It's All Downhill from Here Read Free Page A

already?” Mrs. Kim asked.
    â€œNah, Dad needs a flashlight,” Maggie explained.
    She knelt down and pulled open the heavy canvas bag in which her dad carried his tools. Back home, it lived in the garage and sat on what passed for a workbench. Before they left for this weekend, he had tossed it into the car, just in case.
    Rummaging past screwdrivers of every size, several hammers, rolls of duct tape, and a few unidentifiable objects, Maggie found a flashlight. She snatched it up,snapped the bag shut, and returned to the top of the cellar stairs, where she handed it to her father.
    â€œHere we go,” he said, aiming the beam down the old wooden stairs. He started down, followed by Maggie, then Sophie.
    Maggie felt the staircase shift and creak with each step.
    â€œI don’t think these stairs are safe,” she said.
    â€œSure they are,” her dad replied. “This place hasn’t been empty for that long. Just hold on to the railing.”
    Maggie reached out and grabbed the thin wooden railing that ran down the length of the staircase, and her hand plunged into a sticky mixture of dust and cobwebs.
    â€œYuck,” she said in disgust, wiping her hand on the wall, only to disturb a spider, which scurried away in annoyance.
    The trio reached the bottom of the stairs and followed Mr. Kim’s flashlight beam, careful to bend low to avoid getting whacked in the head by the maze of metal ductwork. They came to a hulking metal structure.
    â€œLooks like a furnace to me,” Mr. Kim said as he set the gas valve to “pilot” and handed the flashlight to Sophie. “Just shine the beam down near the bottom. I’ll get the pilot light going.”
    â€œWhat’s my job?” Maggie asked, pretending to be interested.
    â€œYou watch out for critters,” Mr. Kim said, smiling.
    â€œC-critters?” Maggie stammered. “You mean, like animals? Here in the house?” She glanced left, then right, certain she would spot a ferocious beast ready to spring at her. Fear welled up inside her once again. Between the man she had seen in the window and the possibility of wild animals in the cellar, her nerves were totally on edge.
    Mr. Kim knelt at the bottom of the furnace and pulled out a box of long matches. “Let’s see. Boy, I haven’t seen a furnace like this in . . . well, ever, actually. That pilot light has to be around here somewhere. You know, when I was in college, I—”
    A sudden clatter startled Maggie. The sound moved across the cellar toward them, growing louder and louder.
    â€œDad, someone’s down here!” she cried.
    Sophie swung the flashlight beam in the direction of the sound. A black cat squinted into the light.
    â€œCritters,” Mr. Kim said. “Told ya.”
    Maggie shuddered, partly from the adrenaline that was coursing through her veins, and partly from beingshocked by the thought of sharing her possible new home with stray animals.
    â€œGot it!” Mr. Kim exclaimed as the pilot light caught and a ring of flame raced around the furnace’s burner. “There. It should be toasty in here in no time. Come on. Let’s go eat!”
    As she followed Sophie and her dad up the cellar stairs, Maggie wondered what other surprises awaited them in this house.
    In the dining room, Mrs. Kim had done her best to make their first meal in what she hoped would be their new home special. She had sprayed and wiped down the long wooden table with furniture polish. Then she placed a candelabra containing six white candles on the center of the table. When the rest of her family returned from the cellar, she lit all six.
    â€œGrandma’s fine china,” Mrs. Kim said as Simon pulled a stack of paper plates from the take-out bag and set one at each chair.
    Maggie laughed softly. “She says that every time we use paper plates,” she said to Sophie.
    The containers of food and cans of soda came out