100 Cupboards by N. D. Wilson Read Free Book Online Page B

don’t think it wants to be in our attic,” Henrietta said. “It looks like it’s supposed to be somewhere else. What do you think the black part’s made of?” She leaned forward and picked at it with her fingernail. “I think it’s plastic.”
    â€œWhat?” Henry stuck his finger beside Henrietta’s. “Plastic’s not that old, is it?” He scratched and felt something pile up against his fingertip. “Oh,” he said, and sat back up.
    â€œWhat? What is it?” Henrietta grabbed at his finger to look at it.
    â€œI think it’s paint,” Henry said, picking the black out from beneath his nail. He looked back at the little panel in the door. “It must be glass that someone painted over.”
    â€œReally?” Henrietta began scratching at the panel with both hands. “We could see through it with a flashlight.”
    â€œHenry?” Aunt Dotty’s voice drifted up two flights of stairs. “Your lunch is ready. Come on down. Henrietta, you, too, if you’re up there.”
    Henrietta sat up quickly.
    â€œCan we just pretend like we didn’t hear?” Henry asked.
    â€œNo. Then she’ll just come up. Let’s go. We can do it later.” Henrietta stood up and pulled Henry to his feet.
    â€œHenry!”
    â€œWe’re coming, Mom!” Henrietta yelled, and the two of them thumped down the stairs. Henrietta stopped suddenly, and Henry bumped into her. She bent over and picked up a piece of plaster off a stair. She looked up and down the entire flight and made a face at Henry. “Mom will notice,” she said.
    Anastasia and Penelope were already eating when they got there. Uncle Frank sat between them, working Henry’s knife across a stone. Two plates of grilled cheese and two glasses of milk sat across the table from the girls.
    â€œWhat have you been doing, Henrietta?” Anastasia asked, chewing. “I thought you said you were gonna come back out and play.”
    â€œI did,” Henrietta said as she and Henry sat down.
    â€œBut I saw Henry and we started talking.”
    â€œWhat about?” Anastasia asked. “Zeke Johnson?” She picked at a lump of cheese between the bread crusts, stretching it into a string.
    Henrietta glared at Anastasia.
    â€œYou’re being rude,” Penelope said.
    â€œI’m not,” Anastasia said. “She said she was coming back, and I just want to know what they talked about. You two always talk about Zeke.”
    â€œGirls,” Uncle Frank said, “I don’t think it matters. You can all play after lunch.”
    Henry looked at Henrietta. Her jaw was locked shut. Penelope was red.
    â€œWe were talking about lost doors and secret cities and how to find them,” Henry said, and he took a bite of his sandwich.
    â€œFun,” Penelope said. “I found a secret door in the bathroom once.”
    â€œWhat you found,” Aunt Dotty said, entering from the kitchen with Frank’s sandwich, “was a bunch of mouse droppings.”
    â€œAnd—listen, Henry,” Penelope said. “Mouse droppings and a shower mat. You know those rubber things with all the suction circles on the bottom? There was one of those.”
    â€œSo what did you do with it?” Henry asked.
    â€œSet traps for the mice and closed it back up,” Uncle Frank said.
    â€œI can show it to you,” Penelope offered. “If Dad will let me take it back off.”
    â€œNope!” Dotty yelled from the kitchen. “I don’t want you breaking the paint all up again. There’s a more important door your uncle can show you, Henry. It’s much harder to get open than the bathroom panel.” She walked into the room, drying a skillet with a rag. “Frank, I ran into Gladys and Billy at the store yesterday. Do you know what he said to me?”
    The girls went very quiet. Frank didn’t look up.
    â€œHello?” he