Read Online The Finding of Freddie Perkins by Liz Baddaley - Free Book Online
Authors: Liz Baddaley
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was once falsely accused of something and I felt like the whole world had turned on me. It was the most horrible, panicky kind of feeling. And Iâm guessing that wasjust a fraction of how angry you must have felt last night.
âSo⦠some cross words, and a teapot getting caught up in the distress, seem fairly small fry to me. What is surely more important is sorting out what is going on at Willow Beck, so there are no more misunderstandings that get out of hand and become giant angry arguments.â
Freddie just looked at Granny P, dumbfounded. He wasnât in trouble
at all
? She wasnât disappointed in him? Or distant? Or at a loss for words?
She actually
understood
? About the angry giant and everything?
âWhat Iâm saying is, I believe you, Freddie. I donât understand how things could be appearing out of nowhere. But perhaps I need to let go of understanding everything, because I know that you would not lie to me. We are friends. And the attic project belongs to both of us.â
This was too much for Freddie. Because of course she was right and he was so relieved. But she was also wrong â he had lied to her. And he felt terrible.
He felt his chin wobble a bit, and then before he even knew it was happening, the whole story cameout: the key, the fact he had thought
she
had tricked
him
, opening the chest, hiding the diaries, the diaries appearing again, the empty table when he went back, the necklace⦠then the night visit, the open door, the locked door, the key by his clock, her ring by hers, and all the things that had shown up in the house since. It all came out in one jumbled stream that he was sure wouldnât make any sense.
Granny P just listened the whole time he was speaking, patting his knee almost absent-mindedly and looking at him with kind eyes throughout it all, so that even before she spoke he knew he wasnât in trouble.
âMy dear Freddie, we are friends. We are sorting the attic together â
together
. I see how confusing it all has been and how it must have made you feel. But let me assure you I have not, nor will I in the future, play any kind of trick on you to make you feel like something more is happening than it is.
âThere are enough unexplained things in the world without us creating more, Freddie. The excitement of what is true is so much more magical than anything we could make up ourselves. I am sad that you chose to open the chest without me. But I understand thatwas because you were struggling to believe that it wasnât a trick.
âBut we must believe it now, mustnât we? For we need to solve it. Someone, or something, is bringing things to our attention â we are having things found for us. And as it isnât either of us playing jokes, and it isnât your dad, the only rational explanation is that something non-rational is going on.â
Granny P paused before continuing in a firm voice, as if she needed to convince herself as well as Freddie that she really believed what she was saying.
âSomeone or something is living in the attic. Something good, because itâs helping us.â
âBut thatâs impossible,â sniffed Freddie.
âWhat other explanation can there be?â
âWell, I donât have one. But
that
canât be whatâs happening. The attic has been locked all these years. No person could be living up there secretly. And no mouse or anything could know what was valuable and lift it on to the table. Itâs impossible that thereâs something in the house finding things.â
âIrrational isnât at all the same as impossible, dear,â said Granny P, âyouâll learn that soon, for sure. Trust me, Freddie. Something is up there, and we are goingto find out what. We must be careful though. We donât want to frighten it. I have a suspicion, in fact, and if Iâm right we need to be
very
careful not to frighten it. Let me just get
âSo⦠some cross words, and a teapot getting caught up in the distress, seem fairly small fry to me. What is surely more important is sorting out what is going on at Willow Beck, so there are no more misunderstandings that get out of hand and become giant angry arguments.â
Freddie just looked at Granny P, dumbfounded. He wasnât in trouble
at all
? She wasnât disappointed in him? Or distant? Or at a loss for words?
She actually
understood
? About the angry giant and everything?
âWhat Iâm saying is, I believe you, Freddie. I donât understand how things could be appearing out of nowhere. But perhaps I need to let go of understanding everything, because I know that you would not lie to me. We are friends. And the attic project belongs to both of us.â
This was too much for Freddie. Because of course she was right and he was so relieved. But she was also wrong â he had lied to her. And he felt terrible.
He felt his chin wobble a bit, and then before he even knew it was happening, the whole story cameout: the key, the fact he had thought
she
had tricked
him
, opening the chest, hiding the diaries, the diaries appearing again, the empty table when he went back, the necklace⦠then the night visit, the open door, the locked door, the key by his clock, her ring by hers, and all the things that had shown up in the house since. It all came out in one jumbled stream that he was sure wouldnât make any sense.
Granny P just listened the whole time he was speaking, patting his knee almost absent-mindedly and looking at him with kind eyes throughout it all, so that even before she spoke he knew he wasnât in trouble.
âMy dear Freddie, we are friends. We are sorting the attic together â
together
. I see how confusing it all has been and how it must have made you feel. But let me assure you I have not, nor will I in the future, play any kind of trick on you to make you feel like something more is happening than it is.
âThere are enough unexplained things in the world without us creating more, Freddie. The excitement of what is true is so much more magical than anything we could make up ourselves. I am sad that you chose to open the chest without me. But I understand thatwas because you were struggling to believe that it wasnât a trick.
âBut we must believe it now, mustnât we? For we need to solve it. Someone, or something, is bringing things to our attention â we are having things found for us. And as it isnât either of us playing jokes, and it isnât your dad, the only rational explanation is that something non-rational is going on.â
Granny P paused before continuing in a firm voice, as if she needed to convince herself as well as Freddie that she really believed what she was saying.
âSomeone or something is living in the attic. Something good, because itâs helping us.â
âBut thatâs impossible,â sniffed Freddie.
âWhat other explanation can there be?â
âWell, I donât have one. But
that
canât be whatâs happening. The attic has been locked all these years. No person could be living up there secretly. And no mouse or anything could know what was valuable and lift it on to the table. Itâs impossible that thereâs something in the house finding things.â
âIrrational isnât at all the same as impossible, dear,â said Granny P, âyouâll learn that soon, for sure. Trust me, Freddie. Something is up there, and we are goingto find out what. We must be careful though. We donât want to frighten it. I have a suspicion, in fact, and if Iâm right we need to be
very
careful not to frighten it. Let me just get
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