Don't Go in the Basement (Sweet Valley Twins) - Softcover

Elizabeth's heart pounded.  It was Tuesday morning and she was sitting outside the principal's office.  She didn't really think she was in trouble for anything, but Mr. Clark had called her down right in the middle of English class.  What in the world could he possibly want? she wondered.

"OK, Elizabeth."  Mr. Clark's secretary, Mrs. Knight, smiled at her.  "You can go in now."

"Thanks."  Elizabeth rubbed her sweaty palms on her jeans and stood up.  She walked over to Mr. Clark's office on shaky legs and knocked.

"Come in," said a voice from behind the door.

Elizabeth opened the door.

Mr. Clark stood in front of his filing cabinet, rifling through some folders.  "I understand you and your sister are running a house-sitting service," he said without even looking at Elizabeth.

"Uh, yeah," she admitted, closing the door behind her.  She bit her lip.  Is that what this is about?

"W-W-Were we supposed to ask permission before hanging up our signs at school?" she asked nervously.  She and Jessica had hung one of their flyers in the teachers' lounge, thinking one of their teachers might hire them.

"No, no, no, nothing like that," Mr. Clark assured her.  He slammed his file drawer closed and returned to his desk.  He pulled open his middle drawer and looked inside.  "It's just that I've suddenly been called out of town.  I'm leaving in a few minutes.  But before I go, I need to find someone to look after my house."

"Oh!" Elizabeth cried, standing up a little straighter.

Mr. Clark finally looked at her.  "Now, just a minute," he said, fixing her with a serious stare.  "I'm sure you'd do a fine job, Elizabeth.  But, well . . . to tell you the truth, I'm a little nervous about your sister.  She's . . ."  He seemed to be searching for just the right word.  "She's not the most responsible student here at Sweet Valley Middle School."

"Oh, Jessica's responsible," Elizabeth assured him.  "Really, she is.  There was this time she . . ."  Elizabeth racked her brain, trying to think of something Jessica had done recently to show she was responsible.  Something.  Anything!

"Yes?" Mr. Clark prompted her.

"Uh, she fixed our neighbor's flowers last week!"  That sounded good, didn't it?  Elizabeth figured it did as long as she didn't mention the part about Jessica's having to fix the flowers because she had sort of biked through them, smashing them, when she rounded the corner too fast.

They had to get this job!  If they could get one job, then maybe they could get more.

"Yes, well, responsibility aside, my main concern is, will she follow my directions?"  Mr. Clark asked, slamming his middle drawer closed and opening a drawer to his right.  He was obviously more interested in finding whatever it was he was looking for than in hearing examples of Jessica's responsibility.

"Jessica's good at following directions," Elizabeth assured him.  "If you tell her to do something, she'll do it."  Or at least, I'll do it, Elizabeth thought.  Just please give us the job!

Mr. Clark frowned.  Apparently whatever it was he was looking for wasn't in that drawer either.  He tried another drawer below it.

"What about parties?"  he asked, rummaging through one of the bottom drawers.  All Elizabeth could see of him was the bald spot on his head.

"Uh, what about them?"  she asked tentatively.

Mr. Clark slammed the drawer closed and looked at Elizabeth.  "Can I trust you girls not to have a party in my house while I'm away?"

Elizabeth looked shocked.  "Of course not!  I mean, of course we won't.  You can trust us, Mr. Clark!"

Mr.  Clark scratched the bald spot on his head and sighed.  "Well, it's not like I have much choice."  He checked the digital clock on his desk, then slapped his hand to his head.  "I should've left five minutes ago."

He stood up abruptly and grabbed his jacket from the coat tree near the door.  "Let's see . . . the key!  You need a key."  Mr. Clark felt his shirt and pants pockets.  "Where did I leave my keys?"

Elizabeth had never seen Mr. Clark look so flustered before.  He was usually so . . . together.

Mr. Clark found his keys in one of his jacket pockets.  He took a blue key off the ring and handed it to Elizabeth.  "Just follow University Avenue until you get to Mercury Drive.  There's a small church on the corner.  My house is right next door.  This key unlocks the front door."  He glanced at the other keys on the ring.  "I guess that's the only key you need," he said, putting the other keys into his pants pocket.

"I'll want you to feed the fish, water the plants, bring in the mail, and pick up the paper every day.  Can you start this afternoon?"  He looked questioningly at Elizabeth as he slipped his arm into his jacket.

"Sure."  She nodded.  "We can do that."  She followed him out to the main office.  "How long are you going to be gone, Mr.  Clark?"

A telephone rang, and Mrs. Knight picked it up.  "Sweet Valley Middle School . . ."

"I don't know," Mr. Clark said absently.  "Just keep coming until I'm back at school.  Now, is there anything else?  Fish, newspaper, mail, plants," he muttered to himself.  "Oh!  The basement!"  he cried, raising his finger in the air.  "Don't go down there!  It's . . . not safe."

"Sure," Elizabeth said.  She couldn't imagine why she and Jessica would go down in Mr. Clark's basement anyway.  "Don't worry about anything, Mr. Clark.  Jessica and I will take care of everything."

But Mr. Clark was already out the door.