The Ghost of Juniper Creek

by Grace Gilmore

  “Coming right up. I just have to get the kerosene in the back room,” Mrs. Mayberry replied.

  She bustled away. While they waited, Drew played with a toy cannon. Logan admired the jars of colorful penny candies.

  There was a strange object next to the candies. It was a big brass box with tubes and knobs sticking out of it. A handwritten sign read: $5.

  What could it be? wondered Logan.

  Mrs. Mayberry returned with a can of kerosene. “Here’s your lamp oil. Oh, I see you’ve discovered the magic lantern,” she said to Logan.

  Logan quickly perked up. “Magic lantern?”

  Mrs. Mayberry nodded. “This one belonged to a magician named Alonzo the Great. He used it for his ghost shows.”

  “What are ghost shows?” asked Drew.

  “They have them in big city theaters and dime museums. Magicians like Alonzo the Great use the magic lanterns to create optical illusions of ghosts,” Mrs. Mayberry explained.

  Optical illusions. Logan remembered that an optical illusion was when you thought you saw something, but it was just your eyes playing a trick on you.

  “So they’re not real? The ghosts in these ghost shows?” said Logan.

  Mrs. Mayberry chuckled and shook her head. “No, not at all.”

  Logan touched the magic lantern and wondered how it worked. It was the exact opposite of his ghost trap. It made ghosts appear instead of disappear!

  “Logan’s a big fraidy-cat about ghosts,” Drew told Mrs. Mayberry with a wink.

  “I am not!” protested Logan.

  “In fact, he saw a ghost at the creek the other day. He wouldn’t stop yammering about it!” Drew teased.

  “The ghost of Juniper Creek? I remember my mother mentioning it when I was little,” Mrs. Mayberry said.

  Logan blinked. “You mean . . . your ma saw it?”

  “No, but she knew other folks who did,” Mrs. Mayberry replied with a faraway look. She smiled and shook her head. “Enough about ghosts! Let me get those other items for your ma. I’ll throw in some penny candies for you boys and your sisters, too!”

  “Thanks, Mrs. Mayberry!” Dale grinned.

  Logan nodded his thanks. But his mind was racing with thoughts about the ghost of Juniper Creek. It no longer seemed like one of Drew’s tall tales. Other people had seen it.

  Logan needed to finish his ghost trap as soon as possible!

  SUPPER WITH THE BRUNAS

  That night, the entire Pryce family was invited to the Brunas’ house for supper.

  There were ten of them in all: Pa, Ma, Drew, Tess, Logan, Annie, Mr. Bruna, Mrs. Bruna, Anthony, and Anthony’s little sister, Isabella, who was Annie’s age. They crowded around several small tables that had been pushed together and covered with lace cloth.

  Mrs. Bruna passed around large platters. “Please, eat! Mangia! I made peas and eggs, fried fish, and vegetables from the garden.”

  “This all looks delicious, Elena. It was very kind of you to cook for us,” said Ma.

  Everyone began eating. Ma asked Mrs. Bruna about the food she and Mr. Bruna had grown up with in Italy. Tess and Drew had a contest to see who could come up with the longest word. Annie and Isabella made up adventures for their dolls. Pa and Mr. Bruna joked about something they had seen that morning in Sherman. Mr. Bruna worked at the steel mill, which was near Pa’s glass factory, and they often rode to and from work together.

  Logan scooted his chair closer to Anthony’s. “I have a mission for us for later,” he whispered.

  “What kind of mission?” Anthony asked curiously.

  “I built a special trap so we can catch the ghost of Juniper Creek,” replied Logan. “I brought it with me. It’s in that gunnysack over there. We need to go over to the creek and set it up.”

  “Gosh, that sounds dangerous!”

  “It might be. But we have to be brave. Are you with me?”

  Anthony gulped and nodded. “I am with you.”

  “What are you little kids talking about?” Drew asked, leaning over.

  “Little kids?” gasped Logan.

  “We are about to do something very brave and dangerous,” Anthony said huffily.

  Drew raised his eyebrows. “Oh? What are you up to?”

