The Secret in the Tree House

“Oh, this is just so cool!” Jeff said with true admiration. He tipped one of the chairs to quickly examine its construction before he brushed away dust and webbing and then sat on it. “It is so weird,” Kari said quietly, “to think that my grandfather played here when he was a little boy.” “What’s even more weird,” Jeff told her, “is to think that this was the cellar of that cabin. Whoever lived here had just that little building up there and this little room down here to live in. Their food and everything that they owned was kept here. I guess that they must not have owned much. This is even smaller than my bedroom, and I have to keep a lot of my camping gear and stuff out in the garage because I don’t have room for it.” Brett laughed. “That’s all these people would have had: camping gear. They didn’t have a TV and stereo and train set and butterfly collection and a set of encyclopedias and a million books—" “Yeah, yeah. I know. They had their idea of the basic necessities, and I have mine. But if you will remember, when I packed for the Jamboree, I put everything that I thought I’d need into one duffle bag. If I had been the one who had to live in this little house, I’d have done just fine.” He turned his attention to the small bed, examining it with concentration. Fondly, Kari remembered reading the Little House books. Mary and Laura Ingalls had lived in little houses like this one. Just exactly like this one. Pa had cut down trees and used the logs to make the walls of his home, just as someone had done to make this log house. It was a huge chore for a man to build a house for his family, and of course he could not have made one that was very big or fancy. Now that Kari could see first-hand how small a log cabin actually was, she got goosebumps thinking of Mary and Laura and Carrie and Grace and Pa and Ma all living in such small quarters. As cozy as she felt at that moment, Kari knew that being cooped up in such a small space with just her little sister would have made her crazy. But being trapped inside with her whole family, blizzard after blizzard for the whole winter? Forget it. She would have never been able to do it. Smugly, Kari thought that she knew why girls used to get married when they were still so young. They were desperate to get away from their families and have their own little houses to live in. That feeling was certainly familiar to Kari already, although her goal was just to be able to have her own bedroom. Lost in her thoughts, Kari was only vaguely aware of Jeff and Brett as they examined the cleverly placed wooden pegs that held together the little bed and the places where pieces of it were lashed together with thin leather strips. For a closer look, they scooted the bed away from the wall and were about to lift it up to take a closer look at its underside when Michelle let out a bloodcurdling scream. She drew in a breath and then screamed again, pointing to the floor. Brett leaned to look and then drew back. “What?” Kari yelled. “What?” She wormed in between the boys to look down, and what she saw made her almost scream herself.