Amelia Bedelia Scared Silly Page 2

  “Shauk the Hawk knows everything,” Amelia Bedelia whispered to Candy.

  “Not everything, Amelia Bedelia,” said Mrs. Shauk, without turning around. “But almost!”

  Amelia Bedelia jumped. Everyone said that Mrs. Shauk had eyes in the back of her head.

  “Mary Shelley! You mean a girl made up that gruesome story?” said Wade.

  “Girls can do anything,” said Penny. “I’m going to be a doctor for Halloween. I have a lab coat and a real stethoscope.”

  “Big surprise,” said Cliff, rolling his eyes.

  “That’s not a surprise at all,” said Amelia Bedelia. “Penny wants to be a doctor when she grows up.”

  Angel raised her hand.

  “Yes, Angel?” said Mrs. Shauk.

  “My dad made me a suit of armor out of cardboard and tin foil,” she said. “I’m going to be a knight!”

  Pat was going to be a chef. Rose told everyone about her unicorn costume. Holly had decided to be Sherlock Holmes, and Heather was going to be Watson. Cliff was going to be a cowboy. Dawn, who had just gotten a new pair of skates, was planning to be a roller-skating witch. Teddy was going to be a clown.

  “Ooh, spooky!” said Candy with a shiver.

  Teddy looked confused. “No, funny,” he said. “Clowns are funny.”

  “Not in my book,” said Candy.

  “Did you write a book like Mary Shelley about a scary clown?” asked Wade.

  Amelia Bedelia stared at Candy. She had no idea her new friend had written a book!

  “I’m going to combine a cow costume with an angel costume,” said Joy, “so I can make heavenly ice cream.”

  “I’m going to be a daisy,” said Daisy.

  Amelia Bedelia had no idea what Joy was talking about, but she loved Daisy’s daisy idea.

  “Hey, Candy, maybe you should be a candy bar,” suggested Skip.

  “No way,” said Candy. “I like scary costumes. The spookier the better.”

  “How about you, Amelia Bedelia?” asked Mrs. Shauk.

  “I don’t know yet,” Amelia Bedelia replied. “I’m still figuring out the perfect costume for Finally and me.”

  “Like my grandpa says, it’s time to fish or cut bait,” said Chip.

  “Sounds smelly to me! I don’t have time for that,” said Amelia Bedelia. “I’ve got to come up with a costume, and fast.”

  “My grandpa means that it’s time to make up your mind,” said Chip.

  “I know!” said Amelia Bedelia.

  Mrs. Shauk turned to Candy. “Are you looking forward to your first Halloween with us, Candy?” she asked.

  Candy nodded. “I sure am,” she said. “I can’t wait for the haunted hayride!”

  The whole class cheered. Everyone loved the haunted hayride.

  Amelia Bedelia put her head on her desk and groaned. Her friends turned to stare at her.

  “What’s wrong, Amelia Bedelia?” asked Mrs. Shauk. “You look like you lost your best friend.”

  Amelia Bedelia shook her head. “No, my friends are all right here. I’m just sad because I have some bad news.” She looked down at her shoes.

  “Spit it out,” said Cliff.

  Amelia Bedelia made a face. “Eww,” she said. “That is so gross. I’ll just say it. There isn’t going to be a haunted hayride this year.”

  .4.

  Scaring Up a Ghost

  Candy yelled, “Nooooooooooo!”

  Holly fell off her chair and bumped right into Amelia Bedelia. “Sorry,” she said. “I nearly jumped out of my skin.”

  “I’m glad you didn’t,” said Amelia Bedelia. She looked over at Candy.

  “This is horrible!” Candy wailed. “I was really looking forward to a super-spooky Halloween, like we had in Chicago.”

  The bell rang for recess. Everyone grabbed jackets and sweaters and began to file out the door.

  “Candy, would you stay behind for a minute, please?” asked Mrs. Shauk.

  Candy, still looking upset, sat back down in her seat.

  Amelia Bedelia walked past the swings and slide and the foursquare court and went straight to the tree stump they used as a meeting table. Her friends followed behind her.

  “I hope Candy isn’t in trouble,” said Daisy.

  “She really lost her temper,” said Heather.

  “It looked more like she found it,” said Amelia Bedelia.

