By Ashley Nance –
Halloween excitement was in the air as Sheena, Christy, and Leah got into their costumes.
“Would you help me zip up my witch dress?” Sheena asked.
“Sure! I mean, Meow!” giggled Leah, shaking her black cat tail.
Christy was busy tucking her hair up under her clown wig. “Last year, the Franks had a barrel for bobbing for apples,” she said, “but I don’t want all this make-up to come off. Do you think they’ll have that again this year?”
“They do something new every year at the Halloween party,” said Sheena, “so maybe this time will be something different. Thanks Leah.”
“You’re welcome!” Leah said. “Courtney said they might have a Haunted House this year. Oh! But I’m not supposed to tell you that! Oops.” Her whisker-painted cheeks got a little pink. “If they do have one, just pretend you didn’t know. O.K.?”
“Sure,” shrugged Christy, as she adjusted her red nose.
Sheena just nodded. She hoped Leah was wrong.
Just then, Mom called up the stairs. “Are my ghouls ready to go?”
“Ready!” they all answered together, and hurried down the stairs and into the car.
The three girls huddled in the back to stay warm as Dad drove them to the Franks’ house. By the time the heat made it to the back seat, they were already there. As soon as they opened the car doors they could hear the music and excitement inside. Leah ran right into the house without knocking, but Sheena just walked. She tried to focus on thoughts of the candy and games and cider but, even on a sunny Saturday afternoon, she couldn’t help but imagine the Franks’ big house as a haunted mansion. Just inside the door she saw that they had tacked a blanket to the top of the dining room doorway. There was a piece of paper fastened to it with safety pins that said “ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK” in red crayon. Sheena’s stomach turned a little. For a moment she wished she had dressed as the black cat instead, so she could hide behind the TV or under the table and pretend she didn’t want to go in because she was a real cat, not because she was a scared-y-cat.
It wasn’t long before the dreaded moment arrived. Leah ran up to her and said, “I want to go through the Haunted House, but I don’t want to go by myself. Christy’s busy flirting with the boys. Blech.” She stuck out her tongue. “Will you come with me? Please?”
Sheena straightened her hat and swallowed hard. “Why, certainly, my pretty,” she screeched, and then cackled the scariest cackle she could manage.
Leah laughed, took her hand, and pulled her over towards the door. Then she called through the blanket.“ Hello!”
The blanket instantly flew aside. Leah gasped and jumped back. Sheena froze.
A vampire emerged with its cape drawn over most of its face.
“Greetings,” it said in a low voice.
“Oh,” said Leah. “It’s just Jody.”
You’d think a babysitter would pick something a little more smiley and a little less scary to be for Halloween, thought Sheena, but she tried to be brave. She wanted to show Leah, and herself, that she wasn’t chicken.
“If you wish to enter, you may,” continued the vampire. “But you do so at your own risk.”
At this, she opened the blanket wide to let them in, and Leah pulled her big sister in behind her.
Both doorways to the dining room were covered with blankets, so the only light in the room was the sunlight that could make it in though the sheets over the windows.
“Please, sit down,” said the vampire.
It’s just Jody! Sheena reminded herself. None of this is real. Nothing to be afraid of.
“Make yourself comfortable. You’re just in time for lunch.”
I hope we’re not on the menu!
There was a bowl set in front of every chair, and two big bowls in the center of the table. The vampire chose one of these and brought it over to them. “I’ve just cooked up some of my favorites. Feel these fresh eyeballs to see if they are done.”
“Yuck!” They were wet and cold and round. They’re not real. None of this is real!
“And what better to go with that than scrambled brains?”
“Eew!” Wet, slimy, and stringy. What could it be?
“There, now that you’re comfortable,” said Count Jody. “I’ll introduce our other guest.”
Suddenly a hidden figure moved and revealed itself to be – a mummy! It groaned as it stood stiffly and began to hobble toward the table.
No way! I’m out of here!
Sheena jumped up and ran for the entrance and the light peeking out from under the blanket. She yelped when something grabbed her hand.
“Shhh! Sheena, it’s me!” Jody said in her normal voice. “Don’t go yet.” She switched on the light and spit out her plastic teeth. “I want to show you what everything really is.”
Sheena hesitated for a moment, but when she saw Leah smiling back at her, she felt braver. Leah didn’t think she was chicken! She walked back to her seat.
Jody pushed the bowl of eyes over to them.“See? Grapes!” she said. And so they were.
“Then what’s the brains?” asked Leah, looking a little nervous. She pushed that bowl over too.
“Spaghetti!” said Sheena. “That’s really smart!”
“And this,” said Jody, uncovering the mummy that had gone back into hiding, “is my Dad.”
“Hi, girls!” said a familiar voice from behind its toilet paper shroud. “Just me.” He waved.
“Hi, Mr. Frank,” said the girls.
“See,” said Jody. “Nothing to be afraid of.”
Sheena nodded, and then looked down at her lap. “I feel so stupid!”
“Naw!” said Jody. “You’re not stupid for not liking scary things! That’s probably a good thing! Hey, how about we think of a way you can make the Haunted House even scarier.”
Leah smiled mischievously. “I know! We could run out and say how we just barely escaped being eaten by a vampire!”
“As long as you don’t say there’s a mummy in here too,” Jody said, patting her Dad’s shoulders. “That’s a surprise.”
“And no fair giving away any other Haunted House secrets either,” Sheena said, smiling.
As they stood at the doorway behind the blanket preparing for their performance, Jody put her teeth back in and turned out the light.
“Whenever you’re ready,” she said in her vampire voice.
“I was scared, too,” Leah whispered in her sister’s ear.
“I promise not to tell,” Sheena whispered back. They both smiled.
“One, two, three, go!”
the end.
Question Time
1. What did the Franks have at their house for Halloween last year?
2. What is Sheena dressed up as for Halloween?
3. What did the Franks use for eyes? What about brains?
