"Nice clothes," said Annie.
Jack opened his eyes.
Annie was wearing a blue-and-white dress with abig sailor collar and white stockings.
Jack was wearing brown knee-length pants, ajacket, a cap, and a tie. His backpack had become aleather bag. He and Annie both wore short lace-upboots.
A church bell started to ring.
Gong. Gong. Gong. Gong. Gong.
"It rang five times," said Jack. "It must be five in themorning.""Yeah," said Annie. She was looking out thewindow.
Jack looked with her. The early-morning air feltfresh and cool.
The tree house had landed in a tree at the bottom ofa hill. Painted wooden houses and gaslights lined aquiet cobblestone street. A trolley car moved alongtracks up the street. It rounded the top of the hill anddisappeared.
Tall buildings towered farther off. The sun wasbehind them, making pink streaks in the blue sky.
"It's really pretty here," said Annie. "Yeah," said Jack.
He opened the research book and read:
On Wednesday, April 18, 1906, San Francisco wasthe biggest city on the west coast of the United States.
It had a population of half a million people. It wasalso one of the loveliest cities in the country.
Jack pulled out his notebook. He wrote:
San Francisco- , April 18, 1906\Biggest city in the westlovely"Let's go!" Annie said impatiently.
Jack looked back at the book. He wanted to learnmore.
"Now," said Annie. She took the book and notebookaway from him and put them into his leather bag.
"Let's not waste any more time."Annie left the tree house.
"Doing research is not wasting time," Jack calledafter her:
But he slung his bag over his shoulder and followedAnnie down the rope ladder. When they had bothstepped onto the grass, Jack looked around.
"Where to?" he said.
"Anywhere!" said explore and see the tourists.""Okay," said Jack. "But don't forget we have to findthe writing for Morgan's library."They started up the cobblestone street. As Annie.
"Let's just sights. We can bethey walked up the steep hill, the sun rose abovethe tall buildings.
The early light turned everything to gold: stones,streetlamps, and the glass windows of the silenthouses.
"It's so quiet and peaceful," said Annie.
"Yeah, everyone must still be sleeping," said Jack.
Suddenly, out of the quiet came a deep rumblingnoise.
Jack stopped. He grabbed Annie's arm. "What'sthat?" he said.
The noise got louder. It sounded like thundercoming from under the ground.
The earth started shaking.
Church bells clanged wildly.
The whole street began to move. The cobblestonesrolled like waves on the ocean.
'What's happening?" Annie cried. Chimneys fell offroofs! Gaslights toppled over! Bricks crashed to thestreet!
"Get down!" shouted Jack. "Cover your head!"Jack and Annie crouched on the ground with theirarms over their heads. All around them wasrumbling, clanging, crashing, and breaking.
Then the world grew still. The rumbling stopped.
Jack and Annie raised their heads. The air wasfilled with dust.
"It's over," said Jack.
"That must have been an earthquake!" said Annie.
"I think so," Jack agreed.
"I guess I should have let you do a little moreresearch on this place," Annie said.
"Yeah, probably," said Jack. "Except I don't knowexactly what we could have done."Jack slowly stood up. His legs felt wobbly. As hebrushed off his pants, the deep rumbling came again-louderthan before.
Then the terrible shaking started. It was evenharder than before.
Jack was hurled to the ground. The earth trembledand quaked. Jack bounced against the hardcobblestones.
"Annie!" he cried.
He tried to stand, but fell again. Through the dustyair, he saw the tall buildings swaying against the sky!
Roofs were caving in!
Up and down the street, bricks, glass, and concreteshowered down!
It seemed like a long time before the dreadful noiseand shaking finally stopped. |