Night of the living dummy by R.L. Stine | Page 2

T-shirts. Lindy bent to pull open the garage door, then stopped. The house next door caught her eye. "Look � they've got the walls up," she told Kris, pointing across their back yard. "That new house is going up so quickly. It's amazing," Kris said following her sister's gaze. The builders had knocked down the old house during the winter. The new concrete foundation had been put down in March. Lindy and Kris had walked around on it when no workers were there, trying to figure out where the different rooms would go. And now the walls had been built. The construction suddenly looked like a real house, rising up in the midst of tall stacks of lumber, a big mound of red-brown dirt, a pile of concrete blocks, and an assortment of power saws, tools, and machinery. "No one's working today," Lindy said. They took a few steps toward the new house. "Who do you think will move in?" Kris wondered. "Maybe some great-looking guy our age. Maybe great-looking twin guys!" "Yuck!" Lindy made a disgusted face. "Twin guys? How drippy can you get! I can't believe you and I are in the same family." Kris was used to Lindy's sarcasm. Both girls liked being twins and hated being twins at the same time. Because they shared nearly everything � their looks, their clothing, their room � they were closer than most sisters ever get. But because they were so much alike, they also managed to drive each other crazy a lot of the time. "No one's around. Let's check out the new house," Lindy said. Kris followed her across the yard. A squirrel, halfway up the wide trunk of a maple tree, watched them warily. They made their way through an opening in the low shrubs that divided the two yards. Then, walking past the stacks of lumber and the tall mound of dirt, they climbed the concrete stoop. A sheet of heavy plastic had been nailed over the opening where the front door would go. Kris pulled one end of the plastic up, and they slipped into the house. It was dark and cool inside and had a fresh wood smell. The plaster walls were up but hadn't been painted. "Careful," Lindy warned. "Nails." She pointed to the large nails scattered over the floor. "If you step on one, you'll get lockjaw and die." "You wish," Kris said. "I don't want you to die," Lindy replied. "Just get lockjaw." She snickered. "Ha-ha," Kris said sarcastically. "This must be the living room," she said, making her way carefully across the front room to the fireplace against the back wall. "A cathedral ceiling," Lindy said, staring up at the dark, exposed wooden beams above their heads. "Neat." "This is bigger than our living room," Kris remarked, peering out the large picture window to the street."It smells great," Lindy said, taking a deep breath. "All the sawdust. It smells so piney." They made their way through the hall and explored the kitchen. "Are those wires on?" Kris asked, pointing to a cluster of black electrical wires suspended from the ceiling beams. "Why don't you touch one and find out?" Lindy suggested. "You first," Kris shot back. "The kitchen isn't very big," Lindy said, bending down to stare into the holes where the kitchen cabinets would go. She stood up and was about to suggest they check out the upstairs when she heard a sound. "Huh?" Her eyes widened in surprise. "Is someone in here?" Kris froze in the middle of the kitchen. They both listened. Silence. Then they heard soft, rapid footsteps. Close by. Inside the house. "Let's go!" Lindy whispered. Kris was already ducking under the plastic, heading out the doorway opening. She leapt off the back stoop and started running toward their back yard. Lindy stopped at the bottom of the stoop and turned back to the new house. "Hey � look!" she called.A squirrel came flying out a side window. It landed on the dirt with all four feet moving and scrambled toward the maple tree in the Powells' yard. Lindy laughed. "Just a dumb squirrel." Kris stopped near the low shrubs. "You sure?" She hesitated, watching the windows of the new house. "That was a pretty loud squirrel." When she turned back from the house, she was surprised to find that Lindy had disappeared. "Hey � where'd you go?" "Over here," Lindy called. "I see something!" It took Kris a while to locate her sister. Lindy was half-hidden behind a large black trash Dumpster at the far end of the yard. Kris shielded her eyes with one hand to see better. Lindy was bent over the side of the Dumpster. She appeared to be rummaging through some trash. "What's in there?" Kris called. Lindy was tossing