Chapter 1: A FLASH OF WHITE
Chapter 2: BOO!
Chapter 3: THE GHOST TRAP
Chapter 4: A VISIT WITH MRS. SLASKI
Chapter 5: LOGAN’S LITTLE HELPER
Chapter 6: THE MAGIC LANTERN
Chapter 7: SUPPER WITH THE BRUNAS
Chapter 8: THE GHOST RETURNS
Chapter 9: LOST AND FOUND
'Lost in the Blizzard' Excerpt
About Grace Gilmore and Petra Brown
A FLASH OF WHITE
Logan Pryce knelt down on the bank of Juniper Creek and sifted through the carpet of stones. Big ones, little ones, bumpy ones, flat ones—there were so many to choose from!
“Logan, it’s still your turn,” his sister Tess reminded him. She hoisted up the hem of her flower-print dress as she waded barefoot through the cool water.
“My stone went four skips, and Tess’s stone went five,” Anthony Bruna said, who was Logan’s best friend.
“Then mine shall go six skips!” Logan announced.
He picked up a smooth gray stone the size of a silver dollar and pitched it into the creek. Splish! Splash! Splosh! It sank below the surface after three skips.
“Aw, that’s too bad,” Anthony said, patting Logan on the back. “Do you want to try again?”
“Nah. Let’s fish instead,” Logan suggested.
“I could run home and get us a couple of poles?” Anthony offered.
Tess frowned at the sky, which swirled with gold and purple clouds. “The sun’s starting to go down. Pa will be home soon for supper. Your pa, too, Anthony.”
“I guess we’d better head on home, then,” said Logan, peering around for his dog. “Wait, where’s Skeeter?”
“He’s probably chasing rabbits,” replied Tess. She cupped her hands over her mouth. “Skeeter!”
“Skeeter!” Logan shouted.
“Skeeter!” Anthony joined in.
Woof! Woof! Woof! They heard Skeeter’s bark coming from the forest next to the creek.
“Skeeter! Come on, boy!” Logan called out as loudly as he could.
Woof! Skeeter barked again. But still, he didn’t appear.
Logan sighed and marched into the forest to look for him. Tess and Anthony followed. Beech and sugar maple trees made a canopy over their heads and blocked out the sun. Deep shadows stretched across the dirt path and made it seem like night.
Logan wished he had a lamp to light the way. “Skeeter! Time to go home!”
Just then Skeeter burst out of a thicket of witch hazel shrubs. Burrs and leaves clung to his honey-colored coat.
“There you are, boy! Where have you been?” Logan asked.
Skeeter barked, spun around, and ran back into the shrubs.
“Skeeter! Wait!” Logan ordered.
“Maybe he found something,” said Tess.
“Maybe it’s treasure!” Anthony added.
The three children dashed after Skeeter. They came upon him sitting at the base of a maple tree, his tail whipping back and forth.
“What is it, boy?” asked Logan.
Skeeter pointed his nose to the sky. Logan followed his gaze.
A flash of white rippled through the highest branches of the tree. The leaves shook and shivered. Then everything was silent and still.
“D-did you both see that?” Logan stammered.
Tess crossed her arms over her chest and stepped back to get a better look. “What was it?”
“I think it was a ghost!” Anthony exclaimed.
BOO!
“Logan! Tess! You’re late!” Ma said as soon as they walked through the door. She, Pa, Drew, and Annie sat around the kitchen table helping themselves to beans, biscuits, and corn on the cob.
“Logan and Tess are in trouble; Logan and Tess are in trouble,” chanted Drew, who was eleven.
“Lolo and Tessie are not in trouble!” Annie cried out. At four, she was the youngest member of the Pryce family. Logan, who was eight, and Tess, who was nine, were right in the middle.
“No one’s in trouble. Let’s all sit down so we can enjoy the fine meal Ma made for us,” said Pa. Soda ash and limestone covered his overalls, and tired lines furrowed his brow. He worked at a glass factory in Sherman, which was a couple of hours away by horse and buggy.
