21 - Go Eat Worms! (3 page)

A car rolled toward them rapidly, the glare of its white headlights forcing them to shield their eyes. Danny’s bike rolled
up onto the curb, and he nearly toppled over. “Why’d they have their brights
on?” he griped.

“Beats me,” Todd replied.

They turned sharply onto Glen Cove. It was a wide street of old houses set
back on broad, sloping lawns. The houses were set far apart, separated by dark
wooded areas.

“No streetlights,” Danny commented. “You’d think rich people could afford
streetlights.”

“Maybe they like it dark,” Todd replied thoughtfully. “You know. It helps
keep people away.”

“It’s kind of creepy here,” Danny said softly, leaning over his handlebars.

“Don’t be a wimp. Look for 100,” Todd said sharply. “That’s Patrick’s
address.”

“Wow. Check out that house!” Danny said, slowing down and pointing. “It looks
like a castle!”

“I think 100 must be on the next block,” Todd called, eagerly pedaling ahead.

“What are we going to say to Patrick?” Danny asked, breathing hard,
struggling to catch up.

“I’m just going to ask him if we can see his worm project,” Todd replied, his
eyes searching the darkness for address signs. “Maybe I’ll act like I want to
help him out. You know. Give him a few tips on how to take care of the worms.”

“Nice guy,” Danny teased. He chuckled to himself. “What if Patrick says no?”

Todd didn’t reply. He hadn’t thought of that.

He squeezed the hand brake. “Look.” He pointed to an enormous house behind a
tall iron fence. “That’s his house.”

Danny’s brakes squealed as he brought his bike to a stop. He lowered his feet
to the wet pavement. “Wow.”

The house rose up over the broad, tree-filled lawn, black against the purple
night sky. It was completely dark. Not a light on anywhere.

“No one home,” Danny said, whispering.

“Good,” Todd replied. “This is even better. Maybe we can look down in the
basement window or find the window to Patrick’s room, and see what he’s working
on.”

“Maybe,” Danny replied reluctantly.

Todd glanced around. Patrick’s house was the only one on the block. And it
was surrounded by woods.

Both boys climbed off their bikes and started to walk them to the driveway.

“I can’t believe Patrick would live in such a wreck of a place,” Todd said,
pulling off his cap and scratching his hair. “I mean, this house is a real
dump.”

“Maybe his parents are weird or something,” Danny suggested as they parked
their bikes.

“Maybe,” Todd replied thoughtfully.

“Sometimes rich people get a little weird,” Danny said, climbing on to the
porch and ringing the doorbell.

“How would
you
know?” Todd said, snickering. He pulled his cap back
down over his dark hair and rang the bell again. “No answer. Let’s check out the
back,” he said, hopping off the porch.

“What for?” Danny demanded.

“Let’s just look in the windows,” Todd urged, moving along to the side of the
house. “Let’s see if we can see anything at all.”

As they turned the corner, it grew even darker. The pale sliver of moonlight
was reflected in one of the upstairs windows. The only light.

“This is dumb,” Danny complained. “It’s too dark to see anything inside the
house. And, besides—”

He stopped.

“
Now
what’s wrong?” Todd demanded impatiently.

“Didn’t you hear it? I heard it again,” Danny said. “Like a growl. Some kind
of animal growl.”

Todd didn’t hear the growl.

But he saw something enormous running toward them.

He saw the evil red glow of its eyes—unblinking eyes trained on him.

And he knew it was too late to escape.

“Run!” Danny screamed.

But Todd couldn’t move.

As the enormous red-eyed monster bounded toward them, Todd pressed his back
against a side door.

He nearly fell as the door swung in.

The creature uttered an ugly, threatening growl. Its huge paws thundered over
the ground.

“Inside!” Todd screamed. “Danny—get in the house!”

His heart pounding as loudly as the monster’s paws, Todd scrambled into the
dark house. Danny lurched in behind him, uttering low gasps.

Todd slammed the door shut as the creature attacked.

Its paws struck the windowpane in the door, making the entire door rattle.

“It’s a dog!” Todd cried in a choked whisper. “A huge, angry dog!”

