Only, Part 1

“So, what do you wanna do?” Hallie asked her friend Larissa.

“I dunno. What do you want to do?

"We've done it all. We went swimming, played Monopoly, Scrabble, and we've watched lots of home movies."

"Hi, guys. Do you have the other walkie-talkie, Hallie?" Logan walked in on the bored friends.

"Sure do; here it is. What are you up to?"

"Oh, nuthin'. I'm just reporting on a solo mission to infiltrate enemy lines and discover the secret passageway to the classified headquarters of the Corlat Resistance. Mom's agreed to be my back-up, so she needs the other walkie-talkie in the living room."

"What?!" Larissa exclaimed.

"I think he's exploring the basement," Hallie explained.

"Don't you already know what's down there?" Larissa questioned.

Hallie glanced at her brother and grinned. "It depends on the way you look at it."

"Girls have no imagination," Logan muttered.

"Hey, can we go with you, Logan?" Hallie asked.

"What?" Larissa didn't agree.

"No, really, it'll be fun!" Hallie insisted.

"Okay, but remember: Corlat Resistance (or CR) agents are everywhere; we can never be too careful. And don't forget - we're looking for the key to the Dorex Hall Entrance."

"Got it," Hallie agreed solemnly.

"I'll never understand you guys," Larissa commented as she followed them apprehensively.

~~~

Larissa second-guessed her agreement as she quietly crawled across the cold basement floor - in the dark, of course. ("Lights?! And let the CR agents know we're coming?" Logan had said.)

"Hey, look, guys - it's a tunnel. I've never noticed it before, Hallie," Logan observed, whispering.

"It's not a tunnel," Hallie whispered back. "It just sticks back a few feet. See?"

"Oh. The CR agents must have blockaded it," Logan decided.

Larissa rolled her eyes. "Always a theory," she complained.

"Ow!" Hallie yelped.

"On guard, CR agent! You have met your match!" Logan jumped to his feet.

"What is it, Hallie?" Larissa ignored Logan as he poked among the boxes with a yardstick, looking for hiding agents.

"It's a box - a metal one. I hit it with my toe."

Persuaded that no CR agents had detected their presence, Logan returned to Hallie and Larissa. "Maybe it holds the coveted key to the Dorex Hall Entrance!" he gushed.

"Oh, pleeeeease," Larissa complained to Hallie.

"Let's open it and find out," Hallie suggested, still interested in the contents of the box. Logan held a flashlight over the box as Hallie worked open the rusty latch. "Sorry, Logan, no key. Just a notebook and a wooden decoration of some kind. It says, 'Only one life, 'twill soon be past, Only what's done for Christ will last.'"

"Let's get this back to Alpha Force Headquarters and examine it further," Logan suggested.

"Great - will there at least be light?" Larissa asked.

~~~

As they stood at the entrance to Alpha Force Headquarters, Larissa wasn't so sure that headquarters would be an improvement.

"The attic? The attic is Elf Force Headquarters?" she couldn't help sounding disappointed.

"Alpha," Hallie corrected her. Logan mumbled something about girls.

"As a still-rising officer of the Alpha Force, I don't visit headquarters often, but Hallie's discovery will be well worth my superiors' attention," Logan informed Larissa with the air of a decorated army general. "As for me," he continued, "while my findings have often been sent in documented form, this is only my second time to visit headquarters in person."

"He helped Dad with spring-cleaning last year," Hallie explained in a hushed voice to Larissa.

"I've never really liked attics," Larissa confided hesitantly as Logan brought down the ladder. "They're dark and boring, and -"

"Boring?!" Logan was appalled at the thought. "Girls," he sighed.

Once they were in the attic, Logan made his way through boxes over to a rafter where a lamp hung and turned it on. Larissa and Hallie found a set of folding chairs and set them up for the three of them.

"Okay," Hallie thought aloud as she opened the box. "Are you coming, Logan?"

"Yeah," he said absent-mindedly, as he was obviously watching something among the boxes. Hallie and Larissa pulled out the notebook and opened it. "Aaaah! Ow!" Logan cried out. Hallie gasped as the lights went out. Larissa screamed.

To be continued...