By JOY COWLEY
They found him fixing a dryer in one of the laundry rooms.
"Where is the thirteenth floor?" Abby asked him.
Keith looked up suddenly. "Jumping moo cow! Who's been telling you about the thirteenth floor?"
"No one," said Abby. "People say it isn't there."
"We think they're wrong," said Todd.
"You do, do you? said Keith. "So where is it?"
"Hidden," replied Todd.
Keith didn't say anything for a while, then he smiled. "Of course it's hidden. Its secrets have to be kept from prying, spying eyes."
"I knew it!" cried Todd. "I just knew there was a thirteenth floor!"
"How can we find it?" asked Abby.
The caretaker shook his head. "You can't. It's hidden so well, there's no going to it. But sometimes you can hear noises coming from it."
"What kind of noises?" asked Abby.
"All kinds," said Keith. "The crunching of a ship wrecked on rocks. The sound of chocolate pudding boiling in a pot. The love song of a tyrannosaurus rex. Six horses pulling a chariot, and an ogre cutting his toenails with a chainsaw. You wouldn't believe what happens on the thirteenth floor. There is always something different going on."
Publisher: Shortland Publications
Price: $8.95 plus GST
Age group: 9-10 yrs
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The 13th Floor: Part 6
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