Free The Tell-Tale Start by Gordon McAlpine Page B

to the OZitorium read:

    At the entrance, the Poes were stopped by an attendant dressed like an old-time movie usher. He was as round as he was tall and wore a walkie-talkie holstered on his hip.
    “Sorry,” he told them. “No one’s allowed inside after the show begins. Come back at three thirty. Until then, you can tour the authentic Gale Farm.”
    “We already did,” Aunt Judith said.
    “It took about two seconds,” Uncle Jack added dryly.
    “Well, I don’t make the policy,” the attendant said, looking past them as if on guard against nonexistent battalions of gate crashers. “Now, why don’t you all just move along?”
    “Look, we’re not actually here for the show,” Uncle Jack said. “We’re here to see the professor.”
    “Yes, he found the boys’ lost cat,” Aunt Judith added.
    The security guard’s eyes widened. He moved away from them, turned his back, and whispered into the walkie-talkie. The boys couldn’t really hear what he said, but they caught this much: “Poe twins.”
    They didn’t wait around for more.
    By the time the security guard turned back to the Poe family, saying, “It seems we’ve made special arrangements for you folks,” the boys had disappeared. He looked around, worried. “Hey, where’d they go?”
    Uncle Jack and Aunt Judith had no idea.
     
     

    WHAT THE POE TWINS DID NOT KNOW…
    From: [email protected]
    Sent: Sat, Nov 19, 11:10 am
    To: [email protected]
    Subject: Monkey Business
    Professor Perry,
    All is ready. As planned, the park is populated today only by our invited guests, the local Etiquette Society. This will ensure that the Poe brats stumble upon no natural allies. In further accordance with your brilliant plans, security will move in on the twins and their guardians at the conclusion of the play.
    If it’s all right with you, sir, I would like to rejoin the cast today, in my old role, as a way of commemorating this day and your historic triumph.
    Admiringly,
    Ian Archer

MONKEYS
    ALLAN and Edgar knew what they had to do: find and recover Roderick Usher, then rejoin their aunt and uncle and get out of there, all the while avoiding whatever nefarious plot the professor had in mind for them. And they had to do it quickly, as they suspected their nemesis already knew they were here.
    So they raced away from the entrance to the OZitorium and toward the back of the building to make a plan in private.
    As they rounded the corner it was not solitude they discovered but a long trailer that served as a dressing room for the musical’s cast members. The place buzzed with activity as a dozen little men and women scurried about, some costumed as Munchkins, others as flying monkeys. The boys looked at each other—in othercircumstances, this might be fun. Today was serious business.
    Just then, a quartet of private security guards, all more formidable-looking than the usher at the front entrance, emerged from around the far corner, their handcuffs clattering on their belts, their walkie-talkies held at the ready.
    There was no place for the boys to hide, and running away would only draw attention—so, lightning-fast, they infiltrated a nearby group of female Munchkins who were doing ballet exercises to loosen up before going onstage. Their backs to the guards, the boys imitated the ladies. They were glad none of their classmates was there to see them do the daintiest of the stretches, but the ruse worked. The security guards continued past.
    Clearly, there was no time to waste.
    The first thing the boys needed was a disguise.
    They entered the trailer’s dressing room. “Where are the costumes, miss?” Edgar politely asked a Munchkin princess.
    “Munchkin costume or flying monkey costume?” she inquired in a high-pitched voice.
    “Flying monkeys, of course,” the boys answered.
    “Over there,” she said, pointing to a rack against one wall.
    A few minutes later, in furry costumes and headpieces, Edgar and Allan were identical to those around them,