The Wizard's Map Read Free Page B

only thing she knew how to write, though she could already read.
    Using the tea towel, Jennifer wiped off the top of the trunk, erasing Molly’s name as she did so. Then she lifted up the lid.
    â€œLook!” cried Molly. “Dress-up.” She pulled out a white frilly apron and a very small and delicately laced white dress.
    â€œThat’s for a christening,” explained Jennifer “You wore one of those when you were a baby.”
    â€œWhere is it?” asked Molly. “I’ve never seen it.”
    â€œMaybe..." Jennifer said in a spooky voice, “maybe this is the very one.” She pounced on Molly and began tickling her until Molly’s giggles threatened to turn into sobs.
    They unpacked the rest of the trunk together, finding a dress covered all over with black beads, a long crimson cloak lined with some kind of fur, a plain light brown turban, a soldier’s uniform jacket with gold braid on the shoulders and three medals with bright ribbons pinned to the chest, and a silver crest that said A DOUGLAS.
    â€œPeter, look at this,” Jennifer said, standing and holding the turban. She brought it over to Peter, who was busy tapping on a wall. “What are you doing?”
    â€œTrying to find the secret room, of course,” Peter said. “But nothing sounds hollow....Wait a minute. Do you think this one sounds right?” The wall he was rapping on had a window high up under the eaves.
    â€œDon’t be stupid,” said Jennifer. “That’s an outside wall.”
    Peter looked up and realized how foolish he’d been. “Oh—right.”
    â€œI’ll help, though,” Jennifer said, laying the turban aside. They went slowly around the room three times, knocking solemnly, until Mom came to the foot of the stairs and called them all down for lunch.
    ***
    It was still dreary outside, the rain coming down in sheets. Gran called it “dreech.”
    â€œI like that word,” said Molly. “
Dreech
. It sounds like what it is.”
    â€œOnomatopoeia,” said Jennifer, and Peter nodded. “We learned about that in school.” Even as she said it, she was thinking that school, with its concrete walls and concrete playground, seemed very far away.
    â€œWe haven’t found the hidden room yet,” Peter told Gran. “Can you give us a hint?”
    â€œI told you we’ve never found it,” Gran replied, setting another kind of cake in front of him.
    â€œI thought that was—you know—a kind of come-on,” Peter said.
    â€œCome-on?” Gran looked confused and turned to Mom.
    â€œA tease, Gran. A riddle,” Mom said.
    â€œOh, aye,” Gran said. “It’s a riddle, all right. Only, we’ve never managed to solve it. Perhaps it’s waiting for the right bairn to come along.”
    â€œBairn?”
Molly asked.
    â€œChild,” said Jennifer. It was the second Scottish word she’d memorized. “It means child.”
    ***
    They finished their pudding and raced up the stairs, Peter going ahead and taking the steps two at a time. Back in the attic, Molly headed toward another trunk that was sitting against a far wall, but Peter and Jennifer made the rounds again, tapping and listening, and tapping again.
    They stopped for a while to figure out a series of games played with two packs of cards that Molly had found in the trunk. The cards were kept in a small blue box with the word
Patience
in gold script on the top.
    â€œMom always says we need to learn patience,” Peter said. “So here goes!”
    Jennifer giggled, and on hearing her sister laugh, Molly wanted to know the joke. Even when it was explained, she didn’t understand, but she laughed anyway, not wanting to be left out.
    A booklet detailing the rules came with the cards. According to the booklet’s first page, it had been published in 1933.
    â€œThat’s even before Mom and Pop were born,”