The Secret of an Old House

Characters:

Granny

Meggy

Pauline

Rachel

Nothing disturbed the perfect serenity of the night. It was calm and full of mystery. Everyone in the old house seemed to be sleeping exept three children. The girls were bewitched by full moon shining in their window and were whispering softly. The hand of the clock over the mantelpiece pointed to twelve.

Meggy : Why can’t we do what we want? Well, everybody does. Father goes to work every day, so he likes it, otherwise he wouldn’t do this!

Pauline : It’s unfair! We, children, are like puppies tied to their duties!

Rachel : We can’t be ourselves! Why, I want to go to the forest at night.

Meggy : Let’s go to our granny! She knows a lot of scaring stories!

Pauline : That sounds like a good idea!

Rachel : Come along!

Granny : Dear me! Why don’t you sleep?

Meggy : We can’t, Granny, tell us something thrilling!

Granny : OK, girls, listen! I was a young girl back then. I was engaged to Robert & we were going to marry soon.

Pauline : But our grandpa’s name is James!

Granny : Don’t interrupt! You’ll understand it now! Robert inherited a big beautiful house, but there was something mysterious about it.

Rachel : Really? How interesting!

Granny :Yes, there was a prophecy that nobody could touch the hook in the middle of the room upstairs! The fate of everyone living in the old house depended on it!

Meggy : I am dying to know what happened.

Granny :But Robert wanted that room to be our bedroom. But that hook irritated him. And he could do nothing about it!

Pauline : What happened next?

Granny :Robert had his birthday and invited all his friends to the party. Of course I was there. We had as wonderful time among the guests still we wanted to be alone. We went upstairs to that very room. Robert came first and stumbled over the hook.  That was just too much!

Rachel : Oh, if I were in Robert’s boots I would have pulled the odious hook out!

Meggy :So would I!

Granny :Well, so did he. I regret it awfully. After he had done this something terrible and incomprehensible happened. It was like a thunderstorm!

Pauline : Did a monster fly to see who was breaking the prophecy?

Granny :No.

Rachel : What happened then?

Granny :An enormous luster on the ground floor was attached to that hook. After it had been pulled out it fell immediately with a terrible noise…

Meggy : How awful!

Granny :More than that, people used to light candles in halls in those times, so that luster caused a fire. I was the only person who managed to escape.

Pauline : You had quite a narrow escape, hadn’t you?

Granny :Right, the prophecy had nothing to do with evil spirits, but every word of it came true. The house burnt to ashes, everyone who was it the old house that night died…I was extremely unhappy, but then I married your grandpa. You see, sometimes it’s better not to do what we want…

Rachel : Granny, how do you know what we were talking about? Are you a fairy?

Granny said nothing. She was looking somewhere far away. And her shrewd  eyes were filling with tears…

Meggy : It’s awesome to chat in small hours about mystery!

Pauline : I even forgot that I want to sleep.

Rachel : Well, it’s high time to go to bed!

Meggy : Granny, dear, we’ll be as good as gold!

Pauline : We promise!

Rachel : Good night!