The Ghost Witch (4 page)

“No!” she shouted and dashed out of the bedroom and down the stairs with Rufus right in front of her.

The ghost witch's cackle followed her as she ran. “Later, then,” she chuckled. “There're lots more surprises where that came from. You'll see, my dear, you'll see.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

Mr. Barkin's Surprise

“Why didn't you tell your mom?” Chris wanted to know. She and Jenny were sitting in the farthest corner of the school lunchroom. Their lunch bags were on the table in front of them.

Jenny leaned back and sighed. “But I already did tell her about the snake and about the door opening and closing by itself, and she didn't believe me. What would
your
mom say if you told her there was a crocodile in your upstairs hall and a witch and a bat in your bedroom?”

Chris rolled her eyes. “You're right. My mom would ground me for a month for telling whoppers!” She opened her lunch bag and took out a sandwich. “Did the ghost witch really say she'd make spiders in your house? And dragons?”

Jenny nodded unhappily. She was already sorry she'd told Chris about the ghost witch, but she'd had to tell someone. “That's a secret,” she whispered. “Promise.”

Chris shivered. “I don't even want to think about it,” she said. “Spiders and snakes and dragons make me sick. And a ghost witch makes me sicker than anything.”

Jenny reached into her lunch bag for the chocolate cupcake she'd seen her mother wrap that morning.
I'm going to end up being a hermit just like Miss Nagle was
, she thought.
Sooner or later, everyone will find out about the ghost witch. I won't have any friends at all. I'll sit in my bedroom window seat all day with Rufus and eat cupcakes all by myself
.

When school was over for the day, it seemed to Jenny that Chris was already treating her differently.

“I'm going to find Mr. Barkin and see if he'll tell me what his Halloween surprise is,” Chris said. She sounded as if it didn't matter whether Jenny came along or not.

Jenny bit her lip. “Okay, let's,” she said. They walked silently down one block and around the corner. Bobby Strauss was playing catch with some other boys in the street ahead of them.

Jenny jumped back. “Let's go through the alley,” she said. Chris shrugged and followed.

When they reached Mr. Barkin's apartment building, they went around the side to the shed behind it. He was usually there. Bags of plastic containers lined one wall, and boxes of cans lined the other. Mr. Barkin was in the middle, tying a bundle of newspaper with cord. He waved when he saw the girls in the doorway.

“Come in, come in!” he shouted. “I'm just decidin' whether I have enough stuff here to borrow my son's truck and run it all out to the recycling center. What can I do for you ladies?”

“Tell us what your Halloween surprise is going to be,” Chris said. She giggled and her face grew pink. “We won't tell anyone else, honest!”

Mr. Barkin thought it over. Then he grinned at them.

“All right, I'll do just that,” he decided. “You can tell me what you think. The surprise is—I'm going to fix up a haunted house and charge boys and girls to go through it.”

He didn't seem to notice Jenny's quick step backward or hear Chris's gasp.

“See, I've still got the old place that belonged to my folks,” he went on. “It's too big for one person to live in, but I just can't make myself sell it. What I'll do is buy some of those cardboard skeletons and fix up a few ghosts out of old bed sheets. Then I'll put candles in all the rooms and play spooky music on my tape player. I'm bettin' kids'll pay fifty cents just to prove that they're brave enough to walk through the place. Because it's Halloween and all.”

“Not me,” Chris said quickly. “I hate haunted houses.”

Mr. Barkin looked hurt. “Other towns have haunted houses for Halloween,” he said. “They make good money, too.”

Jenny tried to cheer him up. “Well, I think it's a great idea,” she said. “You can put up signs to announce it.”

“That I will.” Mr. Barkin's grin came back in a hurry. “It'll be dandy. You'll see.”

Later the girls walked to the corner together, once again without speaking.

“I hope it works out,” Jenny said finally. “Mr. Barkin will feel bad if it doesn't.”

Chris shook her head. “A make-believe haunted house is different from a real haunted house, I guess,” she said. “But I don't like either one.” She hurried off, looking unhappy.

All the way home, Jenny thought about Mr. Barkin's surprise. No matter how Chris felt, she knew Mr. Barkin was right. Kids liked being scared, as long as it was Halloween and they knew it was all make-believe. She thought about cardboard skeletons and bed-sheet ghosts. They could be a
little
scary, she supposed, in an old house on a dark night. But would her classmates be really impressed? She hated to think Mr. Barkin might be disappointed.

As she walked, an idea started to grow. It got bigger and bigger, until by the time she'd reached her own apartment building she was running. She raced up the stairs and unlocked the apartment door. The smell of fresh cookies told her what her mother was doing.

She hurried into the kitchen. “Tomorrow after school I'll go to Miss Nagle's house to feed Rufus,” she announced. “By myself, okay?”

