“Werewolves,” I said. “Inside. You see.”
I grasped Mr. Parker’s hand and pulled him into the room. I pointed at the window. “There!”
Mr. Parker exchanged a glance with his wife. She shrugged her shoulders and nodded. I could tell neither of them believed me.
Mr. Parker walked over to the window in two long strides. Feeling safer with him there, I followed.
“Sorry, Gruff, but I don’t see a thing,” said Mr. Parker as he peered into the night. “Seems pretty quiet out there.”
The werewolves had disappeared.
“Perhaps you had a nightmare,” said Mrs. Parker in her soft friendly voice. “It’s your first night in a strange place. You’ve never been in a house before, have you, Gruff?”
I shook my head, “No.” I had, once long ago before I was left with the wolves, but it was too complicated to explain and I didn’t really remember what it was like.
“Well then,” she said, satisfied. “It’s only natural you’ll have scary dreams the first few days.”
There wasn’t any way I could convince them. But at least the werewolves were gone.
Then I saw a stealthy movement out of the corner of my eye. A big shadow, lurking behind the bushes near the street.
I grabbed Mr. Parker’s sleeve and pointed. He peered intently into the darkness. Then his face relaxed and he smiled. “That’s Mr. Ford, our next-door neighbor,” he said, ruffling my hair. “He’s out walking his dog, Misty. And Misty is hardly a monster.”
Misty the dog was very small and fluffy and waddled when it walked. Mr. Ford was about a hundred years old. I felt embarrassed. Now I’d ruined any chance I had of ever convincing them that the werewolves were real!
Mr. Parker drew himself up and turned away from the window to look at his family. “I think I know what the problem is,” he said confidently. “Gruff has lived with wolves for so long he doesn’t know the difference between animals and people. Every shadow makes him jump.”
“He’ll get used to us,” said Kim. “He already knows lots of things he didn’t know when the hunters brought him out of the woods this morning. He just needs a little time.”
Mr. Parker shook his head gravely. “No, I think the best way for Gruff to learn about humans and become a normal human boy is to plunge right in.”
Kim and Paul looked at each other and at me, mystified.
“We’re all new here in Fox Hollow,” said Mr. Parker, speaking slowly so I would understand. “Wolfe Industries, a fine company, built the town and moved all the people here only two weeks ago. So you see, Gruff, none of us knows anyone else very well. The best thing for you would be to join in with all the other kids right away.”
Then Mr. Parker spoke a word that sent chills up my spine. “School!” he said in a booming voice. “You will go to school as soon as we can arrange it.”
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About the Authors
Rodman Philbrick grew up on the coast of New Hampshire and has been writing since the age of sixteen. For a number of years he published mystery and suspense fiction for adults. Brothers & Sinners won the Shamus Award in 1994, and two of his other detective novels were nominees. In 1993 his debut young adult novel, Freak the Mighty, won numerous honors, and in 1998 was made into the feature film The Mighty, starring Sharon Stone and James Gandolfini. Freak the Mighty has become a standard reading selection in thousands of classrooms worldwide, and there are more than three million copies in print. In 2010 Philbrick won a Newbery Honor for The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg.
Lynn Harnett, who was married to Rodman Philbrick, passed away in 2012. She was a talented journalist, editor, and book reviewer, and she had a real knack for concocting scary stories that make the reader want to laugh, shriek with fear, and then turn the page to find out what happens next.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1966 by Rodman Philbrick and Lynn Harnett
Cover design by Connie Gabbert
ISBN: 978-1-4976-8538-3
This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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New York, NY 10014
www.openroadmedia.com
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Night Creature Page 9