UNDERCOVER on the TITANIC (book 1)

Part 11 - Rue 67 Sumac Street

Photo above shows Sumac in the Fall.

Pacman, bouncing on my stomach, woke me up. The rain had stopped but it was dark and foggy as we turned into a street lined with large old houses. Enormous maple trees dwarfed the street lamps. Falling leaves fluttered through pools of light as they thickened the carpet of crimson and yellow on tiny lawns. A sign, clamped to a hydro pole that had once been a tall pine, announced that this was rue Sumac street.

Grandma drove slowly, the van shuddering in top gear until the engine stalled. We stopped with a jolt in front of an old house that looked ready to collapse from old age. It grew out of the ground on a grey stone foundation and its patched brick walls soared up to a steeply pitched roof with two dormer windows. Three warped wooden steps led up to a sagging porch and a front door with the house number askew. Sixty Seven Sumac Street sounded like a good title for a horror movie. 

I crawled stiffly out of the van, looked up at the house and saw two big baleful eyes looked back at me. A piece of paper with two black spots like huge eyes was stuck inside one of the dormer windows. Pacman growled and I shivered. I figured it was on account of the cold, damp air.

'Are you sure this is the right house, Grandma?' I asked. 'It looks deserted. Dracula must be out shopping for victims.'

Grandma climbed the steps to the porch as she found the door key in her purse. 'Stop talking nonsense and don't call me Grandma.' I thought of a few other things I might call her.

She was fiddling with the door key and grunting with annoyance. Finally, she rang the doorbell for the upstairs apartment. We waited for a long time and I was beginning to think the house was empty, when the door creaked open slightly and a voice droned, 'What . . . do . . . you . . . want?'

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