The Big Surprise

chapter 1

Awakened by the sound of the deafening drums I leapt out of bed.

“Keep it down” I heard mum screaming downstairs. Tom obediently stopped playing the drums and apologized to mum. Sprinting down the rickety stairs, I stumbled over a large cardboard box.

“Ow” I yelled as it created a huge mark on my knee. The box was labeled ‘PRIVATE PROPERTY’ in red. Suddenly, I heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

“Don’t open that” mum said sharply, knowing that curiosity would get the better of me. She stared at me suspiciously and carried the box in her room.

“Why…” I squealed, but mum had already shut the door. Puzzled, I made my way down the last couple of stairs.

“Tom, do you know anything about the box?" I asked, walking towards the garage.

“What box?” he said dumbly.

“The cardboard box on the stairs” I replied.

“Melony, I don’t know what you are talking about. Now can you just leave me alone! I need to think of a way of playing the drums without mum hearing me” he said insolently. I walked away and headed towards the living room, where I saw dad sitting on the unstable chair and drinking coffee.

“Dad…” I said. He ignored me, gazing in to the cracked ceiling.

“Dad” I yelled. He suddenly shook out of his daydream and stared at me gloomily.

“Yes, Melony” he murmured.

“First of all, why are you upset?” I asked.

“It’s just that your mum and I are thinking of…” He got cut off by the sound of a loud vehicle pulling up the driveway. I ran out of the living room to see who it was. As I peered out of the torn curtain, I saw a dark figure coming out of a huge white van, and walking towards our cracked front door. I opened the door instantly and in front of me stood a middle – aged man, carrying a note pad in his hand.

“Hello, I am Mr. Gendof. Are your parents home? I urgently need to speak to them about the building plans for your new house” he said.

“New house… What new house?” I stuttered in shock.

“Your new house in Barwood Street, it is 2 hours away hon. Don’t tell me your parents haven’t told you yet?” he replied. I stood there staring at the man in shock, until the man shook me.

“Um…sweetie I need to talk to your parents. Can I please come in?” he asked.

“Oh, sure, just one second, let me call my dad. DAD!” I said. I heard loud footsteps coming towards us, and a female figure appeared. My mum.

“Oh Mr. Gendof, we weren’t expecting you for weeks. Why did you come so early, you ruined the big surprise for my daughter” she accused him.

“Sorry that I troubled you Mrs. Hawthorn, it’s just that I have some urgent matters to discuss about the new house” he replied solemnly.

“Ok, let me just call my husband, Bob! Come here quickly” mum screamed.

“Coming” he replied grumpily. As he walked towards us, he noticed Mr. Gendof and quickly wiped the frown off his face.

“Oh, Mr. Gendof, we weren’t expecting you. Melony could you please excuse us for just a second” dad said.

“No, not until someone tells me what’s going on!” I replied.

“Melony, I will discuss this issue later with you, wait in the kitchen now” dad murmured angrily.

“Ok, fine then, you guys have five minutes to talk,” I instructed. Obviously I wasn’t going to wait in the kitchen. I was going to hide in a secret spot so I could listen to their conversation. I used to do it with Matthew when we were little, but now it’s just me.

“I understand that we don’t have enough money to pay for the house now, but we will borrow some money from the bank and eventually we will pay them back. So now that that’s sorted, what’s the major issue that you need to discuss urgently with us?” mum whispered anxiously.

“It’s that the living room has numerous cracks everywhere and the guest bedroom is too small to even fit a single sized bed in there” the man said.

“But when we went for an inspection there was not a single crack. Don’t tell me that the builders have cracked the walls with their tools” dad replied.

“I assume it was the builders because I haven’t seen any of them since they told me that they accidentally cracked a bit of the ceiling with the tools. They told me that they were going for a 2 weeks holiday, but haven’t come back in 1 month,” Mr. Gendof said.

“That must mean that they have to pay for the cracks because it is clearly their fault. Also, with the guest room, we don’t have to fit a bed in there. We don’t usually have any guests anyways so we can transform that room to a study. Now that all this is sorted, could you please leave us alone with our children, we need to tell them about the new house” mum asked.

“Sure, I will call the builders and tell them to pay for the cracks. Also, if there are any other issues we will report it to you as soon as possible. Goodbye Mr. and Mrs. Hawthorn” the man replied. He waved to my parents and left the house.

“Melony, Tom, come here!” mum said loudly.

“Coming” Tom’s voice echoed, followed by mine. We rushed into the living room and saw mum and dad’s faces full of excitement.

“We have some BIG NEWS for you two” they spoke at the same time.

“What is it?” I questioned

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