Behind the Wooden Trap Door

Once upon a time, Logan and his pet giraffe called Cooper were playing in the garden. It was a sunny day and they were having lots of fun. They were having a picnic on a huge patchwork blanket laid out on the grass, eating their favorite food... Pretzels! A little while later, big dark clouds began to fill up the sky and the sunshine disappeared. Then, big drops of rain started to fall and so Logan and Cooper ran into the garden shed to stay dry.

While they were waiting for the rain to stop, Logan was showing Cooper all of his old toys that were gathering dust in the garden shed. Logan pushed his old bicycle out of the way and was surprised to see a trap door beneath it. There was a big handle on the trapdoor and Cooper helped Logan to pull it open. "I wonder what's down there!" Logan said. "It looks rather scary!" said Cooper.

"Come on, let's go and explore!" replied Logan and he picked up a torch from the workbench in the shed. With that, they climbed down the narrow steps into the dark tunnel, guided only by the light of the torch. Logan felt a little bit scared when he saw how dark it was in the tunnel, even with the light from the torch, and he was glad to have Cooper with his.

There was enough room for them to walk side by side in the tunnel, so they held hands as they walked further inside. Suddenly, a huge shadow appeared on the wall that towered over Logan and Cooper and they froze on the spot and shut their eyes tightly. Then they heard a small squeak and realized that it was nothing more than a tiny mouse who was living in the tunnel. The light from the torch had made the mouse's shadow look gigantic!

"I think we should turn back now," said Cooper and Logan thought that sounded like a good idea too. Just as Logan was about to turn around, he spotted a crack of light in the distance at the other end of the tunnel... and it wasn't coming from their torch! "Look!" shouted Logan and his voice echoed loudly. Cooper saw the light too, so they both scurried towards it to see where this tunnel led to.

As they got closer to the end of the tunnel, they could hear some voices echoing along the walls. They were quiet and Logan couldn't make out what they were saying, but he was sure there were people on the other end of this tunnel. A great big laugh suddenly boomed down the tunnel and Cooper grabbed Logan's hand again. "Shall we go back?" Cooper whispered.

Logan didn't want to turn back now. he pulled Cooper closer. The crack of light was still far away and right up over their heads, but Logan had spotted something which he couldn't help but explore. "There are some stairs over there. Come on, Cooper, don't be a scaredy-cat! We have to see what's up there!"

The pair bravely marched over to the stairs at the end of the tunnel, swinging their torch into all the nooks and crannies to chase the shadows away. Steep, stone steps towered in front of them. Together, they clambered up... one, two, three, four... the voices were getting louder and louder. Five, six, seven...

Eventually, they reached the top. The top step was covered in sawdust, and Logan noticed another wooden trap door, this time over their heads. Light shone through the slats in the wood. "What does that say?" asked Cooper. Logan brushed the dust from the door to find big black letters painted on it, he read aloud, "Push To Open." Logan and Cooper looked at each other. Something rattled and banged on the other side of the door.

"I wonder what's up there." Logan mused, trying to look through the crack. he couldn't see anything at all. "Maybe monsters... or giants..." Cooper shivered, standing on tiptoes to try and see, too. "Or witches or wizards or fairies!" Pondered Logan, getting rather excited at the idea of such a big adventure. "Maybe an enchanted castle!"

Slowly, Logan reached up to the long, rusty bolt that was keeping the door shut. Cooper and the mouse that lived in the tunnel watched as Logan pulled the bolt. The rust made it stiff and hard to move. Logan pulled harder and, with a creak and a snap, the bolt slid across.

Just as Logan and Cooper laid their hands on the trap door to give it a good push, it suddenly swung back. A bright white light filled the little dark tunnel. It was so bright that neither Logan nor Cooper could see anything.

"What are you two doing in there?" Bellowed a very gruff voice. A very gruff voice that Logan and Cooper recognized all too well!

As their eyes adjusted to the light, and the mouse ran back to his little nook, Logan and Cooper saw that the tunnel had led all the way back to their house. Those voices didn't belong to giants or monsters or witches or wizards. They didn't even belong to fairies. They belonged to Mom and Dad!