Matthew and the Chimney Sweeps: Book One (Completed, Editing)

Chapter Three: Miss Smart, Miss Brock, Mr Xavier and Mr Reed

The potential new residents had made Miss Thorn livid when they didn't show up. But also when did finally show their faces.

'You missed a spot,' Mrs Jacobs said to Matthew from behind the front desk in the entrance hall. The glow from her green lamp and her green cardigan made her look like a nasty ogre.

On the bottom rung of the rickety wooden ladder, just about ready to step off, Matthew looked at Mrs Jacobs. He had just climbed all the way down from the top and his legs were tired and aching. 'Ma'am?'

'I said you missed a spot, cloth ears.' Mrs Jacobs pointed aimlessly at the chandelier while taking a sip from her mug of hot chocolate, the aroma of which was so delicious and intoxicating, Matthew thought he was about to pass out.

'Yes, ma'am,' replied Matthew. He gave a quiet sigh and started back up the ladder.

When he reached the top, however, Mrs Jacobs said with a grin, 'Never mind. I must have been seeing things.'

At that moment, Matthew felt like jumping off the top of the ladder and landing on Mrs Jacobs, quite positive he could do it. He used to watch wrestling on tv every Sunday with his grandfather and wrestlers jumping off ladders and landing on their opponents with ease was a common occurrence. If they could do it why couldn't he. Now, how could he do it without hitting Mrs Jacobs' mug of hot chocolate? He really wanted some.

A knock at the door gave Matthew a start, breaking his wonderful contemplation and making him loose his balance. He almost fell but with reflexes like a cat, he grabbed the ladder, making it wobble, and hugged it for dear life. The wobbling eventually stopped. Phew, that was close, he thought. Mrs Jacobs had been surprised too, spitting hot chocolate all down her cardigan.

The phone on the front desk began to ring. This gave Mrs Jacobs another surprise and she fell off her chair with a great big thump right on her backside.

Another knock on the door came.

Mrs Jacobs trying to get up from the floor was a comedy of errors. She tried to roll forward onto her feet but she just fell back on her backside. She then tried to use her chair to get some leverage but the chair had wheels and it just rolled back, making her fall face first into the marble floor. Finally she got to her feet, immediately picking up the phone.

'Bordash Manor, how may I help you?' She sounded winded. 'Oh, it's you. Yeah, I know. Didn't you see them coming up to the manor on your monitors? 'Well, they couldn't have appeared out of thin air, could they?' She put the phone down. 'Useless security guards. Strange. I wonder who it is?'

A melody of knocks echoed all around the entrance hall.

'Is there a door bell?' Matthew heard a voice from outside say. It sounded female. 'There has to be a doorbell . . . this place is huge.'

'Oh look at this,' said another voice, 'a door knocker that looks like a growling bear.'

BANG! BANG! BANG!

'Boy!' Mrs Jacobs said, clicking her fingers to get Matthew's attention, 'get down and go get Miss Thorn. Tell her someone's at the front door.'

Matthew was back in no time.

'Who is it?' a flustered Miss Thorn asked Mrs Jacobs. 'Cops?'

Matthew was wishing for that.

Mrs Jacobs, her hot chocolate soaked cardigan now off, had an eye up to the front door's peek hole and her left hand was covering the inner flap of the mail slot. Whoever was outside must have tried to look through it.