22 - Ghost Beach (3 page)

“Yeah. Maybe it wasn’t attacked by anything,” Terri said. I could see the
color returning to her face.

We sat silently over the skeleton for a minute, thinking about the dog.

A shrill animal howl made us both jump to our feet. The frightening sound
filled the forest, echoing through the trees.

We held our ears as the howling grew louder. “Wh-what is it? What’s making
that horrible cry?” Terri shrieked. I stared back at her. I didn’t know. I only
knew it was moving closer.

The howls stopped as suddenly as they started.

When I turned around to make sure we were safe, I saw them.

Sam, Nat, and Louisa were huddled behind a nearby tree. Laughing.

I glared at them. I realized instantly that they had been making the howls.
Who did they think they were?

It took them a long time to stop laughing. I couldn’t believe how much they
were enjoying their little joke.

I glanced at Terri. She was blushing. My face felt hot. I guess I was
blushing, too.

When they finally stopped laughing, I invited them over to see the skeleton.

Now it was
their
turn to be startled.

Sam’s eyes grew wide. Louisa let out a short cry. Nat, the little one,
grabbed on to his sister’s sleeve and started to whimper.

Terri dug into her jeans pockets for a tissue. “Don’t worry,” she told Nat.
She dabbed at his cheeks with her tissue. “It’s not a person skeleton. It’s only
a dog skeleton.”

Those words made Nat burst into tears.

Louisa put her arms around Nat’s trembling shoulders. “Shush,” she said.
“It’s all right.”

But Nat couldn’t calm himself down. “I know what happened to this dog,” he
sobbed. “A ghost killed it. Dogs can tell if someone’s a ghost. Dogs always bark
to warn about ghosts.”

“Nat,” Terri said softly, “there’s no such thing as ghosts. They’re pretend.”

Sam stepped forward, shaking his head. “You’re wrong,” he told Terri,
narrowing his eyes at her. “There are lots of skeletons in these woods. All
because of the ghost. He picks the bones clean and leaves them lying here.”

“Give me a break, Sam,” Terri muttered. “Are you trying to tell us that
there’s a ghost around here?”

Sam stared back, but didn’t reply.

“Well, are you?” Terri demanded.

Suddenly Sam’s expression changed. His eyes grew wide with terror. “There it
is!” he cried, pointing. “Right behind you!”

I let out a shriek and grabbed Terri’s arm.

But I knew immediately that I’d been fooled again. When was I going to stop
falling for Sam’s dumb jokes?

“You two are too easy to scare,” Sam said, grinning.

Terri put her hands on her hips and glared at Sam. “How about a truce, guys?
These jokes are getting pretty lame.”

All eyes were on Sam.

“Yeah. Okay. A truce,” he murmured. But he had a grin on his face. I couldn’t
tell if he meant it or not.

“Sam, tell Jerry and me more about the ghost,” Terri demanded. “Were you
serious about a ghost killing the dog, or was that one of your fabulous jokes?”

Sam kicked at a clump of dirt. “Maybe some other time,” he muttered.

“Some other time? Why not now?” I asked.

Louisa started to say something—but Sam tugged her away. “Let’s go,” he
said sharply. “Now.”

Terri’s expression changed to confusion. “But I thought—”

Sam stalked off through the trees, dragging Louisa with him. Nat hurried to
catch up to them.

“Bye,” Louisa called. “See you later.”

“Did you see that?” Terri cried. “They really do believe there’s a ghost in
these woods. They didn’t want to talk about it, so they left.”

I stared down at the animal skeleton, lying so clean and perfect on the
ground.

Picked clean.

Picked clean by a ghost.

The words rolled through my mind.

I stared hard at the jagged teeth in the pale skull. Then I turned away.

“Let’s go back to the cottage,” I murmured.

We found Brad and Agatha sitting in rocking chairs under a shady tree. Agatha
was slicing peaches into a large wooden bowl, and Brad watched her.

“Do you two like peach pie?” Agatha asked.

Terri and I replied that it was one of our favorites.

Agatha smiled. “We’ll have it tonight. I don’t know if your dad mentioned it, but peach pie is one of my specialties. So did
you find the Indian pipe?”

“Not exactly,” I replied. “We found a dog skeleton instead.”

