Stay Out of the Basement (Goosebumps, No 2)
R. L. Stine
Language: English
Pages: 122
ISBN: 0590453661
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
With their father conducting strange experiments with plants in the basement, Margaret and Casey begin to investigate and soon discover that their father has begun to resemble a plant.
Margaret tried to ignore them. Walking right behind Casey, she kept her eyes on the tall metal shelves straight ahead. The shelves were deep and filled with old, unwanted toys, games, and sports equipment, a plastic tent, some old sleeping bags. Casey got there first and started rummaging around on the lower shelves. “I know they’re here somewhere,” he said. “Yeah. I remember storing them here,” Margaret said, running her eyes over the top shelves. Casey, down on his knees, started pulling
coat and straightened the collar. “Later,” he said. He disappeared into the hallway. They heard him shut the basement door behind him. “I guess he’s not going to ground us or anything for going down there,” Margaret said, leaning against the table and resting her chin in her hands. “I guess,” Casey said. “He sure is acting… weird.” “Maybe he’s upset because Mom is gone,” Margaret said. She sat up and gave Casey a push. “Come on. Get up. I’ve got work to do.” “I can’t believe that plant
grabbed me,” Casey said thoughtfully, not budging. “You don’t have to push,” Casey griped, but he climbed to his feet and stepped out of Margaret’s way. “I’m going to have bad dreams tonight,” he said glumly. “Just don’t think about the basement,” Margaret advised. That’s really lame advice, she told herself. But what else could she say? She went up to her room, thinking about how she missed her mother already. Then the scene in the basement with Casey trying to pull himself free of the
the counter when a hand grabbed her shoulder. Margaret uttered a silent cry and spun around. “Casey!” “I’m home,” he said, grinning at her. “What’s for lunch?” Later, after making him a peanut butter sandwich, she told Casey what she had seen. Casey laughed. “It isn’t funny,” she said crossly. “Our own dad was eating dirt.” Casey laughed again. For some reason, it struck him funny. Margaret punched him hard on the shoulder, so hard that he dropped his sandwich. “Sorry,” she said quickly,
right?” Casey asked. “Yeah. Well… he got fired,” Margaret said, half-whispering in case her dad might be able to hear. “But why? Did he blow up the lab or something?” Casey grinned. The idea of his dad blowing up a huge campus science lab appealed to him. “No, he didn’t blow anything up,” Margaret said, tugging at a strand of dark hair. “Botanists work with plants, you know. They don’t get much of a chance to blow things up.” They both laughed. Casey followed her into the narrow strip of