Logan and Tess hung their straw hats on hooks and joined everyone at the table. They had already washed their hands at the pump outside. Skeeter hunkered down next to Logan’s chair and sniffed at the floor, searching for food.
“So where were you two, anyway?” Ma asked as she lit the kerosene lamp.
“We went over to Juniper Creek with Anthony,” Logan replied. He tore off a piece of biscuit and dangled it under the table. Skeeter gobbled it up immediately.
Annie’s face lit up. “Did you see any turtles? Or minnows? Or other critters?”
Logan snuck a quick glance at Tess. “Well, we did see something strange.”
“Shhh,” Tess said, elbowing him.
“What was it?” asked Drew.
“A ghost!” Logan blurted out.
Annie clutched her cloth doll. “Ghosts are just pretend. Aren’t they, Mrs. Wigglesworth?” she said.
“Annie’s right. There’s no such things as ghosts,” declared Ma.
“I read a ghost story the other day, and the ghost turned out to be a real person,” said Tess.
“I don’t know. Folks around here have mentioned seeing the ghost of Juniper Creek,” Drew piped up. “They say it’s been around for a hundred years and that it’s mighty scary. Was it scary, Logan?”
“No!” Logan practically yelled. Skeeter barked.
“Drew, you are frightening everyone. Why don’t we talk about something else? Dale, how was your day at work?” Ma asked, turning to Pa.
“It was good,” replied Pa. “Mr. Garrison still has me in charge of loading up the furnace with sand and limestone and so forth. But we talked about how I might be a glassblower someday.”
Ma smiled. “How wonderful!”
“You’ll be running the place soon, Pa!” Tess said proudly.
Drew bent his head to Logan’s. “Guess what?” he whispered.
“What?” Logan whispered back.
“Boo!” Drew shouted, raising his arms in the air. He roared with laughter.
“Andrew Henry Pryce!” Pa chided him.
Logan scowled at Drew and bit into his corn on the cob.
Surely, Drew was lying. There was no such thing as the ghost of Juniper Creek.
Was there?
THE GHOST TRAP
That night, Logan had a very scary dream. In the dream, he and Anthony were fishing in Juniper Creek when an odd noise startled them. They turned around and saw a white figure floating toward them from the forest. It was a ghost! The boys screamed and ran. The ghost chased after them, crying, “Boo!”
Logan woke up with a start and glanced wildly around the room. There were no ghosts, just Drew snoring in his bed. The first light of dawn slanted through the windows. A rooster crowed in the distance.
Wide awake, Logan got dressed and tiptoed down the stairs. As he hurried outside, Skeeter rose from his usual spot in front of the cast-iron stove and followed with a quiet pattering of paws. They crossed the yard and headed for the barn.
Inside the barn, the horses, Lightning and Buttercup, pricked their ears and made soft nickering sounds. The cows, Daisy Mae and Miss Moo, bobbed their heads. The animals were used to seeing Logan at this early hour, since it was when he did his morning chores.
“I’ll help you in a minute, ladies and gentlemen. I mean, gentleman,” Logan corrected himself. Skeeter was the only boy of the bunch.
Logan went over to his Fix-It Shop and settled in. The shop to
ok up a stall in the corner of the barn. It was where he mended old things and invented new things.
His scary dream had given him an idea. He would invent a trap to catch the ghost of Juniper Creek. He wasn’t sure the ghost really existed. Maybe Drew had made up the whole thing. But it couldn’t hurt to build it, just in case.
Logan sifted through a crate of random objects. A broken pinwheel. An empty inkwell. Barrel staves. A piece of rope. Doorknobs. A pencil box.
A pencil box might be just the thing, he thought.
He picked it up and placed it on his worktable to study it. He measured it with his folding rule. Was it big enough to trap a ghost? How would he lure the ghost into it? And once the ghost was inside, how would he keep the lid closed?
He plucked several barrel staves out of the crate and built a teepee. The wooden strips were sturdy and could come in handy, maybe to rig the trap?
