“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.
The spider vanished.
“I did it!” Jenny exclaimed. Rufus leaped down from the top of the cupboard and climbed onto her shoulder, purring with pleasure. They both glared at the ghost witch, who looked very cross.
“I can see you’re going to be a spoilsport like my granddaughter—your Miss Nagle,” the witch said disgustedly. “And just when everything was going so well!”
“What do you think?” Jenny asked eagerly. “Do you like my great idea now?”
The ghost witch paced up and down the hall. She balanced her wand in the middle of the floor and marched three times around it. She sang something to herself that sounded like “Yankee Doodle Dandy” backward.
“Where are all these people who want to be frightened?” she demanded finally. “It’s certainly not much fun doing tricks for a naughty girl and a nasty cat who jump on some of my best work!”
CHAPTER TEN
This Is Where I Belong
Jenny told the ghost witch about Mr. Barkin’s house. “It’s a big old place sort of like this one,” she said. “On the other side of town. Mr. Barkin’s mother and father lived there a long time ago, but now it’s empty. It’ll make a great haunted house.”
The ghost witch scratched her ear with the tip of her wand. “Maybe it will and maybe it won’t,” she said sulkily. “You say people will pay money to be scared?”
“Oh, yes,” Jenny said. “And Mr. Barkin will give it all to the poor families in town to buy Christmas presents for their children. You’d be doing a good deed.”
“Don’t care about that,” the ghost witch snapped. “I don’t give two hoots and a whistle for good deeds.”
Jenny gulped and tried again. “If the haunted house is very scary, I’m sure Mr. Barkin will sell tickets again next year. And for every Halloween for years and years and years. You’ll be famous!”
The witch’s scowl slipped away. “You mean I’d be famous again,” she said smugly. “I told you before, a hundred years ago everyone in this town knew the witch of Willowby Lane.” The scowl came back. “And that’s who I am,” she said firmly. “I’m the witch of Willowby Lane. This house is my home—always has been. This is where I belong. Why should I—”
She stopped and cocked her head. Then Jenny heard the sound, too—the soft swish-swish of footsteps moving through leaves on the walk at the side of the house.
“Wait!” Jenny begged. “Please don’t go!” But it was no use. Still scowling, the ghost witch disappeared.
The porch door opened, and then the kitchen door. Jenny’s mother came in, her cheeks pink with cold. Rufus leaped down from Jenny’s shoulder and rubbed against Mrs. Warren’s ankles.
“I was beginning to get worried,” she explained, giving Jenny a hug. “It doesn’t take very long to feed Rufus. What in the world have you been doing?”
“Nothing.” Jenny was close to tears. Her mother couldn’t have come at a worse time. I almost did it, she thought. If I just could have talked to the witch for a few minutes more …
But crying wouldn’t help. All the way home Jenny went over what she had said to the ghost witch and what the witch had said to her. She loves scaring people. And she wants to be famous again. Maybe she’ll like my idea when she thinks about it, she comforted herself. But then she remembered the ghost witch’s final words: That’s who I am … the witch of Willowby Lane. This house is my home.… This is where I belong.… She sounded as if she were going to stay right where she was forever.
“Now that you’re getting used to the house, I think we should move very soon,” Jenny’s mother said when they were eating dinner that night. “Oh, Jenny, it’s going to be such fun! And just think how pleased Rufus will be to have us with him all the time.”
With spiders around every corner and an elephant in the living room! Jenny thought miserably. But she knew it was no use arguing anymore. Not when she’d offered to go to the house all by herself that afternoon. Not when her mother was so happy about moving.
The week dragged by. Jenny and Chris had lunch together in the school cafeteria every day, but they didn’t talk about Miss Nagle’s house or about Mr. Barkin’s Halloween surprise. Jenny had the feeling that if she even mentioned the ghost witch, Chris would run away from her and never come back.
“What are you going to wear to the Halloween party?” Chris asked Wednesday noon. “My mom’s shortening her old prom dress for me.”
Jenny shrugged. “I don’t know what I’ll wear. I haven’t thought about it.” She’d been too busy worrying about what the ghost witch would do.
“Well, you’d better decide pretty soon,” Chris warned. “The party is just three days away, you know.”
The next morning Jenny rode her bike to school. As soon as the last bell rang, she raced out of the building without waiting for Chris. With Halloween so close, she had to try to talk to the ghost witch once more. It would be her last chance.