The dog let out another ferocious growl and leaped at the door. Its paws
scraped over the window.

“A dog?” Danny exclaimed shrilly. “I thought it was a
gorilla
!”

The two boys pressed their shoulders against the door, holding it shut. They
peered out warily at the big creature.

The dog had sat back on its haunches. It stared in at them, its red eyes
glowing. It was panting loudly, its enormous tongue hanging out of its mouth.

“Someone should put that guy on a diet!” Danny exclaimed.

“We could ride that dog to school!” Todd added.

“How do we get out of here?” Danny asked, turning away from the dog. His eyes
searched the dark room.

“He’ll go away,” Todd said. He swallowed hard. “Probably.”

“This place is a dump,” Danny said, stepping into the room.

Todd turned to follow Danny. They were in the kitchen, he saw. Pale moonlight
floated in through the window. Even in this dim light, Todd could see that
something was terribly wrong.

The kitchen counters were bare and covered in dust. There were no appliances—no toaster, no microwave, no refrigerator. There were no dishes or pots and pans in view. Glancing down, Todd saw that the sink was caked
with thick dirt.

“Weird,” Danny muttered.

The two boys made their way through a short hallway to the dining room.

“Where’s the furniture?” Danny asked, gazing in all directions.

The room was empty.

“Maybe they’re redecorating or something,” Todd guessed.

“This doesn’t make sense. Patrick’s family is rich,” Danny said, shaking his
head. “You know how neat Patrick is. He gets upset if his shirt comes untucked.”

“I don’t get it,” Todd replied. “Where do you think he has his worm project?”

The two boys made their way toward the living room. Their sneakers scraped
over the dusty, bare floor.

“Something is weird here,” Danny murmured. “Something is very weird.”

They both gasped as they stepped into the living room—and saw the figure
hunched at the window.

Saw the decayed green flesh of his face.

Saw the bones of his jaw, open in a hideous toothless grin.

Saw his evil, sunken eyes staring across the room at them.

The heavy silence was broken by the shrill screams of the two boys.

“Go! Go!” Todd cried. He shoved Danny toward the door and stumbled along
behind him, keeping his hands on Danny’s shoulders.

“Go! Go! Go!”

Through the bare dining room. Across the dust-covered kitchen.

“Go! Go!”

Todd grabbed the doorknob, pulled open the door, and they both burst out of
the house.

Had the dog left?

Yes!

“Let’s
move!”
Todd cried.

But Danny needed no encouragement. He was already halfway down the driveway,
his chubby legs pumping hard, his hands stretched out in front of him as if
trying to
pull
himself to safety.

Out the gate. Onto their bikes.

They pedaled furiously. Faster. Faster. Until their legs ached and they could
barely breathe. And they never looked back.

Who was that hideous, decayed figure in Patrick’s house?

And why was the house so dusty, so totally bare?

Todd spent most of the night lying awake in his bed, thinking about it.

But the mystery wasn’t cleared up until the next morning.

Yawning sleepily, Todd pulled on the same clothes he had worn the day before.
Then he made his way down the hall to go to breakfast.

He stopped outside Regina’s bedroom door when he heard her laughing. At
first, he thought she was talking to herself.

But then he realized that Regina was on the phone.

So early?

He pressed his ear to the door and listened.

“Isn’t it a riot, Beth?” Regina was saying. “I sent them to the wrong
address.” Regina laughed again. Gleeful laughter.

Todd suddenly snapped wide awake. He pressed his ear tighter against the
bedroom door.

“Todd was so desperate, I couldn’t resist,” Regina was saying. “Know where I
sent them?”

There was a short pause. Todd realized he was holding his breath. He let it
out silently and took another one, listening hard.

“I sent them to the old Fosgate mansion,” Regina told Beth. She laughed.
“Yeah. Right. That old deserted mansion where those kids had that Halloween
party. Yeah. You know. They left that dummy with the weird mask in the window.”

Another pause.

Todd gritted his teeth as he listened to his sister’s triumphant laughter. He
could feel every muscle in his body tightening in anger.

