The House by the Lake

The House by the Lake
by
Brooke Bickel
(age 12)

  Once upon a time, there was a large, drab, old house by a lonely lake. It was the place to be back in the day, but not anymore. You cannot swim in it now because under the water it is incredibly weedy and mucky. You cannot fish in it either because the water level has gone down incredibly far. The only things that like the lake are toads and frogs. The house, despite its outward appearance, is not too bad. The walls need paint, and there are a few small unwanted residents, but other than that, the place is charming. 

It used to be a small hotel when the lake was nice, and then a man bought the place and fixed it up. He renovated it and turned it into an extremely large house - the size of a small barn. Now the man who owned the house (which by then fell into disrepair) died and left it to his daughter, June, who lived in the city. She was married to Frank and had five children, two of which were identical twins. 

  The oldest child, James, age 17, thought that he would have lots of fun doing outdoor activities. Margaret or Meg, as everyone called her, was 16. She did not approve of the move at all. Kyle, age 14, was torn between moving and staying. He was excited to see the stars since you cannot see them in the city. He did not want to leave his science and astronomers club, although he did like the idea of having his own laboratory. The twins, Libby, and Olivia, age 11, (twenty minutes apart) loved the idea of moving to a large house with lots of places to explore! So, the family decided that they would move no matter what anyone said. So, they packed up their van and left. They arrived at the house around lunchtime. Their first impressions were not that great. 

"Maybe it looks better on the inside," said Olivia hopefully. 

No one thought it did. After they all unloaded their stuff from the car and put their suitcases in the right rooms, the family dispersed. June decided to try to get some cleaning done before dinner time. Frank, set mouse traps up and after that called the moving van. James and Kyle tried to go fishing, and when they got tired of that, they tried to go swimming, But the lake was too yucky. Meg, went up to see her ‘new’ room, sulk, and to call her BFF on her cell-phone. 

Libby and Olivia put their stuff in their room and hurried outside to explore. First, they briefly explored the giant house, which took longer than they expected. Next, they explored the lake but found that uninteresting. After that, they explored some of the other lands on their property by the lake. There must have been a farm long ago because they found rotting fences and an old dump with half decayed tractor tires and antique colored glass bottles. After all that exploring Libby and Olivia got hungry. So, they both went to the house and grabbed some apples and some granola bars and went outside on the lawn. They ate their snack and talked about what they found. Suddenly they heard a scream.

“Ahhhhhhhhhh!” 

They stopped what they were doing and rushed inside like a tornado. Then they heard it again, it was coming from Meg’s room. Everybody raced upstairs and stopped suddenly in the doorway and stood laughing, for there was Meg, standing on the bed looking hysterical, and by her bed was a mouse trap with a HUGE dead rat. 

“I was moving some boxes when that thing, scampered out of a hole in the floor and ran into the mousetrap,” Meg explained. 

 After the family finished laughing, Dad, took the rat away. Then everyone went back to whatever they were doing. 

  James and Kyle, after their fishing and swimming experience, went inside and cleaned themselves up. Then they went to their rooms and unpacked some of their things, James loved sports of all kind, so he set up all his trophies. His favorite sport was hunting, and he had lots of hunting trophies. So much so that his mom always said, that when she came into his room she would say "It looks like a forest in here!” 

Kyle, on the other hand, liked astronomy and science. He was a little nerd-y. Many hours at night either doing new experiments or on his telescope to look for the constellations, galaxies, moons, and new planets. He was a quiet boy and never did talk much. Kyle was in his room when James called him on their ‘can phone.’ The brothers hooked up two cans and some string and put it between the two room because they were next to each other.  

James said, “Come quickly I found something!”

 Kyle thundered into James’s room. When he opened the door, he stood dumbfounded staring at what he saw, for there was a hole in the middle of the room James, had found a secret-passage! 

At that moment a dozen or more questions popped into Kyle's head. How did you find it? Did you want to explore the tunnel right now? I wonder where it leads? Suddenly he voiced one of them, “How did you find this?” 

“I’m not sure, I was just putting some stuff on my shelves when a box of small trophies fell. It must have triggered some mechanism of some sort.”

Kyle, said, “Let’s go explore the tunnel!” 

Before they left, they got a flashlight and a snack. Then they set out to see where the tunnel ended.

 Meg was in her room trying to figure out a design to make her room comfortable and look more like her old room. After she did the best she could do, she turned on some music and started to dance to her favorite tunes. Suddenly she stopped, her eyes wide open. The floor, right next to her rug, began to lift. She was too speechless to say anything at first but suddenly found her words. “There is a secret tunnel in MY room. There is a secret tunnel in MY room and no one else has one!” This is amazing. She thought. This passage is in my room and can open by itself. What if someone breaks into the house through this tunnel! So, she covered the hole with one of her many stylish rugs and set a large heavy box on top of it. Then she sat down to think some more. What should I do next?

She did not want to go in there by herself. Suddenly Meg had a great idea! The twins are always exploring things, right? So, they will go with me, and they can lead the way! So, she went downstairs to find them. When she found the twins, Meg asked them if they would want to explore her passage-way. “Yes,” they said. So, after grabbing a couple of flashlights and extra batteries they set off.

After Meg and the twins had been walking a while, the ground started to be wet and soggy then hard and rocky. All the sudden they found themselves in an underground cavern of sorts. Then Libby heard something, it sounded like footsteps. They came nearer and nearer. Slowly they turned around.  There right behind them were James and Kyle! Everyone started talking at the same time, it sounded like a flock of geese. After it had quieted down a little, James, asked how they got there. Olivia told the whole adventure. Then it was their turn to tell how they came into the cavern. “We got here the same way you did - only through James’s bedroom.” They decided to explore the cavern. Everyone got out their flashlights and looked around.

 “The cavity is made of granite and limestone, and there appears to be mica here and there,” said Kyle to anyone who would listen. He took a few rock samples to take home and look at under his microscope. The twins found some plant and animal fossils. Meg was busy collecting chunks of mica to put on her windowsill in her room, so when the sun hit the rocks her room would sparkle. James found that near the back of the cavern there was a waist-deep pool. The water was very clear, and the bottom was a smooth rock in some places and pure sand in others. Overall, the spot was beautiful. Sun was streaming in through some cracks in the wall so, after their eyes were used to the light they turned their flashlights off.

  After everyone was done exploring they all got together on the edge of the pool and related what they found. Suddenly Libby had a BIG question, “Should we tell Mom and Dad about this?” Everyone agreed that it would be for the best. No one wanted to lie to their parents.

  Later that evening during their dinner the children were quiet. “So, how was your day,” Mom asked. Soon their whole adventure was told over dessert. Mom and Dad were amazed at what they found.

  The next day the whole family went down to the cavern and spent the entire day there. All of them had loads of fun.  

The End

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