The chute, which ran from the second floor to the basement, had once been the source of a very entertaining game. When she was little, Amy had shown her how to stand by the chute in the ground floor bathroom, while she threw something down from the second floor. The object of the game was to catch whatever was thrown down the chute. If an item should get past the one doing the catching, that person lost the game. They would play the game for a while, and sometimes the other kids came to join them.
The year that Kamp moved in with the Zimmermans, he played with them too. Only, he had his own ideas about how to play. He and Amy threw the most ridiculous things down from the second floor chute, and Josephine and Steph would take turns catching whatever came their way. First, Kamp threw down a wet bar of soap, followed by a wad of toilet paper, a piece of toast, and a single fragrance bead from inside the toilet paper dispenser. She could never figure out how he managed to get the bead out of the dispenser and he couldn’t figure out how she had been able to catch such a tiny bead. The game went on until Kamp threw the last item down the chute. He shouted “Oh no Amy! Why’d you throw down the dead mouse?” By the time Josephine heard the words she had already caught the mouse in her hand. She screamed and let it drop to the basement floor. Steph ran down immediately, curious to see what kind of mouse it was. Laughter echoed through the shoot and Josephine became suspicious. She headed down to the basement to investigate. She reached the basement at the same time as Kamp and Amy, who by that time were in stitches from laughing so hard. Steph held up a small squishy toy, “is this the mouse?” she asked Amy and Kamp. Their faces were both red and covered with satisfied smiles. Their reaction answered Steph’s question. Even though the mouse hadn’t been real, Josephine would always have the memory of holding it and how real it felt. After that day, she could no longer stick her hand in the chute. She’d only open the door long enough to throw the dirty clothes or towels inside and slam it shut again.
