Loe:
Chapter One: A Will is found
Do you know how it feels on a hot sticky day to just be stuck, inside the house with no ice cream or AC? Try it with a slightly annoying twin sister, Lee and a bunch of other kids who you don't particularly like that much! That's exactly how I feel. Only worse. I just feel like I am going to burst from boredom! And, since I have nothing to do but watch the other kids be bored, every little thing is driving me crazy! I grit my teeth in annoyance and glare over to my twin, Lee. "Can you please do something other than annoy the life out of me? Anything but that! "Lee stopped humming and stared at me. "Gee, sorry Loe. I didn't know it was bothering you that much. But I'm just not sure what we could do. I like to hum when I think." She apologized. That's Lee for you, always thinking. Me, I just jump right in. Why bother to think? And thinking about every little thing, too. Lee even thinks about our names! Like what they really are, what they mean. Lee and Loe. Those aren't our real names. We don't know what they are. When we showed up, (we were about two years old), Laurie asked us what our names were, and all she could make out was 'Lee' and 'Loe'. So it stuck.
Let me explain, Laurie Catchett is the head of The Catchett House for Children. It's an orphanage. She's super nice compared to all of those crummy orphanage caseworkers you see in movies. Sometimes I wonder how she manages to pass the requirements, being so nice. Isn't it like, an unwritten law that you have to be mean to work in an orphanage? She runs it basically all by herself, with the help of a few teachers who come and teach us on school days, a cook, and a housekeeper who comes in once a week to clean up after us in her own house. Then there's also a gardener, and that's about it. The whole thing is
in her house. She takes in whatever kids come, including us when we showed up at her door step. She tries to find out where we come from, and adopts us to nice houses. So far we haven't been adopted, but I don't mind. I like the orphanage and Laurie- just not on days like today.
Just then Laurie walked into the room. "You know, if you guys are really bored, you could at least make yourselves useful by getting the mail." I jumped up off my bed. "Okay." I agreed. It was better than nothing. Besides, that was my job for the week. We get assigned jobs for the week, because with so much work, everybody has to help out. Lee followed me outside. The mailbox is all the way at the end of the yard where we play baseball, right next to the sign that says, 'Catchett House for Children'. Lee reached inside the mailbox and pulled out a bundle of letters. "Junk, junk, advertisement, junk." I sighed. Then I pulled out a letter from the bottom of the pile. "Hey, what's that?" Lee asked curiously, as I pull out the letter from the bottom of the pile .It was tied with a ribbon and in old fashioned script it said, 'To the towns' people of River Field.' I was about to tear it open when Lee grabbed my arm and pulled it away. "You shouldn't be opening that, you know. I don't think Laurie would like you invading her privacy." I shrugged. "It says towns' people. That means us, too." Lee finally gave in and said, "Well, okay.", as she carefully untied the ribbon and read aloud:
"You are cordially invited to the reading of Mr. and Mrs. Christopher and Marilyn Malloy's last will and testament, which, after 8 years has been recovered in a loose floorboard in the abandoned Malloy mansion. The reading of the will is scheduled at 9:00 A.M, Tuesday, July 3rd at City Hall. Please join us." When she finished reading, she gasped. "Ohmigosh!" she exclaimed. "Do you know what this means?"I did, but I pretended not to. "We won't be bored tomorrow?" Iasked curelessly. Lee shook her head, and her carrot colored hair intwo braids shook with it. "Don't you know who they are -err- were?There were the richest
people in town. Billionaires! God, I wonder whothey gave the money too..." her voice trailed off. I can't say I blame her. All that money! We've never really had money in our life before. Laurie, well, she takes very good care of us but she didn't have that much money. She gets paid a little money, I guess, from the town and a bit from charity, but that's about it. But to get all those billions of dollars! And all at one time! Lucky! Well, whoever gets it is...
Mr. and Mrs. Christopher and Marilyn Malloy died actually eight years ago, right before we showed up at the orphanage, but that doesn't mean we didn't know who they were. They own about every business district in town, like The Malloy Mall and Malloy Grocery. They've been trying to find a will ever since they died in a car crash, but a will was never found. And, neither were their two kids, a set of girl twins, just like us. They searched the whole house for 'em after they died but, no luck. They just disappeared. Not even the bodies were found. Most people considered them dead too. Actually, the house right next door to us is the Malloy Mansion.
Our neighborhood is really old, and practically all the houses are big and run down, including the Catchett House. They're all fixed up now, and rich people don't live in them anymore. Nobody lives in the Malloy Mansion, though, and it wasn't fixed up either. The yard is a total mess, with weeds and litter is everywhere. The windows are cracked and dirty and even though I haven't been in it, it is probably just dusty and shabby inside. The door's locked tight though, so nobody knows what it was really like in there. Some of the kids thought that it was haunted by the spirits of the twins. They were only two when they died. If they actually did die, I mean. Bobby, our sworn enemy for life, (even though
we've only known him 2 months) told us that. He said they cried all day long, calling "MOMMY! DADDY!" Through the hallways in search for their parents that had left them so long ago. The twins were in the car crash, but while the ambulance was loading up Christopher and Marilyn Malloy they wandered off. The rescue workers didn't know they were there, and of course the Malloy's couldn't tell them they were there, being dead, so they were left behind at the wreck. By the time the workers found out they were there, the two girls had disappeared, never to be seen again.
I didn't really believe Bobby. He probably made that up. It was true about the crash and the disappearing twins, but seriously, ghosts? Give me break. It's not like anybody could prove it, not being allowed to go in the house and all. But sometimes I did hear noises coming from the mansion, creepy noises and stuff.
I stopped thinking. Lee may like to think, but it gives me headache." I wonder if Laurie's gonna let us attend. I sure hope so. I mean, it's not every day something like this happens!" I said to Lee excitedly. We headed inside, both of us clutching the letter.
"GUESS WHAT! GUESS WHAT?" I panted, out of breath from running. All the kids looked up at us, happy for some excitement. Even Laurie paid attention. "What?" she asked. "Wait, don't tell me, I'll guess. Was it..." Lee interrupted her. "THE MALLOY'S WILL WAS FOUND AND WE ARE INVITED TO THE READING OF IT!" She yelled happily. Murmurs and gasps filled the crowd. Everyone reacted differently. Laurie looked strange, almost as if she was scared. I didn't think about it much. Who really cared with news like this? Some kids flooded us with questions; others gasped and started whispering to their friends. Others didn't care at all. But one thing is for sure, if they had known much it would have changed the life of everyone, they would have cared a whole lot more.
