Aunt Maud’s Secret

Martin Phelps is looking forward to spending his fall break playing Warlocks, his favorite online game, with his friends Jiang and Robert. But when his mom tells him that eighty-year-old Aunt Maude is coming for a visit and will be staying in his room, where the computer is, he realizes that his gaming time will be seriously limited. After Aunt Maud arrives with her dog, Sir Puff, Martin is sleeping on the living room couch when he awakens in the middle of the night to see a weird green light and wisps of smoke coming from his bedroom door. He hears three tremendous thumps, and when he creeps down the hall to investigate, he hears Aunt Maud mumbling, “Fool, fool! You confounded fool!” As he tiptoes back to the living room, he thinks to himself that his aunt either has some terrific secret, or is just a little bit crazy.

“YOUR AUNT WOULD like to see Belle Isle today,” Martin’s mother told him the next morning. Belle Isle was a small island in the Detroit River, a tourist attraction of sorts, with a zoo, an aquarium, nature trails, and a beach. Martin had been there more times than he could count.

“Can I stay home?” he asked. If he stayed home, he could finally play his game with his friends. Besides, it was late November and it was very cold. Martin preferred to stay warm inside his