Kate Dunlap

There, in the middle of the attic floor knelt a boy and a girl. They looked to be about the same age as Kate, and appeared as if they had been trying to pick up the pieces of something made of glass. Next to them were two bags that looked like they held clothes and a few possessions. They looked up in shock and terror as Mr. Dunlap opened the attic door and turned his flashlight on them. They were even more scared to see that he carried a gun with him.

“What are you two doing here?” Mr. Dunlap asked very sternly.

“Oh, please, sir, please don’t hurt us! We’re just here to—” the boy began, but was interrupted by Mr. Dunlap.

“I won’t hurt you, but I do want an explanation. I don’t have any idea who you are, and you come barging into my house in the middle of the night. Just what do you think you’re up to?”

“Sir,” the boy said, “we needed a warm place to spend the night, and this looked like a good place. I’m really sorry about those vases that we broke on our way in, but it was dark, and we couldn’t see where we were going!”

The boy and girl looked pretty scared as well as cold and possibly hungry. Seeing that they were not burglars, as expected, Mr. Dunlap’s tone softened a little. “Well, that’s okay about the vases. They were old and I was going to get rid of them anyway. But what are you doing here? I certainly would like to know what’s going on. You can come downstairs to tell us about it. It’s pretty cold up here.”

The children looked at each other, trying to decide what to do. Should they run away, or should they come downstairs with this man and tell him why they were here? “I guess that’s what we should do,” the boy finally said.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Dunlap and Kate were still down at the foot of the stairs, wondering what was going on in the attic. All they could see was the back of Mr. Dunlap as he talked to the children. “I’m scared, Mom!” Kate whispered. “What if the person who’s up there will try to hurt Dad?”

“It’s okay, Kate,” Mrs. Dunlap said, trying to sound braver than she felt. “I think it’s just kids. And Dad has his gun with him. He’ll be okay.”

“Oh, here they come!” Kate exclaimed quietly. She and her mother followed Mr. Dunlap as he led the boy and girl downstairs and into the living room. He flipped on the lights and motioned for the children to sit down on the couch. He and his wife and daughter sat down on chairs around the room.

“Now,” Mr. Dunlap said after everyone had gotten comfortable, “I would like to know why you two were in my attic in the middle of the night. Please tell me all about it.” Seeing the girl’s frightened face, he continued in a kind voice, “Please don’t be afraid. I am not going to hurt you. In fact, I want to help you if I can. However, I am highly displeased that you entered my house tonight without my permission, especially when I have never even laid eyes on you before.”

The boy began, “First of all, I guess you would like to know our names.” Mr. Dunlap nodded, and he went on. “My name is Edward. I’m twelve years old. And this is my twin sister Emilie. We’re running away from—” Emilie nudged him with her elbow. “I mean… um… that is… well, we’re kind of going somewhere and we needed a good place to spend the night. When we saw the window to your attic we figured it would serve as a good wind block.”

“So you just came in uninvited? Wait a minute. How did you get in?” Mr. Dunlap said. He was still a little upset.

“Well, we saw the window, and we saw that tall tree next to your house. We thought we could climb up the tree into the attic, and leave early tomorrow morning before you woke up and found us. I guess we didn’t do too well.” Edward looked sadly at Emilie.

“And we’re sorry that we went into your house. We’ve been staying in people’s yards and houses for a while. We knew it was wrong, but we needed a safe place to spend the night. I truly am sorry, and I promise that we’ll never do it again on anyone’s property, ever again.”

“What are you running away from?” Mrs. Dunlap asked sympathetically.

“Well,” Emilie said hesitantly. She paused. “Never mind. It’s nothing… I mean… just never mind.” She suddenly changed the subject. “You all have been really nice to us. Thank you for not being too mad at us.”

“Speaking of that,” Edward said, “would it be too much to ask if we could just spend the night in your attic? I know it was wrong to stay in it in the first place, but if you allowed us to stay there just one night, we’d be happy. We’ll leave early tomorrow morning. And we promise not to break any more vases.”

Mr. and Mrs. Dunlap looked at each other for a moment. Mr. Dunlap said, “Hold on. Mrs. Dunlap and I need to go talk to each other for a minute. Everyone just stay here.” Mr. and Mrs. Dunlap went into another room and closed the door.

There was an awkward silence in the living room. Kate decided to try to make friends with Edward and Emilie, even though they wouldn’t be there long. “Hi,” she said; “my name is Kate. I’m the same age you are!”

“Hi,” Emilie said. She didn’t say anything else, and no one else said anything, either. Then Emilie continued. “I’m sorry we’ve made all this trouble for you. It’s hard not having any…” but Emilie stopped herself from saying what it was. She almost started to cry but stopped herself.

“Are you hungry?” Kate asked both of them.

“Yes, I am very hungry,” Edward admitted. Emilie nodded and said that she was hungry also.

“Would you like some food?” Kate asked with a smile.

“Sure, I guess. If you don’t mind,” Emilie said.

“Of course not. Here, let me go get you something. How about a ham sandwich?”

Emilie smiled for the first time. “Thank you! That sounds wonderful.” Edward agreed, so Kate headed to the kitchen. She made the sandwiches and was just giving them to Edward and Emilie as Mr. and Mrs. Dunlap walked back into the living room.

“I hope it’s okay, Mom,” Kate said as she saw her mom looking at the food. “They said that they were very hungry.”

Mrs. Dunlap laughed. “It’s fine.”

Mr. Dunlap said, “We’ve made our decision.”

The twins looked up from their sandwiches, which were already half devoured, and Mr. Dunlap announced, “We decided to let you spend the night here if you wish. But you don’t have to sleep in the attic.”

The twins only took a moment to decide. “You are such very nice people!” Emilie exclaimed. “Edward can stay in the attic if he wants, but I would love to sleep in the house.”

Edward pretended to be indignant. “You think that I would sleep in the attic if I was offered a nice warm bed? Of course not! Kate, I think your family is the nicest family I have ever met! By the way, I don’t even know who your family is! You have been so nice to us, but we don’t even know your last name!” He stopped, and then corrected himself. “Not that names are important, I mean, I just—”

Mr. Dunlap laughed. “That’s okay. I’m sorry; I suppose I should have introduced us. Well, we are the Dunlap family. This is my wife, and I suppose you already know my daughter.”

Kate noticed that as soon as Edward heard the name “Dunlap” he looked quite startled. She wondered why but didn’t say anything about it.

“Look, I think we all should get to bed,” Mrs. Dunlap said. “It’s one-o-clock in the morning! We can get more acquainted tomorrow morning.”

Everyone said that was a good idea. Kate asked Emilie if she would like to sleep in her bedroom or in the spare, and, to Kate’s surprise, she accepted Kate’s bedroom. Edward said that he would sleep in the spare. Soon everyone was comfortable in bed and getting ready to drift off to sleep. They had no idea of how many exciting things would go on in the next few days all because of the midnight intruders.