Special Effects: Washing-Lines

That should have been the end of it. There are plenty of unsolved mysteries in life. The blue bag was just one of them. Why should it bother me anyway? Quite probably, I could cook up a mystery on every washing line in the whole block. That would give me about a hundred mysteries, and when I was finished with them, I could take on the next block. There was no shortage of mysteries.

But that night I waited until all was quiet and crept out. I walked down the road and stopped at Mr. Oldgum's house. The street lights were quite a distance each side of his gate, so it was conveniently dark. I clutced Dad's powerful binoculars in one had and walked as far as the front gate. I could not go in. That would be trespassing, but the binoculars would give legs to my eyes.

I had my plan all worked out. I didn't think anyone would be watching. Most people seem to be glued to their televisions at night around this time. They never look out the windows. I think they're watching the News. I scanned the front door, then swept my view down the front path and along the wall of the house, through the shadows and up to the glasshouse.

A cat startled me by jumping out from close to my foot as I viewed the glasshouse. I jumped. My heart skipped a few beats and then remembered to keep going. The cat poured through a patch of light and slung away. It had pale green eyes.

The glasshouse door was locked. It even had a chain and padlock on it. This was even more peculiar. Whoever locked their tomatoes up at night? Was Mr. Oldgum afraid they might escape? Imagine the Police searching for runaway tomatoes! Imagine the description they'd have to follow!

I carefully examined the side of the glasshouse. There were no chinks or holes in it. I went right down one side, along the lawn. Not even a tiny crack. I wished I'd brought a torch with me but then realised how silly that would have been. But there was something interesting about the glasshouse - there was a warm, red glow coming from inside the glasshouse. I thought at first maybe it was a fire. No. Couldn't be. A heater? Nothing strange about that. Lots of gardeners have heaters in their glasshouses. It helps things grow in the winter.

Just as I was thinking it was a waste of time staring at the glasshouse, a door opened at the back of the house and a wide slab of light spread across the lawn. Mr. Oldgum was coming!