The Five Impossible Tasks of Eden Smith by Tom Llewellyn

Author:Tom Llewellyn [Llewellyn, Tom]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Holiday House
Published: 2023-11-29T00:00:00+00:00

XIX

In Which Eden Hears a Steady Roar

It took five minutes for the acetylene tank to empty into the huge storage room. Eugene capped off the pipe, while Eden began preparing a rocket.

Nellie gripped the head of her cane with both hands. “Pray for the door. Pray that it will hold.”

Eugene moved the Council and everyone far away from the door and the end of the pipe. Eden lit the fuse of a rocket and held it in her shaky hands until the fuse was almost burnt away. As the small rocket began to spit flames, Eden thrust it into the pipe. The rocket shot inside.

BOOM! The building shook so hard that Eden feared it might fall down. A crash of falling metal dishes followed. A jet of flames shot out of the pipe halfway across the hallway. The door strained on its hinges and bowed outward. But it held firm.

“So far, so good,” said Nellie.

“No one’s died,” said Irma, smiling.

“No one’s died yet,” muttered Mr. Pewtersmith.

A steady roar began inside the room. Eugene mopped his forehead, then removed his jacket. Eden connected the fan to the end of the flaming pipe. She turned on the fan. It whirred loudly and began pumping air into the room.

“Is it working?” said Irma. She fanned her face with her hand.

“It’s a big room,” said Nellie. “It will take more than one tank of acetylene to heat the whole thing up enough. Just wait and listen.”

A series of loud whoops began to sound off inside, muffled by the steel and stone walls. “Mama’s Fire,” said Nellie. “Now we have really got a fire.”

“We should have brought marshmallows,” said Irma. “It’s been years since I’ve had a roasted marshmallow.”

“Now what?” said Eden.

“Now we wait, dearie. Now we wait.”

They didn’t wait long. In just a few minutes, the edges of the steel door began to grow pink. A few minutes more and the entire door was so hot that it glowed cherry red. It began to bend outward, ever so slightly. As it did, a stream of silvery liquid oozed out from beneath the door and left a smoky trail on the stones of the corridor.

“Watch your feet,” said Eugene.

“You fools are going to catch the building on fire!” shouted Mr. Pewtersmith.

Robert Blacksmith ignored him and nodded at the liquid. “Molten pewter,” he said. “Very clean.”

It took two more hours until it was all over. The fire inside burned itself out. The door cooled from red to black again, but was still too hot to touch. Eugene sprayed it with cold water, then tried to open it, but the heat inside had welded the door shut. He brought out two huge crowbars. Eugene took one and Robert Blacksmith took the other. They pried on the door. Finally, the seal broke with a loud crack.

“Now that we can open it, I’m not sure that we should,” said Eugene. “It’s still awful hot in there.”

“Oh, stand aside!” said Mr. Pewtersmith. “I want to be the first to see the failure!” He grabbed the door and yanked it open.

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