  Dawn looked around the playground. “Hey, has anyone seen Holly?” she asked.

  Just then the door burst open and Holly came running out. She raced to the tree stump table, out of breath. “I was in the coat closet, trying to find my jacket, and I overheard Candy and Mrs. Shauk talking,” she said. She bit her lip.

  “Is Candy in trouble?” asked Dawn.

  “No, it’s worse than that,” said Holly. “I heard Candy tell Mrs. Shauk that maybe she would go back to Chicago.”

  “Oh no!” said Amelia Bedelia. “That’s terrible news.”

  “We have to convince her to stay,” said Rose.

  “But how?” asked Penny.

  “I know,” said Cliff. “We need to do something really scary.”

  “Cool,” said Clay. “Like what?”

  Amelia Bedelia shook her head. “I asked my mom this weekend if there are any haunted houses or ghosts in our town. But she said there aren’t.”

  “Ghost stories are pretend anyway,” said Joy with a shrug. “Let’s just make one up for her.”

  “What a great idea, Joy!” said Amelia Bedelia.

  Clay stuck his arms straight out in front of him. “As Frankenstein . . .”

  “Frankenstein’s monster!” shouted Amelia Bedelia and her friends.

  “As Frankenstein’s monster, I think I’m the perfect person to tell it,” Clay continued.

  “Well, get ready, because here comes Candy,” warned Heather.

  Candy had spotted everyone and was heading over. “Sorry for yelling,” she said. “I was just super disappointed to hear about the hayride. Guess we’re in for a boring Halloween this year, huh?”

  “Maybe not,” said Amelia Bedelia, poking Clay in the back. “Clay, don’t you have something to tell Candy?”

  Clay jumped. “Yup,” he said. “Our town is haunted!”

  Candy perked right up. “Really?” she asked. “Why didn’t you tell me before?”

  Clay cleared his throat, suddenly not looking quite so sure of himself. “So . . . um . . . once upon a time in our town there was this guy. And . . . something very scary happened to him and then . . . um . . . there was a ghost. . . .” His voice trailed off.

  Daisy leaned over and whispered in Amelia Bedelia’s ear. “Clay’s got stage fright!” she said.

  Amelia Bedelia glanced at Clay. “He’s not on a stage,” she whispered back to Daisy. “I think he’s just nervous.”

  Everyone waited patiently for Clay to continue his story. But he just stood there in silence. Amelia Bedelia looked over at Candy, who was stifling a yawn. Oh no! Amelia Bedelia jumped up. She had no idea what she was going to say, but it had to be better than Clay’s story.

  “Thanks for starting the story, Clay,” she said. He looked at her gratefully and sat down. But what was she going to say? She took a deep breath and began to talk, making it up as she went along. “Years and years ago, our town used to have an inn for weary travelers.”

  “What was it called?” asked Candy. Her eyes were gleaming.

  Amelia Bedelia looked around wildly. “It was called the . . . the Swing Inn.”

  “The Swing Inn?” said Candy.

  Amelia Bedelia nodded. “The Swing Inn. There were no cars back then, so everyone traveled on horseback. It took a long time to go even short distances, and it was dangerous to travel in the woods at night. So when the sun went down, people would stop and spend the night at an inn. They would eat dinner, feed their horses, and get a good night’s sleep. Most inns were run by people who were kind and generous. But the Swing Inn was owned by a mean old man. He kicked puppies,
stole from the collection basket at church, and made mean faces at babies to make them cry. Nobody in town liked him at all.”

  “What was his name?” asked Candy eagerly.

  Boy, Candy was really into the details! Amelia Bedelia paused. “His name was—”

  “Ebenezer Scrooge?” offered Wade.

  “Um, yeah, that’s right, Ebenezer Scrooge,” said Amelia Bedelia. The name sounded familiar, but she wasn’t sure where she had heard it before.

  “Ebenezer Scrooge?” Candy asked. “Are you sure? Scrooge sounds more like Christmas than Halloween.”

  Amelia Bedelia nodded. “Did I say Scrooge? I meant to say Sludge! Anyway, he was mean and grouchy. Well, one chilly night, under a full moon, a weary traveler rode into town looking for a place to rest. He saw the sign for the Swing Inn and felt very happy. He was tired and hungry, and his horse needed some oats and some water. He knocked on the door . . .”