  Logan told Drew about the mission. When he was finished, Drew whistled. “That does sound dangerous. But if you succeed, you’ll be heroes in this town!”

  Heroes? Logan sat up very straight. He liked the sound of that!

  THE GHOST RETURNS

  After supper, Logan and Anthony got permission from their parents to play outside.

  “Stay close to the house and take one of the lamps with you. It’s getting dark!” Mrs. Bruna called after them.

  “Yes, Mama,” Anthony promised.

  The boys hurried out the back door and made their way toward Juniper Creek. The creek ran along the south side of the Brunas’ property, and the forest was just beyond. Anthony had brought along a kerosene lamp. Logan clutched the gunnysack that held his ghost trap. He had finished working on it that afternoon.

  Logan had set aside his other trap, which was the trap for catching Mrs. Slaski’s missing cat. He would finish it tomorrow and put it somewhere in her yard. He had even saved a piece of fish from tonight’s meal to place inside the trap. It was in the pocket of his dungarees, wrapped in a handkerchief.

  The moon shone down and helped to light their way as they neared the creek. The air was cool and smelled like firewood and apples. Crickets hummed. Bullfrogs twanged.

  Somewhere, a coyote howled. It was a long, shrill sound and made Logan shudder. “Maybe we should go back,” he said nervously.

  “But you said we had to be brave,” Anthony reminded him.

  “I guess so. All right. Let us march on!” Logan lifted his gunnysack like a flag.

  They soon reached the creek. They walked along the bank until they were at the edge of the forest.

  It was pitch black in the stand of beech and sugar maples. Anthony stopped and swung his lamp in a wide arc. Logan squinted. He could see spidery shrubs and branches like spindly arms—but nothing else.

  “Where do you want to set up the trap?” Anthony asked.

  “Maybe under that tree,” Logan replied, pointing. “I think we’re close to the spot where we saw the . . . you know.”

  He and Anthony got busy. Logan placed the ghost trap on the mossy ground and propped open the lid. Inside was a sprig of catnip that Annie must have put there earlier. If catnip could lure cats, then maybe it could lure ghosts, too? It was a crazy thought, but he had run out of ideas—and time.

  Two long pieces of string came from the lid. “You take one piece, and I’ll take the other,” Logan told Anthony. “As soon as the ghost is in the trap, we pull! That will slam the lid shut.”

  “O-okay.”

  Holding on to their strings, the boys hid behind some shrubs and waited. And waited. And waited.

  “Maybe you were right. Maybe we should go back,” Anthony whispered.

  Logan frowned. “Wait! I think I hear something.”

  A sudden breeze shook the leaves on the trees. The flame of the lamp flickered.

  A cloud passed across the moon. From high up in the branches, two golden eyes blinked down at Logan and Anthony.

  It was the ghost!

  LOST AND FOUND

  Anthony jabbed Logan with his elbow. “Logan! Pssst! Is that . . .?”

  “I—I think so!” said Logan, terrified.

  A moan rose in the air. The boys shrieked and jumped to their feet.

  A figure leapt out at them from behind the tree, laughing. It wasn’t a ghost at all. It was Drew!

  “That is not funny!” Logan said hotly.

  “Not funny at all!” Anthony agreed.

  Drew doubled over with laughter. “Relax! There’s no such thing as the ghost of Juniper Creek. That’s just a story that was made up by a bunch of fraidy-cats!”

  Just then something else rustled in the darkness.

 
; Drew stopped laughing. “What . . . was . . . that?” he whispered.

  The shrubs stirred and parted, revealing a flash of white. It was the same flash of white that Logan and Anthony had seen the other day.

  Drew screamed and took off running.

  The flash of white stepped out of the shrubs. Its golden eyes shone in the moonlight.

  It opened its mouth . . . and meowed.

  “Snowball!” Logan cried out, relieved.

  Mrs. Slaski’s cat pranced over to Logan and pawed at his dungarees. After a moment, he realized that she could smell the piece of fish in his pocket.

  Chuckling, Logan pulled it out and gave it to Snowball. She gobbled it up.