Agatha began slicing more quickly, the knife blade slipping over her thumb as
the soft peach slices slid into the bowl. “Oh, my,” she muttered.

“What kind of an animal would go after a dog?” asked Terri. “Are there wolves
or coyotes around here?”

“Never seen any,” Brad answered quickly.

“Then how do you explain that skeleton?” I demanded. “It was perfectly
arranged, and the bones were picked clean.”

Agatha and Brad exchanged a worried glance. “Can’t say as I know,” said
Agatha.
Slice. Slice. Slice.
“Brad? Do you have any ideas?”

Brad rocked back and forth for a minute. “Nope.”

Very helpful, Brad, I thought.

“We also met three kids,” I said. I told them about Sam, Nat, and Louisa.
“They said they know you.”

“Yep,” Brad replied. “Neighbors.”

“They told us a ghost must have killed the dog.”

Agatha set down her paring knife and leaned her head back against the chair,
laughing softly to herself. “Is that what they said? Oh, my. Those kids were teasing you. They love to make up ghost stories. Especially that
oldest boy, Sam.”

“That’s what I thought,” Terri said, glancing at me.

Agatha nodded. “They’re nice kids. You should invite them to do something
with you some time. Maybe you can all go blueberry picking.”

Brad cleared his throat. His pale eyes studied me. “You’re too smart to fall
for ghost stories, aren’t you?”

“Yeah. I guess,” I replied uncertainly.

We spent the rest of the afternoon helping Brad weed the garden. Weeding
isn’t exactly my idea of a thrill. But after Brad showed us which were the good
plants and which weren’t, Terri and I had fun spearing the bad guys with the
special weeding tools he lent us.

We ate the peach pie for dessert that night, and it was delicious. Agatha and
Brad wanted to hear all about our school and our friends.

After dinner, Brad challenged us to another game of whist. This time I did
much better. Brad only had to wiggle his finger at me a couple of times.

Later, I had a tough time falling asleep. The window of my little room off
the kitchen had long, flimsy, white cotton curtains that allowed the light of the full moon to shine onto my face. It felt like staring into a
flashlight.

I tried covering my face with the pillow, but I couldn’t breathe. Then I
tried resting my arm over my eyes, but my arm quickly fell asleep.

I pulled the sheet up over my head. Better.

I closed my eyes. The crickets were making a real racket.

Then I heard something thump against the wall outside. Probably a tree
branch, I told myself.

Another thump. I slid a little further down in my bed.

The third time I heard the sound, I took a deep breath, sat up, and tossed
off the sheet.

I took a careful look around the room. Nothing.
Nada.
Zip.

I lay back down.

Near the doorway, the floorboards creaked.

I turned to the window.

Behind the curtains, something moved.

Something pale. Ghostly.

The floorboards creaked again as the pale figure moved toward me.

I opened my mouth in a low, terrified scream. Then I pulled the sheet back
over my head.

The room grew silent. I was trembling all over.

Where was the ghost?

I peeked out from the sheet.

Terri stepped out from behind the curtain. “Gotcha,” she whispered.

“You creep,” I choked out. “How could you do that to me?”

“Easy,” she replied, grinning. “All this ghost talk has you freaked out—hasn’t it.”

I let out an angry growl, but didn’t reply. My heart was still thudding in my
chest.

Terri sat down on the edge of the bed. She pulled her robe around her more
tightly. “I just couldn’t resist,” she said, still grinning. “I came down to
talk to you, and I saw you lying there with the sheet over your head. It was too tempting.”

I glared at her. “Next time pick on someone your own size,” I said angrily.
“I had the sheet pulled up because I was having trouble falling asleep.”

“Me, too,” Terri said. “My mattress is really lumpy.” She stared out the
window. “And, besides, I was thinking about that ghost.”

“Hey—you’re the one who doesn’t believe in them—remember?” I insisted.

“I know. I really
don’t
believe in ghosts. But Sam, Louisa, and Nat
obviously do.”

“So?”

“So I want to find out why. Don’t you?”

“Not really. I don’t care if I ever see those kids again,” I said.

Terri yawned. “Louisa seems nice. Much more friendly than Sam. I think we can
get Louisa to tell us more about the ghost if we ask her. She almost told us
today.”

