Tara and the Hidden Door
Tara and a friend discover a hidden door in the attic. What waits behind it?
It was raining on the first day of the holidays. Tara was bored. ‘Why don’t we explore the attic?’ suggested Mei the mouse. They fetched a torch and climbed the creaky ladder.
The attic was full of old boxes and trunks and dust. A single round window let in a grey light. Tara sneezed. Mei giggled. They opened box after box, finding old hats, curtains and a lamp.
‘Wait,’ said Tara. She tapped the wall behind a tall bookcase. It sounded hollow. She pushed the bookcase aside. There, hidden in the wood, was a tiny, round door, no bigger than a tea tray.
Mei looked at Tara. Tara looked at Mei. ‘Ready?’ they whispered. Tara turned the tiny brass handle. The door creaked open slowly. A cool breath of air drifted out, smelling of lavender and old paper.
Inside was a little hidden room. In the middle sat a dusty wooden box. On the lid, in faded gold letters, was a label: ‘For whoever finds this.’ Tara’s heart thumped. She lifted the lid.
Inside, there was a wooden toy train and a note that said, Play with me. And a letter from Grandma. ‘Dear finder,’ it said. ‘I hid these here when I was your age. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. Please remember to hide something for the next child.’
Tara and Mei read the letter again and again. Then they ran downstairs to show Toby the turtle. Toby smiled with tears in his eyes. ‘I remember that room,’ he said. ‘I put that box there long ago.’
That evening, Tara wrote a letter of her own. She popped it in the box with a favourite toy, and placed it back behind the bookcase. ‘For whoever finds this,’ she wrote, ‘be curious. And be kind.’
The little lesson
The things people leave for us can teach us something about who they were, and who we can be.
Let’s talk about it
- Would you open the door? Why or why not?
- What would you put in a box for people in the future?
Finish stories to collect Tara as a sticker in your Sticker Book.
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