The Secrets of Aunt Norah’S House

By Dawnette Blackwood-Rhoomes

An almost 200 year house plus a book of clues equals mystery!
What would you do if someone left you a book of clues, an old house with its secrets, and a letter which leads to a treasure hunt? Go sleuthing of course!
With seven bedrooms, a den, a dark spooky basement, and a creaky old attic to look for a treasure, who knows what secrets this old house has tucked away in its many hiding places! Ten year old Ossie and eight year old Cody are in for an adventure! Their mystery begins with a mischievous cat covered in flour and ends with the treasure of a lifetime!

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Nov 2, 2011
• ISBN: 9781467037099

Dawnette Blackwood-Rhoomes

Dawnette Blackwood-Rhoomes enjoys reading historical stories, and she especially likes to write historical fiction. Her first children’s novel, The Secrets of Aunt Norah’s House is born out of a short story written by her son Zachary in 2nd Grade, in memory of their cat Thai. She lives in New York with her husband Karl, and their two sons.

Book preview

Contents

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Epilogue

Bibliography

Author’s Note

For

Zachary and Jonathan

Acknowledgments

I am indebted to my sons Zachary and Jonathan, who have helped to give my characters personality and spunk. I must say a special thank you to Zachary who wrote his first creative story in Grade 2, titled Thai, the Cat Who Could Play the PSP; which became the starting point of this book and a memorial to our cat Thai.

I am grateful to my husband Karl, who is my sounding board. His support and knowledge of physics and chemistry are greatly appreciated.

Chapter 1

"T hai! You naughty, naughty cat!" Mom yelled as she entered the kitchen.

It was Sunday morning and Mom was about to bake muffins. She had left a bag of flour on the kitchen counter only for a minute to get dried cranberries from the pantry. Now, the counter was filled with flour, and tell-tale paw prints led away from the scene of the crime.

You bad, bad cat! she yelled some more.

What’s the matter Mom? Ossie and Cody bounded into the kitchen.

Oh, they said as they surveyed the scene.

Ossie, please get the hand broom, she said.

Cody left Ossie helping Mom and went to find Thai. He was about to follow Thai’s paw prints when he heard yelling:

"Constance! Constance! That confounded cat did it again!"

Oh boy, sighed Cody.

That was his next door neighbor James Mulberry, a grumpy, old Vietnam War veteran who sits all day on his porch or in his house reading the newspaper. His wife is Constance Mulberry, a cheerful and kind old lady who likes all the neighborhood’s kids, and who insists on being called Constance Mulberry. Not Mrs. Mulberry but Constance Mulberry. When Cody and his family moved to Binghamton, their cat Thai found a new hobby. Shredding James Mulberry’s newspaper, particularly the sports section, is Thai’s new hobby. Each morning there is a race between Thai and James Mulberry to see who will get to the newspaper first. Most days James Mulberry waited by his front window to retrieve the paper as soon as the paper boy hurled it over the fence. But there were days when Thai got to it first, leaving her mark on it. Mom said that Thai is rebelling against the move, and Dad said she is just a frisky cat. Sometimes, Ossie and Cody kept her locked in the house, by not removing the cover of the pet flap in the kitchen door, but somehow she’d find a way out.

Cody followed the paw prints along the passageway until they began to fade.

Here Thai! Here Thai! he called for the cat.

He checked the mud room where the cat usually resides, but she wasn’t there. He checked the rooms on the ground floor of the house, but she could not be found.

She must be in my room, he thought as he climbed the stairs.

He rounded the corner of the stairs and found the attic door open. He looked around. Cody didn’t like going into the attic; it’s too big and spooky-looking. Eight year old Cody lives with his brother Ossie, who is ten, and their parents in an old Victorian style house his mother inherited from her aunt Norah, last summer. The house once belonged to the Snead’s family who had it in their possession for over two generations. Father Snead, who built it, passed it on to his son, Dr. Robert Snead. Dr. Robert Snead however, had no children when he died, and so he left the house to his nephew, William Snead. It is said that William Snead died young in a saloon brawl, leaving no wife and kids to inherit his legacy. The house later became Aunt Norah’s, and now it’s the possession of the McIntosh/Griggs family. At least that’s the history they knew so far of the past inhabitants of 100 Elm Street, until last year on the first day of school when the true history was revealed.

On the first day of school, Ossie and Cody were surrounded by some third and fifth graders on the playground at recess. They were asked if they were the new kids of the ‘Frankenstein’ house. Frankenstein house?

The Frankenstein house? Ossie and Cody repeated. What Frankenstein house?

The kids moved inwards, closing the circle. Ossie and Cody were surrounded. A boy who Cody saw in his classroom that morning stepped forward. He nudged his black rimmed glasses in place on his freckled nose and said:

The black and yellow house on Elm Street, that’s your house right?

Were they talking about his house? Cody loved that house, and for their information it isn’t black and yellow! Grand-Aunt Norah’s house is an old Victorian style house