  She paused to knock on the tree stump table. Knock-knock-knock.

  “. . . and it swung open with a loud creeeeeaaaaaakkkkkk.”

  “Ooh, I’m getting goose bumps,” squealed Rose.

  Amelia Bedelia turned to look at Rose, but Rose was wearing a jacket and long pants. She went right back to the story.

  “‘What do you want?’ Ebenezer growled.

  “‘A bed for the night, and a barn for my horse,’ said the traveler.

  “‘Show me your money,’ said Ebenezer.

  “‘I don’t have any,’ said the traveler.

  “‘Well then, you can’t stay here,” said Ebenezer. And he started to shut the door.

  “‘But I’m so hungry,’ said the traveler, stopping the door with his foot. ‘If I could just have one of those—’”

  Crunch! Amelia Bedelia looked at Pat, who had just bitten into a shiny red apple.

  “‘—apples,’” Amelia Bedelia continued. “Ebenezer had an apple orchard and always kept a big basket of apples by his front door. He liked to throw the rotten ones at the neighborhood kids. But even though he had apples right there, Ebenezer laughed, grabbed the basket of apples, and slammed the door in the traveler’s face.

  “‘Please let me in,’ the man begged, pounding on the door. ‘I’m so tired. My horse needs a rest. It’s dark and scary in the woods. I’m afraid. Please let me in.’

  “‘Too bad!’ yelled Ebenezer through the door. ‘Begone with you! There’s another inn at the next town. Maybe they give out charity, but I do not!’ And he locked the door and went to bed. The traveler knocked and knocked, begging for mercy, until he finally gave up. He got back on his horse and headed off into the dark night.”

  Amelia Bedelia glanced around the stump table. Her friends stared back at her, eyes wide.

  “What happened next?” asked Candy. “You’re on a roll.”

  Amelia Bedelia checked her soles for bread crumbs, then continued.

  “The next day the horse returned, but the saddle was empty. Everyone blamed Ebenezer, but he didn’t care. Not one bit. That night there was a knock on the door.”

  Amelia Bedelia knocked on the tree stump. Knock-knock-knock.

  “‘Go away!’ Ebenezer called. The knocking got louder. Knock-knock-knock. But when Ebenezer opened the door, there was no one there.

  “It happened night after night. And each time, when Ebenezer stepped outside to see who was knocking, he would hear hoofbeats getting closer and closer . . . but the road was always empty. Ebenezer started telling people that the ghost of the missing traveler was after him. He promised that he’d let the man in this time, and feed him, and let him stay for free. He was desperate to get rid of the curse.

  “Soon after that, he took down the inn’s sign and locked himself inside. But the hoofbeats and the knocking continued. People could see Ebenezer’s candle shaking as he peered fearfully out the window. Then one night someone heard a terrible racket coming from the Swing Inn. Knocking and yelling and the pounding of horse hooves.

  “The next morning the innkeeper was found in his doorway. He was dead of fright. His hair had turned snow white.”

  Amelia Bedelia lowered her voice. “And in his hand, he held . . . a single apple.”

  Candy’s eyes were shining. “Spooky!” she said. “I had no idea this town was haunted! Is the inn still standing? Where is it?”

  “I . . . um . . .” Amelia Bedelia had no idea what to say. Thankfully, the bell rang. She breathed a sigh of relief. She had never been so happy for recess to be over in her life. But it was nice to see Candy smiling again. Maybe her spooky ghost story had convinced her new friend to stay!

  .5.

  Whooooo’s There?

  “Okay, class,” said Ms. Garcia that afternoon in science class. “We are starting a new unit today. We are going to study a very fascinating creature that is quite popular this time of year. It has large eyes and long, sharp—”

  “I know!” shouted Clay. “Mrs. Shauk!”

  Ms. Garcia tried not to laugh. “No, it is mostly seen at night.”

  “I know!” shouted Cliff. “A vampire!”

  “Mrs. Shauk is right,” said Ms. Garcia. “You guys do have Halloween on the brain! Let me give you some more clues. It flies silently through the air and preys on unsuspecting—”

  “Students!” said Clay. “Still sounds like Mrs. Shauk.”

  “Or a vampire,” said Teddy.

