Unhinged
In search mode
It was time, the moon was high, the night was still. The three of us snuck downstairs, our motive being to make as little noise as possible. We hit the landing of the staircase without any major mishaps. Excitement was building up. We were on a trail, searching for a secret door.
Slowly, we crept across the wooden floor, carefully avoiding the third board on the right, which we knew by experience groaned like a soul in despair.
Oh, how I loved this old groaning house.
The three of us (my brothers and me) were always sent here (to Gramps’ house) for the holidays, and we spent many a memorable night roaming through the groaning house in search of the ‘mysterious’.
As kids, we had no fears and I, being the only girl in the family, was the bravest of all. I spearheaded our nightly escapades, planning each one to the last detail. Milo and Sunny were always supportive of my ideas and the three of us got into a great deal of mischief.
Gramps was stone deaf, and that helped a lot. But Martha, the housekeeper was the one to look out for. Although she was old, she was as sharp as a tack, and could almost smell out the mischief we were planning. Nothing we did under that roof missed her sharp senses.
At last we made it to the spot. I’d discovered it by accident, while hiding out in an alcove during a particularly fun game of hide-and-go-seek.
It was apparently just a hinge sticking out from what looked like a seemingly blank wall.
I’d tried in vain to understand what was hiding behind those hinges.
Mine was a curious and inquisitive nature. It did not allow me to forget this seemingly interesting fact. I thought and thought of what those tantalising hinges could be hiding. Finally, I got Milo and Sunny into my secret and the three of us decided to go exploring that night.
Now we were there, standing before those very old and very strange looking hinges, which seemed like they were fixed into the wall of the alcove just to satisfy the whim of the builder.
“Maybe there’s a secret switch,” Milo suggested and we agreed. Getting down on our hands and knees, we began systematically searching for anything resembling a switch. No results.
“What next?” Sunny asked, scratching his head. “Maybe we can try pressing the hinge? I replied, pressing down on the mysterious hinge. No business resulted.
“Now what?”
“Now this!” said a hoarse voice behind us, causing us to almost jump out of our skins.
Standing behind us, complete with a stick, a torch and a look of pure anger, was Martha, the housekeeper.
Hearts beating wildly and faces ridden with guilt, we looked back at Martha. I saw the look of terror on the faces of Milo and Sunny, probably reflecting my own feelings of dread.
We were in major trouble and I did not need the accusing looks of my brothers to know this.
The result of all of this was that we received a severe talking to from practically every adult we knew and ended up being grounded for a month. We were never sent back to Gramps’ old house after that, but we discussed it a lot.
What could those hinges be hiding?
All these memories came rushing back today. It’s been 20 years after the ‘incident of the hinges’ as I’d labelled it.
I’d received an email from our family’s law firm. Today was the day when we would be handed our inheritance.
I smiled to myself, as I drove down, reliving the humiliation we felt on getting caught all those years ago and the blame game that followed when we got grounded.
So much time had passed. Now the three of us were grown up, all settled down with our careers and families. Hell, we were almost old already!
I stepped into the cool white interior of the lawyers office, Milo and Sunny were already there. Just being with the boys made me feel young again. The youthful memories, the games, the laughter, and most of all Gramps’ old house — all of it seemed like yesterday.
The legacy was read and among the other things left to us, was Gramps’ old house!
In fact, Mom had requested it to be equally shared amongst the three of us.
“What will you do with it?” the lawyer asked
“Well, I replied, smiling at the boys, “We’ll search for the door attached to those hinges!”
-Christabelle
