Monster Lake Read Online Free PDF

planked pier. If you looked down, you could
see the water between the cracks in the planks. And a gentle
lapping sound could be heard too: the water at the edge of the lake
slapping against the pier posts.
    Patricia walked out to the end of the pier,
gazing out onto the lake. “This is beautiful. It’s bigger than I
thought it would be.”
    “ It’s not that big,” Terri
said. She’d seen much bigger lakes. But it was still a good
size.
    “ Is that your boat?”
Patricia asked, pointing down.
    “ Yeah.” The small boat
floated lightly, tied by a thick rope to one of the pier posts.
“I’ve never even been out on it.”
    “ It’s even got a motor!”
Patricia noticed. “Do you know how to work it?”
    “ All I know is you pull
that cord there on top of the motor,” Terri said. “But there’re
buttons you have to adjust too, and I don’t really know how to do
it. There’s something on it called a throttle; you have to set it
right first. But I don’t even think it works anymore.”
    “ How do you
know?”
    “ Well, my Dad told
me.”
    “ Yeah,” Patricia scoffed.
“And your Uncle Chuck told you there were snakes all over the
place. And all we found were branches. Maybe your Dad told you the
boat didn’t work because he didn’t want you to use it.”
    Patricia, Terri knew, had a point. It just
seemed to her that sometimes grownups said things on purpose that
weren’t true, to discourage kids.
    “ I don’t know,” was all
Terri said in response.
    “ Well, why don’t we try
it?”
    “ What? Riding in the boat?”
Terri questioned, astonished.
    “ Yeah, why not?”
    “ Because I already told
you, my Uncle Chuck’ll be back in a half-hour. Do you have any idea
how much trouble I’d get in if he caught us in the boat? I’d get
grounded if he even knew we’d come down the path.”
    “ All right, all right,”
Patricia agreed. “But let’s at least look around.”
    “ Okay.”
    They approached the door to
the boathouse. Terri was still very curious about what was in
there. She knew the front room was just an office, but why would
her parents forbid her from ever going in the other rooms? I’m going to find out right now, she decided. Her Mom and Uncle Chuck would never
know. What harm could there be in her just looking around real
quick?
    “ All right,” Terri said.
“Let’s go in.” And then she put her hand on the doorknob, turned
it, and—
    “ Oh, no!” she
exclaimed.
    “ What’s the matter?”
Patricia asked.
    Terri looked back at her friend in sheer
frustration.
    “ The door’s locked!” she
exclaimed.
     
    ««—»»
     
    The wooden door jiggled in its frame but
wouldn’t open. Terri could see the lock’s metal bolt between the
gap.
    “ What are we going to do
now?” Patricia asked, with more than a little
disappointment.
    Terri’s eyes thinned. “Well,” she said
slowly, thinking. “One time on TV I saw somebody open a locked door
with a credit card.”
    “ A credit card!” Patricia
exclaimed. “Where are we going to get a credit card? We’re only
twelve! Are you telling me you have a credit card?”
    “ No,” Terri said. Of
course, she didn’t have a credit card; only adults had those. “But
I’ve got a library card.”
    Patricia watched with amazement as Terri
withdrew her plastic covered Devonsville Library card and slipped
it in between the edge of the door and the doorframe. Very
carefully, she worked the edge of the card against the angled side
of the bolt. Gently, gently…
    “ Aw, it’s not going to
work,” Patricia dismissed.
    “ Wait…”
    Terri worked the card in further. The bolt
moved a little.
    “ Wait,” Terri repeated,
biting her lower lip as she concentrated.
    The bolt moved a little more. Then—
    click!
    The door opened.
    “ You did it!” Patricia
celebrated.
    Yeah, Terri thought, a little surprised herself that she’d actually
been able to. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s go check it
out.”
    The front room of the