My Sister Jodie by Jacqueline Wilson Page A

‘Come on, Pearl, help me!’
    She tugged hard at the cupboard, going red in the face with the effort.
    â€˜You’ll hurt yourself, Jodie!’
    â€˜So give me a hand!’
    I scrabbled at the cupboard too. We could barely budge it an inch. We looked at Harley.
    â€˜It’s not worth the effort and the potential aggro. There’s nothing
up
there,’ he said, but he came and stood beside us and heaved too.
    â€˜I think there are attic rooms,’ I said. ‘Mrs Wilberforce told me about them. She said she tried to count them all once. She said I should have a go.’
    â€˜There! She’s given us her permission to have apeer round,’ said Jodie. ‘Come on, use your shoulders. One, two, three,
push
!’
    The cupboard made a great groaning sound as we shoved at it.
    â€˜Ssh, we don’t want Miss Ponsonby to come running,’ said Harley.
    â€˜She’s miles up the other end. She won’t hear a thing. Come on, one more go.’
    We hauled at the great cupboard and it suddenly budged and shifted sideways, toppling alarmingly.
    â€˜Watch it! It’ll fall on top of us if you’re not careful,’ said Harley.
    â€˜It’s fine, it’s fine,’ said Jodie. ‘Look, we can just about squeeze through. Lucky job we’re all thin. Let me go first!’
    She hunched her shoulders up, stood sideways and wriggled slowly through the gap.
    â€˜It looks horribly dark through there. Are there any spiders?’ I asked anxiously.
    â€˜Ooooh! Tarantulas! Help, help, killer tarantulas as big as beach balls! They’re jumping all over me with their hefty hairy legs!’ Jodie called.
    â€˜She’s such a pain, your sister,’ said Harley, sighing. ‘Are you going next?’
    â€˜All right.’ I paused. ‘Will you come too?’
    â€˜What do you think I’m going to do? Shove the cupboard back and wall you both up for ever?’
    â€˜Stop it! You’re as bad as Jodie!’
    â€˜Never,’ said Harley.
    I still hesitated, looking at the gap.
    â€˜She’s joking about the spiders,’ said Harley.
    â€˜I know she is. It’s just the moment she says it I can kind of
feel
them,’ I said.
    â€˜Here,’ said Harley. He held out his hand. ‘Hangonto me. If you feel anything at all spidery, just give a yell and I’ll yank you straight out.’
    I smiled at him and then squeezed through the gap, hanging on tight.

‘Oh, it has to be a wedding dress,’ said Harley.

8
    IT WAS LIKE squeezing into a different world. It smelled damp and musty, and it was much dustier. The narrow stairwell was very dark.
    â€˜I don’t like it!’ I said. ‘Jodie, let’s go back!’
    â€˜Don’t be such a wimp. Here, hold my hand. Is Harley coming?’
    â€˜Give us a chance,’ Harley called.
    He stuck his arm through the gap, then squeezed his long lanky body through, limb by limb. Then we stumbled up the murky stairs, coughing as we breathed in the dust. There was a long corridor with
lots
of spiders’ webs dangling down from the ceiling.
    â€˜Look!’ I said, pointing at them.
    â€˜They’re just little baby spiders,’ said Jodie. ‘Isn’t this great? It’s like we’ve found our own secret passage.’
    We stood peering along the long corridor. There were buckets and basins all the way up it, half full of dank water.
    â€˜I think the roof’s leaking big-time,’ said Harley.
    Jodie was dodging around them, trying doors. Some were locked, without any keys.
    â€˜What’s going on? What’s in here? Why has Mr Wilberforce blocked the way with that cupboard? Perhaps we’ll find the bodies of all his former wives, like he’s a Bluebeard and he’s murdered them all. Maybe he even had a go at murdering the present Mrs Wilberforce by shoving her out the tower window but she miraculously survived, though of course