“Terri, I don’t believe you,” I replied, pulling the sheet up to my chin.
“You heard what Agatha said. Sam likes to make up stories.”

“I don’t think this is a story,” Terri said. “I know I’m supposed to be the
scientific one in the family. But I think something strange is going on here,
Jerry.”

I didn’t answer. I was picturing the animal skeleton.

“I’m going to ask them about the ghost again tomorrow,” Terri announced.

“How do you know they’ll show up?”

Terri grinned. “They always do, don’t they? Haven’t you noticed? No matter
where we are, they always seem to be there.” She paused. “Do you think they’re
following us?”

“I hope not,” I said.

Terri laughed. “You’re such a wimp.”

I threw off the covers. “Am not!”

Terri started tickling me. “Wimp! Wimp! Wimp!”

I grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her. Then I started tickling her
back. “Take it back,” I said.

“Okay, okay!” she cried. “I didn’t mean it.”

“And you’ll never call me a wimp again?”

“Never!”

As soon as I let go of her arm, she ran to the doorway. “See you in the
morning—
wimp
!” she called. She disappeared through the kitchen.

At breakfast the next morning, Agatha asked, “What do you kids have planned
for today?”

“A swim, I guess,” I replied, glancing at Terri. “Down at the beach.”

“Be careful of the tide down there,” Brad warned. “It can sweep a full-grown man off his feet.”

Terri and I glanced at each other. I don’t think we’d ever heard Brad put two
full sentences together before.

“We will,” Terri promised. “We’ll probably do more wading than swimming.”

Agatha handed me a banged-up metal pail. “Might want to pick up some sea
urchins or sea stars.”

A few minutes later, I took the pail and a couple of old beach towels, and
Terri and I headed down the twisty path along the shoreline.

We scrambled up and down the rocks until we came to a spot not far from the
sandy beach and the cave.

We slid down the giant rock underneath us and then climbed on all fours
across a few smaller rocks until we reached a wide, mossy, tide pool about three
feet from the water’s edge. The tide pool was about the size of a kiddie pool.

“Wow, Jerry!” Terri exclaimed, staring into the water. “I see tons of stuff
in here.” She reached into the green, slimy water and pulled out a sea star.
“It’s so tiny. Not even the size of my palm. Maybe it’s a baby.”

She turned it over. Its legs wiggled. “Hello, cute little sea star,” she
sang.

Yuck. “I’ll go get the pail, okay?” I said. I climbed back over the rocks to where we left our things.

Guess who was bent over our stuff? Snooping. “Find anything good?” I called
sharply.

Sam glanced up slowly. “I was wondering whose towels these were,” he said
casually.

Nat and Louisa came bounding over the rocks. “Where’s Terri?” Louisa asked.

I motioned toward the water. “Down by the tide pool.” I grabbed the pail.

They followed me back down. Terri smiled when she saw us. I could tell she
was happy to see Louisa and her brothers. “Look at all the cool stuff I found in
here,” Terri declared.

Along the smooth surface of a large, flat rock she lined up the baby sea
star, two sea urchins, and a hermit crab.

We crowded together to see. Terri held out the sea star. “Aren’t its feet
cute?” she asked Nat.

He giggled.

We spent a few minutes examining everything. Nat started rattling off
everything he’d ever learned about crabs. Louisa finally had to cut him off.

“I want to hear more about the ghost,” Terri told Louisa.

“Nothing more to tell,” Louisa replied softly. She glanced nervously at Sam.

Had he warned her not to talk about it anymore?

Terri refused to give up. “Where does the ghost live?” she demanded.

Louisa and Sam exchanged glances again.

“Come on, guys. It has to live somewhere!” Terri teased.

Nat gazed toward the beach and the cave. A breeze fluttered his fine, blond
hair. He slapped a green fly on his skinny bare arm.

“Does the ghost live on the beach?” Terri asked.

Nat shook his head.

“In the cave?” I guessed.

Nat pinched his lips together.

“I thought so,” Terri said. “In the cave.” She flashed me a triumphant grin.
“What else?”

Nat’s face turned red. He hid behind Louisa. “I didn’t mean to tell,” he
whispered.

“It’s okay,” Louisa told him, petting his hair. She turned to Terri and me.
“The ghost is very old. No one has ever seen him come out.”