RARE BEASTS Read Free Page B

of Heimertz.
    Heimertz was the caretaker, tending to the maintenance of the house and grounds, and had worked there for as long as the twins could remember. He always moved slowly, barely flexing his knees as he went, but he had the uncanny ability to appear without warning, emerging silently from the gloom of the house. It disturbed the twins that in one moment they could be playing alone, and in the next find Heimertz and his vacant smile looming over them.
Very
few things unsettled Edgar and Ellen, but Heimertz was one of them.
    Whether or not the caretaker actually took any care was debatable, since the house was always dark and sooty and musty, and the garden dense with weeds and roots and dead bushes. But while he made them uneasy, Edgar and Ellen approved of his work—or lack of it.
    Heimertz inhabited a bleak shed in a low, swampycorner of the yard. Marshy mud and reeds rose up high along its ramshackle walls, making the shed look like it was sinking slowly into the earth. There was only one window, and it was cracked and missing a pane of glass. The twins had once peered through it, out of curiosity, and inside was but a bare room, simply furnished with a cot, a few candles, an old accordion, and a collection of tools, with no other personal effects that might hint at the caretaker’s history.

     
    He was rarely seen outside the grounds of the twins’ home. Older residents of Nod’s Limbs sometimes whispered that, long ago, Heimertz had been a Bavarian circus performer who escaped his family of clowns and acrobats. Edgar and Ellen could never confirm or dismiss the story. The twins found the caretaker too creepy to ask, and even if theycould muster up the gumption to speak to him, it was doubtful he would answer. In all these years, Heimertz had never uttered a single word to them.

11. Lurking and Slinking
     
    To their relief on this hot afternoon, the twins could make out Heimertz far off on the other side of the grounds. He was busy ripping large chunks of bark off of some decaying trees, so Edgar and Ellen silently crept through their backyard and slipped out into the neighborhood.
    They had to be very sneaky, because Edgar and Ellen had a reputation around town. At one time or another, most children in Nod’s Limbs had fallen victim to one of the twins’ insidious plots, whether they were aware of it or not. It was not so long ago that the twins had stranded nine-year-old Artie Anderson atop the tallest tree on the block, promising him access to a most amazing tree house. Shortly thereafter they had enticed little Sara Bergstaff to dig for gold in her yard, rupturing her family’s septic tank.
    So, carefully, very carefully, Edgar and Ellen slid through the shadows. One by one, they visited eachhouse in the neighborhood. And one by one, they snatched up all the pets.
    Some animals were easy to get, since no one was around to keep an eye on them. Their owners were off doing other things, such as buying comic books or playing kickball. Edgar plucked Ronnie Wringwood’s dog from in front of its doghouse, and Ellen reached through an open window to nab Heather Redder’s parakeet from its cage, leaving nothing but a few fallen feathers.
    Other pets required more stealth, and the twins found they needed to create distractions. Edgar pulled popcorn from the depths of his satchel and laid a trail down the driveway of the Bogginer home. While young, peckish Donald Bogginer was lured away by this surprise afternoon snack, Ellen made off with his kitten, Chauncey. Two houses down the street, Ellen rang Franny Finkle’s doorbell and then hid behind the family car. When Franny came running to answer the front door (“Coming, Mr. Crapple! You better have mail for
me
! Mail for ME! ” she shrieked), Edgar ran around to the back door and grabbed her hamster.
    Up one street and down another, the twins added to their collection. They muzzled the surprised pets to keep them from barking or meowing or making any loud