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

Chapter Six: Chimney Sweeping

Matthew dozed dreamily in his hammock the next morning. His eyes opened and closed, mirroring the swaying of the Harrower.

The squawk of a seagull had woken him up earlier with a start. The comfiness of his hammock and the warmth of his goose feather bedcover, however, had sent him back to his pillow.

The swaying was really nice. Wait a minute. How was that possible? The boat was sunken. It shouldn't be moving.

Matthew sat up bolt right, a portrait of a pirate hanging from the cabin wall glaring at him. There was something wrong with the boat. Was it miraculously floating again? If so, they were in danger. It could be drifting out to sea or towards the rocks. He was about to warn everyone when he noticed her. The girl, her hair as red as fire, was swinging his hammock.

'Morning. Time to get up,' she whispered. 'We have to get ready.'

'Okay,' Matthew replied. 'Your name's Astrid, right?'

'That's me.'

Astrid hurried off to Norman, his arms and legs hanging over his hammock, and slapped him hard across his face, waking him up immediately. She did the same to John, who fell to the floor in surprise.

'Why can you never wake me up normally, Astrid?' groaned John.

'Same,' said Norman.

'Now that wouldn't be fun, would it?' replied Astrid with a cheeky grin.

Norman helped Matthew down from his hammock. 'So, the order of the morning is this . . . breakfast, get ready and then walk to our job. We never take the car because gas costs money, and also, the ladder doesn't fit. And let me warn you, be very quiet while you're getting ready 'cause you'll never hear the end of it if you wake somebody up. Although, you're new so you might be forgiven.'

'I wouldn't want to chance it,' Matthew replied as Norman led him to the table, where Astrid, John, who was rubbing his cheek, and Stacy were sitting.

'I'll start breakfast,' said Norman.

Taking a seat, Matthew said, 'I was wondering. How do you pick up these chimney sweeping jobs. Do you guys go door-to-door offering your services?'

'No, people call us?' said John. 'Remember I showed you that public telephone box in Whatever-grows park, hidden in the hedge. Well that's how people reach us. Now, how do they know how to reach us? I'll show you.' John reached over and grabbed a newspaper from a pile next to the stove. Then riffling through it, he said, 'Should be somewhere here. There we go.' He showed the newspaper to Matthew and pointed to a small square in the middle. It was an advertisement.

'Want your chimney swept for dirt cheap?' said Matthew, reading the advertisement. 'Then let children do it for you. P.S. The narrowest of chimneys is no match for a child.' There was a telephone number at the bottom and the best time to call.

'We place it in a few of Spring Heights' newspapers every now and again.'

Matthew scanned the newspaper. 'I see there are a few other advertisements for chimney cleaning.' There was one that read, 'The Chimney Cleaning Chaps. In and out in no time, with no mess. With our heavy duty vacuum we suck your chimney clean in five minutes.' Another one read, '1-555-CHIMNEY. Professional chimney cleaning service.' And another. 'SOOT-BE-GONE. Family-run since 1985. Call us or come by our business on Beckonsfield Street to make an appointment.'

'Yep. There's a lot of competition in Spring Heights, but we're the best.'

Rays of sunlight had just bathed the tops of the cliffs inside the cove when they stepped outside the cabin dressed in soot-covered overalls. Matthew was carrying sooty sheets and the others had chimney brushes slung over their shoulders.