  “Well, how about this?” said Ms. Garcia. “There are two hundred different species of this bird of prey in the world. It can’t move its eyes, but its head can turn two hundred seventy degrees or more.”

  “Almost completely around!” said Penny.

  Amelia Bedelia and her friends tried turning their heads around, looking at one another and shrugging their shoulders. None of them had any clue until Mrs. Garcia gave them one last hint.

  “Whooooooo could it be?”

  “An owl !” said Angel right away.

  “That’s right,” said Ms. Garcia. “Owls are found on every continent except Antarctica. They come in all sizes, ranging from the six-inch-tall elf owl to the thirty-two-inch-tall great gray owl. And the females are larger and more aggressive than the males.”

  “Just like falcons,” Skip said.

  “And all birds of prey,” added Ms. Garcia. “Now, can anyone tell us why an owl’s feathers are such dull colors?”

  “I know!” shouted Chip. “For sabotage.”

  Amelia Bedelia frowned. That didn’t sound quite right.

  Mrs. Garcia smiled. “Very close, Chip. I think you mean camouflage. Owls are excellent hunters. Their muted feathers help them blend in with their surroundings. They have keen eyesight. A northern hawk owl can spot a mouse up to half a mile away.”

  “But they can’t see very well up close,” added Joy.

  Ms. Garcia nodded. “So they rely on their incredible hearing.” She dimmed the classroom lights. “Now I’d like you all to close your eyes and pretend you are walking through the woods at dusk. I’m going to play the sounds of different owls’ calls. I think you’ll be surprised by the variety of sounds they make.”

  The class was perfectly silent. They listened intently as the recording began and various owls began to hoot. But that wasn’t all they heard. The owls also chirped, whistled, hissed, whinnied, barked, and growled.

  “There’s one more,” said Ms. Garcia. “Get ready for it.” An ear-piercing shriek echoed through the classroom, and everyone jumped. Ms. Garcia smiled again. “Nothing like the call of a barn owl,” she said. “It can sound just like a person screaming.”

  She switched the lights back on. “Now, make sure not to wear your best clothes tomorrow. We’re going to do a special activity, and it might get a little messy.”

  “Give us a hint!” begged Rose.

  But Ms. Garcia just shook her head. “I don’t want to ruin the surprise,” she said. “I’m so glad you all give a hoot about owls!” she said.

  “Hoot! Hoot!” said Amelia Bedelia.

  Amelia Bedelia’s fath
er stared at her from across the table. “I’m trying to keep a straight face,” he said. “But you’re making it pretty hard.”

  “Your face doesn’t look crooked to me, Daddy,” said Amelia Bedelia. She picked up her fork to dig into the lasagna her father had made. But the fork clattered onto her plate, slipping through her gauze-covered fingers. She had been right in the middle of wrapping herself and Finally up as mummies when her mother called her down to dinner.

  Her mother reached over and unrolled the gauze around Amelia Bedelia’s right hand. “You might want to uncover your mouth as well,” she suggested.

  “Maybe this costume isn’t such a good idea,” said Amelia Bedelia. “I won’t be able to eat any candy on Halloween.”

  “Or see very well,” added her father. “So, did you break the news to Candy about the haunted hayride?”

  “I didn’t break anything,” said Amelia Bedelia. “But I told her.”

  “What did she say?” asked her father.

  “You really want to know?” asked Amelia Bedelia.

  Her parents nodded.

  So she stood up, took a deep breath, and began howling at the top of her lungs.

  “Arroooooooooooo!” Finally joined in.

  Her parents covered their ears.

  “Not happy, huh,” said Amelia Bedelia’s father.

  “Candy even told Mrs. Shauk that she was thinking about moving back to Chicago,” said Amelia Bedelia. “But then I told her a spooky story at recess, and that seemed to make her happy.”

  Her father shivered.

  “Are you chilly?” asked Amelia Bedelia.

  “Hasn’t that ever happened to you?” he asked. “When you shiver for no reason?”

  “I guess so,” said Amelia Bedelia. “But why does it happen?”

  “La morte è passata,” he replied.

  “Huh?” said Amelia Bedelia. “Pass more pasta?”

  “La morte è passata,” repeated her father. “It’s an old Italian saying. It means that Death has just passed by you. That’s what makes you shiver.”

  Amelia Bedelia and her mother looked at each other. They both shuddered at the same time.