stair, it made a loud creak.
“What did I tell you?” I whispered to Robbie.
When we got up to the attic, my dad started digging through a box in the back corner. “I think this is it,” he said, lifting up an old shoe box. “I’m pretty sure those cards are in here. Come on, boys. I’ll carry it down.”
“Can we stay up here another minute?” I asked.
“Mom said you needed to go to bed.”
“Just five more minutes,” I said. “There is something I really want to find to show Robbie.”
“Five minutes. I’ll put this box of my old cards in your room. Then I’m going to go tell your mom I found the old quilt she was looking for. I’ll be right back.” My dad disappeared down the stairs.
“What did you want to show me?” asked Robbie.
“But you just told your dad you wanted to show me something.”
“I know. I was trying to get him to leave. If we had gone down out of the attic with him, then he would have closed up the stairs. We need them left open for tonight. If we go down now, before he comes back up, I’m hoping he will forget they are open.”
“Good thinking,” said Robbie.
“Come on!” I said. “I don’t want to be in the attic when he comes back. Just be careful. The stairs are really shaky.”
We both climbed down and went straight to the bathroom. We brushed our teeth, put on our pajamas, and got into our sleeping bags.
When my mom, my dad, and Suzie came up, we were in my room, looking through the box of baseball cards.
“So, boys, did you find those cards in the guide?” my dad asked.
“Not yet, but we’re still looking,” I said.
“It’s time for bed,” said my mom. “You can look some more in the morning.”
“Awwww, Mom. Can’t we just stay up a few more minutes?”
“Freddy,” said my mom, “do you remember what our deal was?”
“Yeah.”
“You said that if I let Robbie sleep over, then you would get a good night’s sleep. You promised.”
Suzie laughed.
“What’s so funny?” said my mom.
I gave Suzie the evil eye. She’d better not say anything and ruin our whole plan. “We have a deal,” I mouthed at her.
“Oh, nothing,” said Suzie. “I was just laughing about something someone told me earlier today.”
“When I close this door, I don’t want to hear another peep out of you boys,” said my mom.
“And no more of that screaming game,” said my dad.
“We promise,” we said.
“Good night. Sleep tight. Don’t let the bedbugs bite,” my parents said.
“Or the monsters,” Suzie whispered.
They turned off the light and shut the door.
Now we just had to wait for all of them to go to sleep.