“You will?” Her mother held out a warm sugar cookie. “That will help a lot,” she said. “Good for you, Jenny.” She looked as if she couldn't believe her ears.

CHAPTER NINE

The Scariest House Ever

It really is a nice house
, Jenny told herself, as she parked her bike at the gate. The wide front porch would look just right with a jack-o-lantern or two. Orange leaves danced across the lawn.

Jenny tried to whistle but she couldn't make a sound. As she walked around the side of the house and unlocked the back doors, her stomach felt as if it were tied in a knot. Even Rufus's warm welcome didn't help much. Coming to Miss Nagle's house alone was hard.

She filled the food dish and the water bowl. “You go ahead and eat,” she whispered to the big cat. “And then we'll—we'll sort of walk around together.” After that the house was very quiet; the only sound was the
crunch-crunch
of Rufus enjoying his dinner.

Suddenly a terrible squeal ripped the stillness. It sounded like Bobby Strauss hitting a sour note on his trumpet, only a thousand times louder. For a moment Jenny wondered if Bobby were hiding somewhere and playing another trick on her. The squeal sounded again, even louder. With it came thundering footsteps that made the whole house tremble.

Jenny clutched the edge of the kitchen table. A streak of orange flew past her. It was Rufus, heading for the top of the nearest cupboard.

“Come on down, Rufe,” Jenny begged. “You were brave before. Please!”

But Rufus just stared at her. These sounds were clearly ones he'd never heard before. The old house echoed with one earsplitting squeal after another, and the footsteps thumped closer.

From where she stood, Jenny could see down the hall. There was one more squeal, and then a huge head loomed from the archway leading into the living room. Ears as big as bed sheets slapped the walls, and a long trunk swept the floor. Tusks gleamed in the dim light of the hall.

An elephant
! Jenny choked back a scream.
There's an elephant in Miss Nagle's house
!

Jenny's knees felt like jelly as the elephant moved toward her. He was so big, so LOUD! She could even smell his wild-animal smell. Still clinging to the edge of the table, she took one daring step, then another, toward the hall.

“G-Go away!” she begged. “Go away!”

The elephant reached the kitchen door. His trunk shot out and wrapped itself around Jenny's waist.

She leaped back, and when she tried to push the trunk away, her hands went right through it.

I can see it, but I can't touch it
! she thought dizzily.
It's like fog
—
AND I'M NOT AFRAID OF FOG
. “Go away!” she shouted hoarsely. “You get out of our house this minute! I'm not afraid of you.”

The elephant vanished. But now the doorway was covered with a fine black net—a web! It swayed and trembled as a hairy spider the size of a car tire climbed down from above the doorframe. Jenny jumped backward. She could face an elephant, but the spider was too much!

“I thought that would do it.” A cackling laugh came from the other side of the web. Then the spider and the web disappeared, and Jenny faced the ghost witch.

The old lady's eyes were shining. “Now I know what
really
scares you,” she chuckled. “Spiders! You should see your face!”

Jenny wanted to run, but she made herself stand still. This was why she had come to Miss Nagle's house alone. She had wanted to see the ghost witch again. She tried not to think about the spider.

“You're—you're really a w-wonderful witch,” she stammered. “That's why I came to talk to you.”

“Yes, I am,” the ghost witch agreed. “Want to see a caterpillar as big as a cow?”

Jenny shook her head fast. “I'd rather tell you about this great idea I have,” she said. “It's a way you could scare lots and lots of people—people who
want
to be scared.”

The ghost witch scowled. “I don't believe it. No one
wants
to be scared.”

“Oh, yes, they do!”

Quickly, Jenny told the ghost witch about her friend Mr. Barkin who was planning a Halloween haunted house. “He's going to feel bad if people don't like his haunted house, but he needs some really exciting ideas,” she explained. “If you were there, you could make it the scariest house ever, and lots of people would pay to get in.” She looked at the ghost witch's scowling face. “If you were good enough, that is,” she added slyly.

“Good enough! GOOD ENOUGH!” The ghost witch's round cheeks turned bright red. “How dare you wonder if I'd be good enough! I could scare this whole town half to death—if I felt like doing it, that is.”

“The—the only thing is,” Jenny hurried on nervously, “it would be just once a year—on Halloween. And you'd have to promise you wouldn't scare anybody in
this
house ever again. Not ever!”

“Now why would I promise such a thing?” the witch jeered. “Tell me that.”

Jenny took a deep breath. “Because if you don't do it, you won't have anybody at all to scare,” she said boldly. “When my mom and I move in, I'll get used to your tricks just like Miss Nagle did, and I won't be afraid anymore. And I'll never invite my friends to our house. Not once!”

The witch looked as if she didn't believe a word of it. She waved her stick, and at once the giant spider returned. This time it was on the floor and crawling straight toward Jenny.

Jenny closed her eyes. Then she jumped on the spider and screamed “Get out!” at the top of her voice.