Buttercup gave a sudden snort. Logan glanced up, startled. His teepee collapsed, and the barrel staves tumbled to the ground.
“What’s wrong, girl?” he called out to the mare.
Buttercup’s eyes were fixed intently on something on the ceiling. She stamped her feet and flared her nostrils. Lightning did the same. Skeeter barked.
Goose bumps prickled on Logan’s arms as he slowly looked up.
There was nothing there—not even a bird or a mouse.
The barn doors creaked open. Logan gave a surprised yell.
“Logan, it’s just me!” Tess said, rushing up to him. She wore her school clothes, and her brown hair hung in neat braids. “What’s wrong? Why did you scream?”
“N-no reason. What are you doing here?” Logan asked in a shaky voice.
“I finished up my chores, so I thought I’d help you with yours,” Tess replied.
“Oh. Thanks.”
They got busy brushing the horses. As they worked, Logan wondered: What had spooked the animals so? Was it the ghost?
A VISIT WITH MRS. SLASKI
On their way to school, Logan and Tess had to stop by their neighbor Mrs. Slaski’s house. Drew went on ahead because it was his turn to bring in a pail of milk for the class to share. The school was a mile away, and the walk took a good twenty minutes on dirt roads. Logan could hear the milk slosh back and forth as Drew left.
Mrs. Slaski’s house was tucked away on a hill. Her garden was a rainbow of zinnias, black-eyed Susans, and other late-summer flowers. Butterflies flitted around.
“So why, again, do we need to see Mrs. Slaski?” Logan asked Tess as they knocked on her door.
Tess held up a parcel wrapped in brown paper. “Because Ma wants us to drop off this package. It’s a dress she mended for Mrs. Slaski.”
“Oh!”
Just recently, Ma had started doing some sewing for extra money. After Pa stopped farming their land, he and Ma had to take on small jobs here and there to make ends meet. Now that Pa was working at the glass factory from Monday through Saturday, things were getting gradually better. Last week, Ma had even bought new socks for the whole family at the general store.
The Pryces weren’t the only ones to give up on their farms. Many farmers in Maple Ridge had let their fields go fallow so they could work in a big-city factory like Pa. It was the only way for them to make enough money to provide for their families.
Logan and Tess heard footsteps inside the house. The door opened, and then Mrs. Slaski smiled down at them.
“Why, hello there, children! Your mother told me you’d be dropping by. Come in! Come in!” she said, wiping her hands on her apron.
“We have to be at school by eight o’clock sharp,” said Tess.
“Well, that’s just enough time for you both to have a slice of gingerbread. Today is my baking day.”
“Thanks!” Logan couldn’t resist gingerbread.
“Yes, thank you,” Tess added politely.
Inside, Mrs. Slaski brought them thick pieces of warm gingerbread on dainty china plates. Logan and Tess set their lunch pails and schoolbooks on the floor and dug in eagerly.
Mrs. Slaski unwrapped the parcel and held up a pretty blue dress. “Your mother did fine work! The new hem is as straight as a pin.”
“Ma’s been teaching me how to sew,” Tess told her.
“My mother taught me how to sew too. Of course, that was a very long time ago, and my eyes aren’t what they used to be,” Mrs. Slaski said.
A very long time ago. Logan recalled Drew saying that the ghost of Juniper Creek had been around for a hundred years. Logan counted on his fingers and guessed that Mrs. Slaski was probably that old too. She might know something.
“Mrs. Slaski? Did you ever hear about . . . when you were little, do you remember seeing a . . .” Logan took a deep breath. “Ghost?”
Tess coughed.
“You mean the ghost of Juniper Creek?” said Mrs. Slaski. “My friend Trudy and I used to play at the creek when we were girls. We saw something there, once. She said it was the ghost. But I think it was just an optical illusion.”
“An optical what?” Logan asked, confused.
“An optical illusion is when you think you see something, but it’s just your eyes playing tricks on you,” Tess explained smartly.