  “Gosh. We were scared of a cat?” said Anthony, shaking his head.

  Snowball sniffed at the ghost trap. She stuck in her paw and teased out the piece of catnip.

  Logan couldn’t believe his eyes. Snowball was the ghost of Juniper Creek. He wouldn’t need to finish his cat trap after all.

  “She’s been missing since last Tuesday. Mrs. Slaski will be mighty glad to see her,” he told Anthony.

  “That’s for sure. Say, where’s your brother?” Anthony said, peering around.

  “I think he went back to your house. He turned out to be the fraidiest-cat of all!”

  The two boys grinned at each other as they picked up Snowball and the ghost trap and started for home.

  Check out the next

  TALES FROM MAPLE RIDGE

  adventure!

  * * *

  HERE’S A SNEAK PEEK!

  * * *

  Logan Pryce paused on the wooded path and picked up a spindly branch.

  Logan’s brother, Drew, turned around. “What do you need a stick for, anyway?”

  “It’s for my new fix-it project,” replied Logan.

  “What are you fixing up?”

  “It’s a highly guarded secret. All shall be revealed soon!”

  Drew rolled his eyes. Being a big brother, he rolled his eyes a lot.

  Logan’s new fix-it project was a sled! But he didn’t want Drew to know, because it was going to be a surprise for the whole family. Logan had found the broken old sled in the barn, and he had been tinkering with it in his Fix-It Shop. He needed some parts, like a few sturdy branches and a length of strong rope.

  They continued down the path. A chill had settled in the air. Logan could feel it even through his wool cap, peacoat, and knickers.

  Drew paused in front of a huge fallen tree. “This is a rock elm. These make for mighty good firewood. I wish I’d brought an ax,” said Drew. Keeping the wood box full was one of his regular chores.

  Logan glanced over his shoulder. Behind them on the path, he could see the sun setting in the sky. “We should go,” he told Drew.

  Drew crouched down to inspect the fallen tree. “What are you afraid of, Logan? Getting lost in the dark, scary forest?” he joked.

  GRACE GILMORE is a city girl, but she has always been fascinated by farm life. Growing up, she spent many summers riding horses, chasing chickens, and swimming in the creek at her great-grandparents’ farm in the hollows of Kentucky. When she isn’t writing books, she can be found playing the piano, baking cookies, or wrangling various pets. Grace lives with her family in Ithaca, New York.

  PETRA BROWN lives at the foot of Mount Snowdon near the little Ffestiniog railway, in the beautiful country of North Wales, United Kingdom. When she was a child, she used to love to look through books and draw the pictures herself. Now she finds that illustrating children’s books is immensely satisfying. You can visit her at PetraB.co.uk.

  TalesfromMapleRidge.com

  Visit us at

  KIDS.SimonandSchuster.com

  authors.simonandschuster.com/Grace-Gilmore

  authors.simonandschuster.com/Petra-Brown

  LITTLE SIMON

  Simon & Schuster

  New York

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

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  This Little Simon edition August 2015

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  Copyright © 2015 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

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  Designed by Chani Yammer

  Jacket design by Chani Yammer & Angela Navarra

  Jacket illustrations by Petra Brown

  © 2015 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  The illustration of this book were rendered in pen and ink.

  The text of this book was set in Caecilia.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Gilmore, Grace.

  The ghost of Juniper Creek / by Grace Gilmore; illustrated by Petra Brown. — First Little Simon paperback edition.

  pages cm. — (Tales from Maple Ridge; [4])

  Summary: Logan and his friend, Anthony, spy something white high in the trees near the water, and after a neighbor confirms what Logan’s older brother, Drew, told them about the Ghost of Juniper Creek, they summon all of their courage to set a trap

  ISBN 978-1-4814-3009-8 (pbk: alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4814-3010-4 (hc: alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4814-3011-1 (eBook) [1. Ghosts—Fiction. 2. Family life—Fiction. 3. Farm life—Fiction.] I. Brown, Petra, illustrator.

  II. Title.

  PZ7.G4372Gho 2015

  [Fic]—dc23

  2014036050