“There goes Chicken Jenny!”
Jenny didn’t turn her head to see who was shouting at her. She knew. If being scared makes me a chicken, then I guess that’s what I am, she thought, pedaling faster. But at least I’m trying! Her heart pounded as she pictured what the ghost witch might do to frighten her this time.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Jenny Tries Again
The ghost witch did nothing at all.
Jenny let herself in and walked slowly through the house, with Rufus in her arms, switching on lights and peering into each room. She opened and closed closet doors, holding her breath. Every few steps, she whirled around, in case someone or something was creeping up behind her.
“Is anybody here?” Jenny hardly recognized her own quavery voice. “Have—have you decided what you’re going to do?”
There was no answer. The house was silent, except for the soft click-click of the furnace turning on and off.
When they reached the foot of the stairs, Rufus yawned and jumped to the floor. He’s bored! Jenny marveled. She wondered how it was possible to be bored, when there might be a monster around any corner. With dragging feet she climbed the stairs alone and tiptoed down the second-floor hall and back.
“I’d j-just like to know—” she began again, but the rest of the sentence trailed off into silence. The ghost witch wasn’t going to answer. She didn’t want to talk about Jenny’s great idea.
Back in the kitchen, Jenny filled Rufus’s bowls and stood watching the big cat eat. “It’s not fair,” she muttered unhappily. “I bet the ghost witch is off planning horrible tricks to play when we move in here. And there’s nothing I can do to stop her!”
Rufus meowed and kept on eating.
“I probably made her mad when I tried to get her to move,” Jenny said. “As far as she’s concerned, this is her house, not ours.” She remembered the ghost’s final words.… The witch of Willowby Lane … that’s who I am.
When Jenny got home, a half hour later, her mother was waiting for her.
“Have you decided what you’ll wear to the school Halloween party, Jenny?” she asked. “Time’s passing.”
Jenny shook her head. “It doesn’t matter,” she said unhappily. “Blue jeans and an old shirt will be okay.”
Her mother smiled and went into the bedroom. When she came back, she was carrying a large box.
“I found this in a trunk in Miss Nagle’s basement,” she said. “I think it’s just your size.” She opened the box and took out a long blue skirt and a jacket with puffed sleeves.
“Since we’re going to live in a Victorian house, why not dress like a Victorian lady?” she said cheerfully. “This outfit must have belonged to Miss Nagle’s grandmother.” She held the skirt to Jenny’s waist. “It’s perfect,” she said. “Miss Nagle’s grandmother must have been quite little.”
“I don’t think—” she began, but her mother wasn’t listening. She had lifted a little blue bonnet from the box and now she set it on her own head. “The ribbons tie under the chin like this,” she said, looking at herself in the mirror. “You’ll have the prettiest costume at the party, Jenny.”
Jenny slumped into her mother’s rocking chair. She had worried all day about what the ghost witch would decide to do. She had ridden her bicycle across town to Miss Nagle’s house and back. She had walked alone through the house, actually begging the ghost to come and talk to her. Now she was just too tired to argue about whether or not she would wear a witch’s dress to the Halloween party.
“It’s a nice costume, Mom,” she said, trying to sound pleased. “I guess I’m pretty lucky.”
“You certainly are!” her mother exclaimed. “Who knows what else we’ll find in that wonderful old house when we move in!”
That’s what I’m afraid of, thought Jenny. But she was thinking of spiders, not dresses. Moving into Miss Nagle’s house was sure to bring lots of surprises—all of them bad.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Halloween Night
“I wouldn’t want to wear a witch’s dress,” Chris said, when she and Jenny set out for the Halloween party Saturday evening. “But it’s really pretty, Jenny,” she added honestly. “I guess it doesn’t matter who wore it first. After the party we can go to my house and you can show it to my mom.”
Jenny pointed to a poster tacked to a tree. She read it out loud: “‘GOOSE BUMPS! SHAKES! SHIVERS! DON’T MISS THE HAUNTED HOUSE TONIGHT!’ Mr. Barkin’s going to be expecting us,” she said. “His signs are all over town.”
“I’m not going,” Chris said. She tripped on the hem of her prom dress and almost fell. “I told you.”
“He’ll feel bad if we don’t come.”
Chris pretended not to hear. “Look at the school,” she said, pointing down the block. There were lighted jack-o’-lanterns in every window on the first floor. “Come on, Jenny, we don’t want to be late.”
The Ghost Witch Page 3