frolicking by the river, Edgar and Ellen stayed inside their dark house, playing a game of hide-and-seek.
The twins’ home had many floors including a subbasement, a basement, an attic, and an attic-above-the-attic. Although the house was so narrow that each floor had only two or three rooms, there were still an awful lot of them. Each room was full of cupboards and closets and couches and curtains and enough grubby cubbyholes to hide in for an entire summer’s worth of hide-and-seek.
Edgar and Ellen’s parents had long since departed on an extended “around the world” holiday. At leastthat’s what it said on the note they’d left behind. With no one to clean it, the vast house had accumulated a rich collection of cobwebs and dust balls, providing the perfect setting for their game, to which they added their own unique twist.
In a typical game of hide-and-seek, the game ends once one player discovers where another is hiding. Well, Edgar and Ellen’s version didn’t end by merely
finding
the hider. The game ended when the hider was
subdued
, which meant that the seeker first had to uncover the hiding place and then had to wrestle the hider to the ground. Subduing could be quite a struggle since the twins knew each other’s wrestling moves, and the game generally concluded with either the hider or the seeker bound hand and foot, tied up in the ropes they both routinely carried.
Of course, once one twin was trussed up, he or she had lost and was at the mercy of the winner, and the winner always made sure to show as little mercy as possible before darting off to find a new hiding spot, leaving the loser to struggle free.
Ellen was adept at using her teeth and sharply filed nails to cut through her bonds, and Edgar had practiced the deliberate methods of famous escape artists. Nevertheless, it usually took each sibling overan hour to work free of the ropes. And an hour is plenty of time to find a great hiding place.
5. A Need for Something New
Ellen was in the library, wedged into a shallow compartment behind an ugly oil painting—a rotting still life of moldy cabbage and eggs. She felt cramped and restless in the tiny alcove.
“What’s taking Edgar so long?” she thought, wondering why she couldn’t have picked a larger hiding place. “Curse that slow brother of mine, always checking every possible spot on every floor, even ones we’ve already used!”
Suddenly, she heard the somber tones of the house’s pipe organ waft up from a parlor on the seventh floor. Edgar was playing a military march.
“Argh! Not again!” Ellen wailed, covering her ears.
But Ellen’s grimace turned into a smile as she ran her fingers over the edge of the strange item she’d brought with her, a surprise she thought her brother might appreciate.
Finally, the cacophony ended and a slight gust of chilly air tingled the hairs on the back of Ellen’sneck. She knew Edgar had entered the library. He had tracked her there after nearly two hours of searching, although he might have arrived sooner had he not run into all the booby traps she had rigged. He had managed to avoid the oil slick on the second-floor landing, but the trip wires laced through the fourth and fifth floors had taken some time to disarm, and a falling bucket in the kitchen had nearly given him a good knock on the head.
Ellen watched from a gap between the frame and the wall as her twin checked behind drapes and under chairs. When Edgar turned to examine a massive mahogany desk, she carefully swung the painting outward, climbed down to the dusty carpet, and crept up behind him.
“Too slow, Edgar, TOO SLOW!” she screamed as she pounced.
Edgar was unprepared for Ellen’s attack, and before he could defend himself, Ellen had him flat on his back atop the desk. She quickly bound him in place, and, while Edgar squirmed, she climbed up on the desktop. As she stood above him, Edgar got a good look at what she was holding.
Hanging from one end of a long,
The twins’ home had many floors including a subbasement, a basement, an attic, and an attic-above-the-attic. Although the house was so narrow that each floor had only two or three rooms, there were still an awful lot of them. Each room was full of cupboards and closets and couches and curtains and enough grubby cubbyholes to hide in for an entire summer’s worth of hide-and-seek.
Edgar and Ellen’s parents had long since departed on an extended “around the world” holiday. At leastthat’s what it said on the note they’d left behind. With no one to clean it, the vast house had accumulated a rich collection of cobwebs and dust balls, providing the perfect setting for their game, to which they added their own unique twist.
In a typical game of hide-and-seek, the game ends once one player discovers where another is hiding. Well, Edgar and Ellen’s version didn’t end by merely
finding
the hider. The game ended when the hider was
subdued
, which meant that the seeker first had to uncover the hiding place and then had to wrestle the hider to the ground. Subduing could be quite a struggle since the twins knew each other’s wrestling moves, and the game generally concluded with either the hider or the seeker bound hand and foot, tied up in the ropes they both routinely carried.
Of course, once one twin was trussed up, he or she had lost and was at the mercy of the winner, and the winner always made sure to show as little mercy as possible before darting off to find a new hiding spot, leaving the loser to struggle free.
Ellen was adept at using her teeth and sharply filed nails to cut through her bonds, and Edgar had practiced the deliberate methods of famous escape artists. Nevertheless, it usually took each sibling overan hour to work free of the ropes. And an hour is plenty of time to find a great hiding place.
5. A Need for Something New
Ellen was in the library, wedged into a shallow compartment behind an ugly oil painting—a rotting still life of moldy cabbage and eggs. She felt cramped and restless in the tiny alcove.
“What’s taking Edgar so long?” she thought, wondering why she couldn’t have picked a larger hiding place. “Curse that slow brother of mine, always checking every possible spot on every floor, even ones we’ve already used!”
Suddenly, she heard the somber tones of the house’s pipe organ waft up from a parlor on the seventh floor. Edgar was playing a military march.
“Argh! Not again!” Ellen wailed, covering her ears.
But Ellen’s grimace turned into a smile as she ran her fingers over the edge of the strange item she’d brought with her, a surprise she thought her brother might appreciate.
Finally, the cacophony ended and a slight gust of chilly air tingled the hairs on the back of Ellen’sneck. She knew Edgar had entered the library. He had tracked her there after nearly two hours of searching, although he might have arrived sooner had he not run into all the booby traps she had rigged. He had managed to avoid the oil slick on the second-floor landing, but the trip wires laced through the fourth and fifth floors had taken some time to disarm, and a falling bucket in the kitchen had nearly given him a good knock on the head.
Ellen watched from a gap between the frame and the wall as her twin checked behind drapes and under chairs. When Edgar turned to examine a massive mahogany desk, she carefully swung the painting outward, climbed down to the dusty carpet, and crept up behind him.
“Too slow, Edgar, TOO SLOW!” she screamed as she pounced.
Edgar was unprepared for Ellen’s attack, and before he could defend himself, Ellen had him flat on his back atop the desk. She quickly bound him in place, and, while Edgar squirmed, she climbed up on the desktop. As she stood above him, Edgar got a good look at what she was holding.
Hanging from one end of a long,
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