Coraline's Twin

Chapter 6: Meeting Mr Bobinsky

I yawned and stretched. I looked around and saw that we were back in our room.
'Phew, we're out of that place.' I think to myself. 'And it was just a dream.'
"My poison oak is gone!" I heard Coraline exclaim.
"What?" I ask.
"The mud! It got rid of my poison oak!" Coraline said showing me her hand, which was clear of any rash.
"What?" I say, confused. Was it real or a dream?

"I'm going to check on the door." I heard Coraline say before running down the stairs.
I sigh and started getting ready, after putting that doll out of my sight, and walked downstairs. I made some toast for breakfast and rolled my eyes at Coraline, who was telling mum and dad about last night.
"You were there Carol, right? Didn't it feel real?" Coraline asked me.
"Um, I don't know, dreams can feel real." I say shrugging.
"But it was real!" Coraline said. "Oh dad, you were in the dream too..."

I stop paying attention and think about that dream. 'They weren't expecting me.' I mulled it over and over until mum spoke up.
"Coraline, Carol why don't you both go visit downstairs? I bet those "actresses" would love to hear your dream." Mum said.
"Miss Spink and Forcible? But you said they're dingbats." Coraline said.
"Uh huh" mum said, smirking.
Coraline and I sigh before getting up and walking outside.

We walked out of the door, Coraline had some garden shears in her hand, and tripped over a big pile of mail.
"Ow..." I groan, getting up from the ground.
"I wonder whose mail it is." Coraline said, leafing through the mail. "Bo-bin-sky, Bo-bin-sky, Bo-bin-sky...they're all for Mr Bobinsky."

"Do you smell that?" I say, blocking my nose with my hand.
Coraline sniffed the air then the letters. "Agh! Pooo-eeeeee!" She cried.
"But whose Mr Bobinsky?" I ask.
Coraline just pointed to a sign that read "Bobinsky there" with an arrow pointing up to a staircase to the top of the house.

"Welp, let's just give the mail to him then visit the other neighbours." I say, starting to walk up the stairs.
"Coming." Coraline said, following after me.
We got up to the top of the stairs and I knocked on the door.
"Hello?" I say nervously.

No answer.

"I think our mail got mixed up. Should we leave it outside or..." Coraline said, putting her ear against the door.
The door swung open, she poked her head in.
"Hmmm..." Coraline said.
"Um, Coraline? It's a bit rude to look in other people's houses without their permission." I say.

"See-Kret." A voice said behind us, scaring the living daylights out of me.
Turning around there was a large blue man hanging upside down, pulling his hand towards me.
"Agh!" I yell, pulling Coraline down with me as he pulled the door closed.
He pulled a beet out of his pocket, he wore a singlet with a medal and some shorts.
"Famous Jumping Mouse Circus not ready, little girls!" He said scowling.
"Circus?...oh, uh, um, we brought this for you." Coraline said, holding out the mail.

He looked at the mail before dropping the beet and swinging towards Coraline. He took the mail out of her hands and sniffed the packages.
"Mmmm...noviseer." He said.
"Huh?" I say.
"New cheese samples." He said. "Very clever, using this mix up to sneak my home and peek at meeshkas."
"Meeshkas?" I say, confused.
"The mice!"
"Oh, sorry. I'm Carol Jones." I say before pointing to my twin. "And this is my twin, Coraline Jones."

He bowed. " And I am the Amazing Bobinsky!" He said, doing push ups on the railing. "But you can call me Mr. B." He said, creating a B shape with his body before falling off the railing.
"Hey!" Coraline says, rushing to the railing.
I looked over the railing with Coraline, seeing no one splattered on the ground.

"Ha! You see, Caroline and Coral, the problem is my new songs go oompah oompah. But the jumping mice play only toodle toot, like that. Is nice, but not so much amazing So now--" He said indicating to the mail "--I switch to stronger cheese, and soon ­VATCH OUT!"
He kicks open the door with his foot before handing Coraline a beet. "Here, have beet. Make you strong. Daas vee Daan ya, Caroline and Coral." Then he went inside his room and shut the door.

"Cor-a-line." I hear Coraline mutter.
She threw the beet away and we made our way down the stairs. We started walking towards the car until we heard.
"Eh! Caroline, Coral!"
We looked up just to see Mr B jump down above us.
"Ah!" I cried, covering the top of my head.
"No!" Coraline cried, holding the garden shears above her head.

I looked up, just to see Mr B stepping over Coraline before bending down to us.
"The mice...asked me to give you message." He said.
"The...jumping mice?" I ask.
Mr B nodded.

"They are saying: do not go through leetle door. Do you know such a thing?" He said with a serious expression.
My eyes widened, was he talking about the door behind the wallpaper?
"The one behind the wall paper?" I ask.
"But...it's all bricked up." Coraline finished.
He shrugged and stood up.

"Bah. So sorry, is nothing. Sometimes the mice are leetle...mixed up, hmmm? They even get your names wrong, you know. They call you Coraline and Carol instead of Caroline and Coral, not Caroline or Coral at all." He said before starting to walk back up the stairs.
"Maybe I work them too hard..." he said to himself.

I shrugged and signed a 'crazy' sign before walking back towards the car. Coraline cut some ropes with the garden shears to get our pink suitcase. We opened it and got two matching Japanese-schoolboy hats and put them on. We walked to the side of the house and down some stairs to Miss Spink and Forcible's house.