Walls within Walls Read Online Free Page A

collecting art and literature,” said Lukas. “It was a culturally rich apartment. I’d imagine the poems were just decoration, though we don’t have the same sort of detail on our side. You know, a lot of their fortune went missing soon after Mr. Post died in1937. Because Mr. Post insisted that walls be built in front of the original walls, the search was always focused on them. But everything was searched after his death and before the apartment was split up, and nothing’s ever been found.”
    â€œYes,” said Lily. “Obviously the fortune was hidden somewhere else.”
    â€œKind of strange it was never found,” CJ said.
    â€œWell, the rumor was that someone did find it and kept it,” Lily said. “Though much of it would have been difficult to hide: enormous jewels, famous paintings, things like that.”
    â€œOh,” said CJ. “Too bad.”
    â€œIt’s really quite a mess in here,” said Lily, looking around the room. “Can we help you fix it up?”
    CJ hadn’t picked anything up after yesterday’s wrestling match. Boxes were everywhere, and the room appeared ransacked. Still, Brid thought, what sort of kid was bothered by a mess?
    â€œNo, that’s all right,” said CJ.
    â€œWell,” said Lily, “our nanny is taking us to the Metropolitan Museum of Art later this morning. We’d love for you to join us in an hour if you’re available. It doesn’t open until nine thirty AM .”
    â€œThat’s okay.” Brid came to the rescue. “As you can see, we have a lot of unpacking to do.”
    CJ looked at his sister with relief. Who goes for anouting with friends to the museum? he wondered. Who dresses up to go to a museum, unless they always dress like that? And why does every kid around here seem to have a nanny? The thought made him shudder.
    â€œOne more thing,” said Lukas. “Our two apartments share a storage room in the basement. It used to be servants’ quarters, but we don’t need the space. You can use it as you wish. Our servants have bedrooms in our apartment.”
    â€œThe what?” asked CJ and Brid together. They remembered their mom saying something about a storage area, but they hadn’t paid attention at the time.
    â€œThe servants’ quarters,” Lukas said, obviously having no clue that the Smithfork family didn’t have live-in servants. “Most buildings from the twenties had them.”
    â€œSo what exactly happened in servants’ quarters?” Brid asked, pulling out a pink spiral notebook. Brid liked to write things down, and this habit often helped keep the Smithfork family organized.
    â€œServants’ quarters were small bedrooms for staff to live in,” said Lukas. “Now people use them to store things. They’re in the basement level—no view, or anything. Hard to believe people would let their staff live in such dismal conditions.”
    â€œSo you say we can use that space?” Patrick asked.
    â€œWhat I meant is that should you need space to store things, you can use it. You would need to clean it up abit, as the previous owners, the Post family, left some belongings there.”
    â€œMaybe you can show it to us sometime?” CJ asked.
    â€œYes, with pleasure. Well, good-bye, then,” Lukas said abruptly, stretching out his arm to shake hands, while simultaneously swinging his blue blazer over his shoulder. “Until next time.”
    The kids all shook hands, the Smithforks feeling uncomfortable and formal, the Williamsons looking smooth and used to this.
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    Two hours later, CJ and Brid were riding the M1 bus down Fifth Avenue to the library. They had told Maricel they had an orientation afternoon at their schools, and their mother had left earlier to meet with a decorator. Without their parents around, Maricel had nobody to check their story with. They felt badly about leaving Patrick