Page 21 of Save the Drama for your Mama
“Well, you’re going to have to let me come up here at least one more time because I didn’t do what I came up here to do.”
“Whose fault is that?”
“You contradict everything I say.”
I crossed my arms. “I do not.”
Just then, a mysterious creak echoed through the room, originating from the corner where the old rocking chair sat.
Melody’s eyes widened. “What was that noise?”
“Here we go again,” I said. “Relax. It’s just an old house being an old house. Probably the wind playing tricks on us.”
“Maybe you have a ghost in the house,” she said.
We scanned the attic for a sign, a sound, anything that would suggest that we weren’t the only ones up there. I wasn’t expecting anything.
And I was right.
All we got was silence.
“Boo!” Melody said.
I practically jumped out of my skin.
And Melody was cracking up.
I shook my head. “Are you having fun?”
“I am, which is quite impressive considering the company. When was the last time you smiled?”
“Right before I found out I had to leave my mother’s womb,” I said, gesturing to the door. “We need to go.” I took one step, then ran into a box.
I bent down to see what was inside of it. “Oh, this stuff?” I sorted through snorkeling gear, a stethoscope, judge’s robe and gavel, and a housekeeping uniform.
“What is all this?” Melody asked.
“My mom’s props—like the ones on the shelves in the library,” I said. “She had a flair for the dramatic and sometimes liked to dress up as the heroine in her books as she wrote them. They got her in the mood to write.”
“What a cool mom you had,” she said. “Although that would be a little weird if the heroine were in a nudist colony.”
“And on that note,” I said, trying not to picture my mom naked. “Come on. Let’s go.”
Melody huffed and walked toward the door, but then stopped and pointed at the book sitting on top of the file cabinet.
The Curious Case of Cooper’s Cat.
“Before we go, I wanted to ask you about this book,” she said. “I saw a copy of it yesterday in the library.”
She reached for the book.
A photo slid out of it and fell to the floor.
We both bent down for it, and smacked heads for the second time.
“Is your head bigger than average?” I asked, rubbing mine.
Melody grinned and tapped her temple. “There’s a lot of information stored up here.” She glanced down at the picture, then froze, looking like she had indeed seen a ghost. Her gaze was popping back and forth between me and the photo, but she was speechless.
