Denny pulled on a heavy fiber rope that dangled from the ceiling. He pulled again, more forcefully this time, but still without the expected result.
“Back up a little,” he said to Aaron.
The eight year old sprang to the far end of the hallway in an exaggerated leap from danger.
“Where does the secret door go?” he asked his Dad.
“It’s just the attic buddy,” said Denny.
One additional forceful pull broke the seal on at least two coats of paint. The attic had not been used within Aaron’s lifetime at least. Another tug and the folded up stairway opened like a jaw with the screeching noise of an expanding set of rusted springs and a cascade of dust. Denny unfolded the stairs and pressed against them with his boot to secure the bottom edge against the hallway carpet.
“Ready?” he asked.
Aaron nodded and smiled.
To read the rest of this story and more than fifty others, please consider buying "Natural Selections," at Amazon.com.
