Secret on the Thirteenth Floor by Gertrude Chandler Warner

Author:Gertrude Chandler Warner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company
Published: 2019-10-07T16:00:00+00:00

Henry found a pair of gloves and began stacking up the squares of cracked and stained ceramic tile that the workers had removed before putting in the new bathroom floor. Violet used a flat-head screwdriver to open a can of robin’s-egg-blue paint, and she and Benny got to work finishing painting in the back bedroom. In the kitchen, Jessie poured soap into a bucket and put it under the faucet to fill. Then she found a paint-speckled radio under the sink, plugged it in, and turned to a station playing Motown music.

The children couldn’t help but dance a little bit while they worked. The songs made the time pass more quickly—and they made Benny forget about the strange things that were happening on the thirteenth floor.

Soon a few workers arrived to finish up the kitchen cabinets and install a new air conditioner. Henry carried a crate of old tile down to the garbage.

In the bedroom, Benny climbed the ladder with his paintbrush to finish off the top corner of the wall. When they had started the job, the morning sun had been shining into the room and providing plenty of light. But now the sky was cloudy, and the room had grown dim.

“Violet, could you turn on the light?” Benny asked.

“Sure,” Violet said. She set down her brush and flicked the switch. The bulb flared for a second, but then they heard a loud pop and the lights went out. The Motown music went silent.

“What was that?” Benny asked, looking around, worried.

Violet looked up at Benny. “Don’t move,” she said. “I’m coming to help you down.”

“Okay, but don’t walk under the ladder!” Benny said.

Violet stopped. “Why not?”

“Remember what Felix said? It’s bad luck to walk under a ladder.”

“I think that’s probably a superstition, Benny,” Violet said. But she decided to go around the ladder, just to be on the safe side. She reached out her hand and helped Benny step down to the floor. “Don’t worry.”

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