The Finding of Freddie Perkins Read Online Free PDF Page B

marvellous scene, and shut the door behind him.
    He let out a long, happy sigh. He felt so different up here that it was like being in another world, a world where there was a possibility of good things happening again.
    He puffed his chest out and tried to do his best hale and hearty pirate impression.
    â€˜Longbeard – aargh – shiver me timbers but there’s a good lot of treasure here.’
    Not bad
, he thought. A bit rusty. But then, he hadn’t done it for a while.
    He was swaggering over to the corner to find the boxes Granny P had mentioned when suddenly a glint on the sorting table caught his eye.
    He walked back towards it, suddenly reverting to the role of Freddie Perkins.
    â€˜No way! Absolutely no way! Awesome!’
    For there on the table was a key.
    And something inside him simply knew it had to be
the
key. He rushed over to the chest and tried it in the lock. A perfect fit! And though it was a bit stiff from being closed for so long, the key turned. Now he could finally see what was inside.
    His heart pounding, Freddie was about to open the chest when suddenly he remembered Granny P.It wouldn’t be fair to open the chest without her. He desperately wanted to look right now, but something in him was strong enough to resist. He didn’t want to be unfair to his new friend – after all it was her attic, her chest, and the sorting had all been her idea.
    But of course it was now impossible for him to wait until Granny P and Dad came up to the attic in their own good time. That would be unthinkable. He held the key tightly in his hand, put his clenched fist into his pocket – just to be sure there was no chance of losing the precious object – and ran all the way back down the stairs to find Granny P.
    But in the hall, another thought struck him. In all that excitement he had not considered how the key had got there. Yesterday they didn’t find any keys at all. Today there was a key on the table. Exactly the right key. Just there on the table. Waiting for them. Or, waiting for him, because of course he had gone up alone.
    He had been
sent
up alone.
    Freddie figured it out in a flash.
    Granny P was just like all the other grown-ups after all. She was playing a game with him. She’d obviously known where the key was all along, sneaked back upto the attic after he was in bed, and put it out on the table, before locking the door and putting the torch back in its place, ready for him to find when she sent him up on his own the next morning.
    No doubt she was going to try to convince him there was some kind of magic or haunting going on in the attic.
    Freddie was disappointed. And he was angry, too.
    He had thought they were sharing an adventure, that he was really helping… that they were in it together. But now it felt like a big let-down, a conspiracy to cheer him up – as if a stupid attic could ever do that.
    Well, two could play at that game.
    Freddie ran back upstairs.
    He would lock the chest again and hide the key. He would call Granny P’s bluff.
    And of course he would look in the chest himself now, before locking it again and pretending to be none the wiser.
    * * *
    It was probably about half an hour after he had first gone up when Freddie heard Granny P and Dadcoming up the stairs. They were talking to each other about the mysterious chest, and Freddie thought that Granny P would surely not be playing a trick on his dad too. But then he realised they must have planned it all together, and their conversation now was really for his benefit – a little charade to further build his sense of excitement.
    â€˜I know it seems silly, Stephen, but really I didn’t get a wink of sleep for thinking about it. Whatever could be inside? Of course it’s probably something terribly dull, and it’s just made exciting by the mystery. I hope we won’t all be dreadfully disappointed.’
    â€˜Don’t resolve it all now, Ma,’ said his