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Rosita Valdez and the Attic's Secret

By Robin Densmore Fuson

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Prologue

Rosita Valdez or Rosie, as she likes to be called, is eight years old and has
lived an exciting life with many adventures. The last adventure I told you about
was when she met a giant sea turtle named Toby, who helped her save a whale. In
this adventure she finds a secret in the attic. So, come along with Rosie on this
exciting story.
Rosita lives on an island in the Pacific Ocean in the 1950’s with Papa,
Mama, three older brothers, younger sister, Grandma, Grandpa, and her dog Chico.
Her grandpa and papa own a large plantation which grows fruit and coffee. Rosita
has two best friends, Jade and Belita. Belita likes Rosie to call her Lita. Rosita has
long black hair, a great smile, and a wonderful imagination.
Chapter 1

Exploring for Pirate’s Treasure

One rainy day, when Rosie couldn’t go with her friends to the cove for a
swim, something incredible happened. She had been playing in her room when she
heard a loud bumping noise. She followed the noise and discovered it was coming
from upstairs. She went upstairs and down the hall past her brothers’ rooms, where
she came upon a ladder she had never seen before. Curious, Rosie slowly climbed
the ladder. She was frightened because she imagined all sorts of things that could
be making that racket. Someone had pulled the ladder down, therefore it wasn’t an
animal. It might be a stranger! Chills ran up the back of her neck. Friend or foe?
Not wanting to make the slightest noise, she held her breath and poked her
head up through the hole and into the room. The room was big and dark. Across
the room, she could make out the shape of a person because someone held a
lantern with their back toward her. Her heart bumped in her chest. Not meaning to,
she shifted her weight and the ladder squeaked! The person turned. The lantern
cast a glow on the face.
Relief filled her when she saw it was only her grandma. Still shaking, she
climbed the rest of the way into the attic. After her heart settled down, and
Grandma hugged her, she peered around the room.
Excitement filled Rosie—she hadn’t known this room existed. Looking
through one of the trunks with her grandmother, she discovered wonderful old
dresses, books, and strange looking things. As Grandma rummaged through
another trunk, Rosie’s attention was drawn away. What most impressed Rosie was
the room. There were boxes, trunks, and pieces of furniture. Some things were
covered by sheets or blankets.
Rosie’s attention was drawn back to Grandma when she said, “Here she is.
This was mine when I was a girl.” Grandma was holding an unusual doll with a
beautiful blue dress. On the top of her head holding her hair was a large comb
called a peineta. The peineta was covered with lace making it a mantilla.
Rosie reached over to touch the doll’s dress and hair. “She is beautiful.”
“When I was a girl, I named her Isabella.” It was a pretty name for a special
doll. Rosie instantly loved her. “Rosie, the doll is very old and could break, so we
need to be careful with it. You can put it on a shelf high up in your room, but you
shouldn’t play with it.”
Rosie hugged the doll, Isabella. “Thank you, Grandma.” Rosie looked again
at the room and turned excited eyes to Grandma. “Can I explore the whole room?”
“Yes, but not now—you’ll need to wait until I get the room ready for you.”
“Oh boy, that’ll be fun!”
A few days later, she followed Grandma upstairs. They went past her
brothers’ rooms, to the end of the hallway. Rosie stopped and stood there while
Grandma reached up and pulled a rope in the ceiling. The rope was attached to a
trap door, which when pulled, brought down the ladder. They both climbed up, and
Grandma lit the lantern. The lantern had a good light to it but didn’t help much, for
the room was very dim because it only had one small window. Grandma left Rosie
to do her exploring. After her eyes adjusted to the dim light, things looked clearer
and not so creepy. She couldn’t let the shadows scare her. She wanted to prove she
was old enough to stay up there by herself. What Rosie really wanted to do was
find a treasure.
She was sure pirates had hidden a treasure up here in this very room. She
just needed to look for it. Rosie had read many stories about pirates. She imagined
a shipwrecked crew looking for a great place to hide their treasure. They would
have thought this place perfect to hide treasure. The pirates could have snuck in
when no one was home or when everyone was sleeping. She knew this would be
the place because she would hide something here if she were a pirate. Standing still
and scanning the room for a moment, she thought. Where should I begin to look?
Where would a pirate hide a treasure? After a while, she began by opening trunks and boxes and looking through them. There were many interesting things, and she
wanted to look more closely later. Right now, she could only think of the pirate
treasure. Moving some of the boxes was hard for Rosie. It was more work than
she thought it would be. There were so many places to hide a treasure and some of
the boxes were too big to move, and she was getting tired.
Sitting down on the floor, she wondered where they would have hidden it.
Swiftly, she was in her imagination world. They wore black clothes and had
patches over one of their eyes. Also, their hats were pulled sideways to cover much
of their faces. On their belts were long swords. Very carefully and silently, in the
still of the night, while her grandparents were sleeping, they crept into the house.
Quietly they carried the treasure up… “Oh, what is that?” Rosie said, looking at a
sliver of light coming through the wall behind some boxes. Getting up and running
over to the spot where the light was coming from, she tried to move boxes out of
the way. The boxes were almost impossible to move. She grabbed hold, leaned her
weight against it, pushed, and finally, inch by inch, one box slid onto another. The
next box down was almost as heavy, but with determination, and all her strength,
she was able to move it to the floor. Shoving the last, largest, and heaviest box
over, she moved it far enough so she could squeeze in close to the wall.
Running her hand over the wall she found something. Feeling with her
fingertips she discovered it was a small latch. Turning it, she heard a click, and then the wall moved! It was a door! Inside was so bright, she had to squint,
because her eyes were used to the dimness of the room she had been searching.
Walking in, she saw the reason for the light. There were windows all across
the ceiling! “Wow” was all she said. Then out of excitement, she turned and ran to
the ladder and climbed down as fast as she could, calling, “Grandma, Mama, come
look!” Both came running, wondering what had happened.
Mama asked, “What’s wrong?”
Grandma asked, “Are you hurt?”
Rosie pointed. “There is a big bright room up there—come see it!”
Mama asked, “What are you talking about?”
Grandma whispered, “Oh, I forgot about that room.”

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