Floors: Read Online Free PDF Page A

written above the envelope, on the wood of the box itself, in Merganzer’s big and round writing, which Leo recognized instantly.
    Floor and three and one half!
Strike the purple ball in the kitchen by the hall.
Three times fast. Duck!
And bring the ball. You’ll need it.
     
    Leo felt an immediate sense of goodwill and comfort. Merganzer D. Whippet only spoke in such strange turns of phrase when he was at his happiest, like when they were flying up the Double Helix and he would scream, “Dancing sharks go jumping Bob!” Mr. Whippet was the smartest man Leo had ever met
most
of the time, but his happiness brought out a wild glee that tumbled out of his mouth like candy.
    Floor and three and one half
had an authentic Whippet ring to it.
    “LEOOOOOOOOOO!” Ms. Sparks screamed into the walkie-talkie.
    Leo turned the volume dial down, her voice growing quieter, as if she were falling down an elevator shaft.
    He turned his attention to the fancy envelope, carefully pulling it free from the lid of the purple box. Time stood still for Leo as he opened and read the note. No thoughts of a zillionaire with a cranky daughter. No Ms. Sparks or leaky pipes.
    There was only the letter and the box.

Young Mr. Fillmore,
     
If you are in receipt of this letter, then Mr. Whippet has been gone for exactly one hundred days. As his longtime personal friend and attorney, I have been instructed to set things in motion.
I am only allowed to tell you four things:
— There are four boxes, all of which must be found.
— There are two days, including this one. That is all the time you have.
— You may enlist the help of only one other, preferably a child.
— Always bring a duck if you can. They are more useful than you know. If you can’t find a duck, bring a friend. Never go it alone.
Don’t fail, young Mr. Fillmore, for if you do, the Whippet Hotel and all it stands for will come to an end.
Only you can save the Whippet now. He’s counting on you to set things right.
Thoughtfully yours,
George Powell
Attorney at Law
1 Park Avenue West, 44th floor, door number four
New York, NY
     
    Leo felt the weight of the entire hotel resting on his shoulders. Was it really up to him, a ten-year-old boy, to save the hotel? And what did four weird boxes have to do with saving a hotel, anyway?
    He looked at the walkie-talkie, the red light blinking on and off: Ms. Sparks or his father, no doubt. He’d stayed too long exploring the purple box of rings. Leo put the fancy envelope and the letter in the front pocket of his overalls and started to put the lid back on the box. As he did, he heard his father’s voice echoing down the maintenance tunnel.
    “Leo? You in there?”
    Leo slid the cover of the box quietly until it was firmly back in place. Then he picked it up, searching for a place to hide it before his father came lumbering around a corner. The tunnel was narrow but tall, filled with all sorts of pipes and meters, and it snaked all the way around the building in a complete circle. This was one of the oddities of the Whippet Hotel: It was true that there were nine floors, but there was a lot of space between each floor. The tunnels ran all through many of those sections, with ladder tubes here and there between the floors the guests stayed on. Leo had long since memorized every nook and cranny of the tunnel system, and one thing was abundantly clear: There was no place to hide a purple box where his father wouldn’t see it.
    Leo looked in every direction and realized he had only one choice if he wanted to keep the secret safe.
    By the time Clarence Fillmore arrived at the small round opening that led to the duck elevator, his son was gone.
    And so was the box.

     
    Carrying a box down a ladder is easier said than done, and Leo nearly dropped it more than once as he descended from the fifth floor to the fourth. He woundhis way through the fourth floor tunnel lined with pipes, some of them shooting steam with a loud hissing sound as he passed by.