The Arm in the Wall

by Edwin F. Kindler II

“Look!” shouted Miriam, pointing at the arm extending from the wall. “I told you something was happening!”

Miriam’s mother turned towards her other seven children. “Whose idea of a joke is this?” she practically screamed. All of her children denied doing it.

“Hush!” said Miriam. “Listen!” They all listened breathlessly. Suddenly they heard a muffled voice.

“Oh my gosh.” Breathed Lizzie, Miriam’s older sister. “There actually is someone in there, that’s not just a prop.”

Miriam’s mom pounded on the wall. “Hey, you in the wall! We’ll get you out, don’t worry!”

“Yeah, sure Mom,” said Miriam’s 15-year old brother, Peter, “and how do you propose to do that?”

His mom got a gleam in her eye, and said, “With you.” She was true to her word, though not exactly literally. Peter did all the work, to pay for his rudeness, while she directed.

Finally they got the wall to the point where they could pull it down, and when they did, out fell, the plumber! He gasped his story to them. “I was captured by a gang. I was called to seal a basement, and it turned out to be a trick call. I was captured, tortured, and held for ransom, all because they wanted my money! (gasps from the family) finally, I tunneled out, and ended up in your wall.”

The family was amazed. Just then Miriam’s dad came home. His wife called out to him, “Hi, honey! Come listen to the plumber’s story!”

When he had heard it, his wife asked him, “Well, what do you think?”

He answered her, saying, “That’s an amazing story and all that, but what am I going to do with a hole in the wall?”

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