Soon, it was time to leave for school. “Is Snowball here? Can I pet her?” Logan asked, remembering Mrs. Slaski’s pet cat.
Mrs. Slaski sighed. “Snowball ran away.”
“Oh no!” Tess cried out.
“She’s been gone since last Tuesday. I fear she’s never coming back,” Mrs. Slaski said, dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief.
Logan thought about the time when Skeeter ran away for a whole day. Logan had holed up in his Fix-It Shop and put together a dog trap out of a coffee crate and a couple of beef bones. He had found Skeeter that night, sniffing around the crate.
Maybe he could build a trap for Snowball, too? Now all he had to do was build two traps: a cat trap and a ghost trap!
LOGAN’S LITTLE HELPER
After school, Logan hunkered down on an old tree stump just outside the barn. In front of him were different objects for making his two traps.
He had found a fruit crate to use for the cat trap. He had also found a couple of blue jay feathers to put inside it, since cats liked birds. The feathers might attract Snowball and lure her inside the trap.
For the ghost trap, Logan had decided that the pencil box was too small and instead chose an old toy chest. The problem was what to put inside it. If feathers attracted cats, what attracted ghosts? A candle? A phonograph that played spooky music? He really didn’t know much about ghosts.
“What are you doing, Lolo?” Annie skipped toward him with a pail full of wildflowers. She wore a hand-me-down dress from Tess that was several sizes too big for her. A wreath of daisies circled her head.
“Projects,” Logan replied with a shrug.
“But why aren’t you in your Fix-It Shop, like always?” asked Annie.
“Um . . .” Logan didn’t want to admit that he was too scared to be alone in the barn. Something had frightened the animals earlier. “I felt like making my projects outside,” he fibbed.
“What are you making?”
Logan patted the fruit crate. “Well, this is going to be a trap for Mrs. Slaski’s cat, Snowball. She ran away. I’m putting things inside it that cats like. Bird feathers, maybe a tin of sardines.” He wasn’t so sure about the sardines. Ma wasn’t likely to give up an expensive food item just to catch a cat.
“What about catnip?” Annie suggested.
“Catnip?”
Annie set her pail on the ground and skipped toward the henhouse. She returned a moment later with a fistful of green leaves.
“Pa said it grows wild all over our farm. Kitties love it!” she explained.
Logan took the leaves from her and stuffed them in the crate. “Thanks!”
Annie pointed to the toy chest. “Is that a kitty trap too?”
Logan was about to explain that the chest was going to be a ghost trap.
But he didn’t want to frighten his little sister. “Nah. I’m not sure what I’ll do with it yet.”
“Maybe you could make a bed for Mrs. Wigglesworth!”
“Maybe.”
Logan continued working. Annie plopped down on the tree trunk next to him and watched in silence.
After a while, Skeeter wandered over and lay down in a warm patch of sunlight. Annie wove a wreath of wildflowers and perched it on his head. The sight made Logan laugh so hard that he almost forgot about the ghost of Juniper Creek and Mrs. Slaski’s missing cat.
THE MAGIC LANTERN
On Saturday morning, Logan and Drew walked over to Mayberry’s General Store on Main Street. Logan carried a dozen jars of Ma’s homemade jam. The jars clinked against one another in the basket, and Logan reminded himself not to drop them. Drew carried a crock of butter that Tess had churned before breakfast.
The general store was one of Logan’s favorite places in Maple Ridge. There, Mr. and Mrs. Mayberry sold groceries, clothing, books, tools, and just about everything else. It also served as a post office and had the only telephone in town. People liked to sit in the rocking chairs and catch up on events.
Mrs. Mayberry stood behind the counter measuring a length of silk ribbon. She waved when she saw the boys. “Why, hello there! Did your ma send you over with some things to trade?” she asked cheerfully.
“Butter and jam. There are two kinds of jam, peach and blueberry. Ma asked if she could have some salt, maple syrup, lamp oil, and vinegar, in exchange,” Drew rattled off.
The Ghost of Juniper Creek Page 1