Macdonald Hall #3: Beware the Fish!

I never get caught

The following Saturday morning Miss Scrimmage's girls were enjoying a delightful brunch on the front lawn of the school. At the head of the table Miss Scrimmage herself was pouring tea. Unnoticed by her, two girls had stolen away to the apple orchard adjoining the school. From halfway up a large tree Cathy Burton was staring across the road through her binoculars.

"I told you something weird was going on at the Hall," she called down to her blonde roommate, Diane Grant. "The whole place is in an uproar. It looks as if they're moving or something."

"Moving where?" asked Diane, mystified.

"That's just it," was the reply. "They're not moving anywhere. They just seem to be walking around with suitcases and beds. And bumping into each other a lot."

"Can you see Bruno or Boots?" Diane asked.

"There they are," said Cathy. "Boots is just standing there. And Bruno's sitting on the biggest pile of stuff you ever saw!"

"Catherine! Diane!" Miss Scrimmage came marching into the orchard, her expression severe. "Young ladies do not perch about in trees, nor do they leave the table without permission. You will be restricted to your room this evening and every evening this week. Return to your places at once."

"Don't worry," whispered Cathy to Diane as she dropped to the ground. "They'll let us in on it soon enough."

* * *

Across the road, the objects of their attention were busy hauling beds and belongings from Dormitory 3 to the other two buildings. In the midst of the hubbub, Bruno Walton had flopped down on his possessions. "You go on without me," he said dramatically to Boots. "I'll be along—eventually."

"Come on," said Boots. "Let's get there and get it over with!" They were both finding it hard to leave 306.

Reluctantly Bruno struggled to his feet. The two boys piled their belongings on top of the bed and began to carry the whole arrangement towards Dormitory 2.

"It's a good thing," Bruno muttered, "that Elmer has a spare bed. It would kill me if we had to carry two of them!"

They managed to struggle into the building and down the hall to room 201. Bruno kicked the door open.

"Hi, Elmer. It's us. We're moving in."

Elmer turned from his desk where he had been peering through a microscope and making notes.

"Hello," he greeted them. "Come right in. You can put the bed right over—uh—where can you put the bed?"

The room was already filled almost to capacity. A large fish tank gurgled on top of the bureau, and a huge sand-filled terrarium—the home of Elmer's ant colony— perched beside it. Books were piled everywhere, and an assortment of peculiar-looking devices lined the walls. On every available surface a plant pot stood. There was a fern, a trailing ivy, a Venus fly-trap, a desert yucca and, pride of the collection, a two-metre cactus currently in flower. There were also countless unidentifiable herbs and fungi. The only wall decoration was a large labelled diagram of the Pacific salmon. It was rumoured at Macdonald Hall that Elmer kept an endless supply of these in case the one in use became shabby.

Bruno indicated a complicated-looking mechanical device standing against the wall. "Why don't we move that electro-formionic impulse pussy-footer, or whatever it is?" he suggested.

"Oh, we can't do that," said Elmer. "It's bolted to the floor. You'll just have to put the bed in front of the door."

"But how will we get in and out?" asked Boots, more concerned with getting out than in.