“I don’t know, Beth. I haven’t talked to him yet,” Regina was saying. “I
heard Todd come in last night. He ran straight to his room and shut the door. He
was probably too scared to talk!”

More laughter.

Balling and unballing his fists, Todd stepped away from his sister’s door. He
stopped at the stairs, feeling his face grow red-hot. He was thinking hard.

So Reggie played a little joke on Danny and me, he thought bitterly. So she
gave me the wrong address and sent us to that old haunted house.

Ha-ha. Good joke.

Todd felt so angry, he wanted to scream.

Now Regina will be laughing at me about this forever, he realized. She will
make fun of me for the rest of my life.

Her bedroom door opened, and Regina stepped out into the hall. She was
pulling her brown hair back into a ponytail.

She stopped when she saw Todd at the top of the stairs. “So, how did it go
last night?” she asked him, grinning.

“Fine,” he replied casually. He gave her an innocent, wide-eyed stare.

Her grin faded. “Did you go to Patrick’s house? Did you talk to him about his
worm project?” she demanded, staring back at him, studying his face.

Todd shook his head. “No. Danny and I decided to skip it. We just hung out at
Danny’s,” he lied.

Her dark eyes seemed to dim. She bit her lower lip. Todd could see how
disappointed she was.

He turned and made his way down the stairs, feeling a little better.

You want to play jokes, Reggie? he thought.

Okay. Fine.

But now it’s
my
turn. My turn to play a mean joke.

Todd smiled. He had already thought of a really good one.

Todd hoisted the cardboard carton in both hands. His worm house was packed
carefully inside. It was heavier than he thought.

“Where shall I put it?” he asked Mrs. Sanger, struggling to keep the heavy
carton from slipping out of his hands.

“What? I can’t hear you!” The science teacher held a clipboard in one hand.
She cupped her other hand around her mouth as a megaphone.

It was deafening in the gym as the kids all hurried to set up their science
projects in time for the expo. Excited voices competed with scraping chairs and
tables, the rattle of cartons being unpacked, and projects of all shapes and
sizes being assembled and set up.

“What a crowd!” Todd exclaimed.

“I can’t hear you!” Mrs. Sanger shouted. She pointed to a long table against
the wall. “I think your project goes there, Todd.”

Todd started to say something. But he was interrupted by the crash of
shattering glass and a girl’s loud scream.

“Was that the
acid
?” Mrs. Sanger shouted, her eyes going wide with
horror. “Was that the acid?” She pushed past Todd and went tearing across the
gym, holding her clipboard in front of her like a shield.

Todd watched a lot of kids gathering around the spot of the accident. Mrs.
Sanger burst into the circle, and everyone began talking at once.

Around the vast gym, others ignored the excitement and continued feverishly
setting up their projects.

The bleachers had been pulled down. Some parents and other kids from the
school were already seated, waiting to watch the expo and the judging of
projects.

Groaning, Todd started to make his way through the crowded gym carrying the
carton. He had to stop and chuckle when he caught a glimpse of Regina and Beth.

They had their enormous robin set up close to the bleachers. The head was the
right size now. They had managed to shave it down smoothly.

But some of the tail feathers had gotten mashed. And they were working
frantically to smooth them out.

What losers, Todd thought, grinning.

There’s no way they’re going to win the computer.

Turning away, he glimpsed Danny’s balloon solar system hanging on the back
wall. One of the balloons—the one closest to the sun—had already deflated.

Pitiful, Todd thought, shaking his head. That’s just pitiful.

He sighed. Poor Danny. I guess I should have let him share in my project.

Todd lowered the carton onto the table reserved for him.

“Ten minutes, everyone! Ten minutes!” Mrs. Sanger was shouting.

No problem, Todd thought.

He opened the carton and carefully lifted out the worm house. What a beauty!
he thought proudly.

It looked like a perfect little house. Todd had polished the wood frame until
it glowed. And he had cleaned the glass until it was spotless.

He set the worm house down carefully on the table and turned it so that the
glass side faced the audience in the bleachers. He gazed into it. He could see
the long, brown and purple worms crawling from room to room.

He had packed the dirt in carefully. Then he had dropped in more than twenty
worms before sealing it all up.