بگو سیب و بمیر فصل 3

Say Cheese and Die! - Chapter 3

“It’s got me! It’s got me!”

At the sound of Bird’s terrified cries, Greg pushed past Shari and Michael, who stood frozen in openmouthed horror. Practically flying down the steep stairway, Greg called out to his friend. “I’m coming, Bird! What is it?”

His heart pounding, Greg stopped at the bottom of the stairs, every muscle tight with fear. His eyes searched frantically through the smoky light pouring in from the basement windows up near the ceiling.

“Bird?”

There he was, sitting comfortably, calmly, on an overturned metal trash can, his legs crossed, a broad smile on his birdlike face. “Gotcha,” he said softly, and burst out laughing.

“What is it? What happened ?” came the frightened voices of Shari and Michael. They clamored down the stairs, coming to a stop beside Greg.

It took them only a few seconds to scope out the situation.

“Another dumb joke?” Michael asked, his voice still trembling with fear.

“Bird—were you goofing on us again?” Shari asked, shaking her head.

Enjoying his moment, Bird nodded, with his peculiar half grin. “You guys are too easy,” he scoffed.

“But, Doug—” Shari started. She only called him Doug when she was upset with him. “Haven’t you ever heard of the boy who cried wolf? What if something bad happens sometime, and you really need help, and we think you’re just goofing?”

“What could happen?” Bird replied smugly. He stood up and gestured around the basement. “Look—it’s brighter down here than upstairs.”

He was right. Sunlight from the backyard cascaded down through four long windows at ground level, near the ceiling of the basement.

“I still think we should get out of here,” Greg insisted, his eyes moving quickly around the large, cluttered room.

Behind Bird’s overturned trash can stood an improvised table made out of a sheet of plywood resting on four paint cans. A nearly flat mattress, dirty and stained, rested against the wall, a faded wool blanket folded at the foot.

“Spidey must live down here!” Michael exclaimed.

Bird kicked his way through a pile of empty food boxes that had been tossed all over the floor—TV dinners, mostly. “Hey, a Hungry Man dinner!” he exclaimed. “Where does Spidey heat these up?”

“Maybe he eats them frozen,” Shari suggested. “You know. Like Popsicles.”

She made her way toward a towering oak wardrobe and pulled open the doors. “Wow! This is excellent !” she declared. “Look!” She pulled out a ratty-looking fur coat and wrapped it around her shoulders. “Excellent!” she repeated, twirling in the old coat.

From across the room, Greg could see that the wardrobe was stuffed with old clothing. Michael and Bird hurried to join Shari and began pulling out strange-looking pairs of bell-bottom pants, yellowed dress shirts with pleats down the front, tie-dyed neckties that were about a foot wide, and bright-colored scarves and bandannas.

“Hey, guys—” Greg warned. “Don’t you think maybe those belong to somebody?”

Bird spun around, a fuzzy red boa wrapped around his neck and shoulders. “Yeah. These are Spidey’s dress-up clothes,” he cracked.

“Check out this baad hat,” Shari said, turning around to show off the bright purple wide-brimmed hat she had pulled on.

“Neat,” Michael said, examining a long blue cape. “This stuff must be at least twenty-five years old. It’s awesome. How could someone just leave it here?”

“Maybe they’re coming back for it,” Greg suggested.

As his friends explored the contents of the wardrobe, Greg wandered to the other end of the large basement. A furnace occupied the far wall, its ducts covered in thick cobwebs. Partially hidden by the furnace ducts, Greg could see stairs, probably leading to an outside exit.

Wooden shelves lined the adjoining wall, cluttered with old paint cans, rags, newspapers, and rusty tools.

Whoever lived here must have been a real handyman, Greg thought, examining a wooden worktable in front of the shelves. A metal vise was clamped to the edge of the worktable. Greg turned the handle, expecting the jaws of the vise to open.

But to his surprise, as he turned the vise handle, a door just above the worktable popped open. Greg pulled the door all the way open, revealing a hidden cabinet shelf.

Resting on the shelf was a camera.