Chapter 3

"Ahh." She screamed.

The door flew open and Judy was thrown back by its force. She bumped her head and caught herself from falling down the stairs. Alistair rushed to her side. As for the culprit at the top of the stairs he merely stood there, and everyone gaped at him in awe.

"Oh, Judith, I'm sorry." He apologized as he descended the staircase, stepped over Judy and headed straight for the wine rack. He opened a bottle and took a glass from a shelf and began to pour himself a glass of wine.

"Uncle Stephen, do you realize that you just trapped us all down here once more?"

"Well sure, that was my intent," he said.

"What do you mean?" Alistair asked as he came down the steps, holding Judy in his arms.

"Well, I heard you banging on the pipes and no one else seemed to notice. I realized that you were all down here, and I thought, pretty bloody good idea!" Judy rolled her eyes. Alistair carefully placed her in one of the few chairs and kissed her hand. Over the last few minutes, she had discovered that she had also twisted her ankle, and it was growing increasingly hard for her to walk on it.

"What were you using to bang against the pipes, anyway?"

"A baseball bat." Sandy told him.

"Where ever would you get a baseball bat?"

"Why in America of course!" Judy told him. "I went to America when I was, oh, about twelve or so. I don't quite remember. But in know that I wanted to bring home something that was a symbol of America, and then I found the perfect thing; a baseball bat."

"What about the flag?"

"Oh, of course I came home with a real American flag too, who could forget that?"

"I sure wouldn't." Sandy replied as she went up the stairs.

"What, where are you going you crazy woman!" Stephen demanded.

"I'm trying to get back in the house."

Stephen picked up Judy's baseball bat and held it high above his head. A little afraid of what could happen next, Sandy scurried back down the stairs and stood behind Alistair.

"What is the meaning of all of this!" Alistair demanded.

"Listen up all of you!" he declared. "No one advances toward those steps, and if they do, they get it! Do you hear me!" He said, as he began to swing the bat around his head. Sandy tightened her grip on Alistair's shoulder and Judy threw her arms around him.

Stephen took his wine and his baseball bat and went and sat on the bottom step to guard the door. What were they to do?