The rest of the afternoon went quickly. After lunch, Mr. Petrie followed up another lengthy lecture with a packet of reading handouts, and then at two p.m. they finally got to participate in the school-wide Halloween parade. Before Horace knew it, the clock reached three, and Mr. Petrie announced, “All right, class, happy Halloween.”
The kids ran to their lockers, throwing the candy they’d gotten into their bags.
Milton turned to Horace. “Let’s meet up around seven o’clock at my house. We can order pizza and watch scary movies. Sound good?” asked Milton as he tossed his backpack over his shoulder.
“Got it,” said Horace.
When Horace got home, he could hear a heated conversation taking place in the kitchen. He walked in to find his two sisters arguing about their costumes.
“You can’t wear those pants. Mom said I can wear them,” insisted Lilly.
“But I already bought a shirt to go with them,” answered Sara.
Apparently both girls wanted to wear some of their mother’s old clothing to a Halloween party later.
“Mom, Sara is being a jerk.”
“Not now,” his mom said. “Can’t you see I’m on the phone?”
Horace slipped past Sara and Lilly and sat down at the table to work on his homework. He was hoping to finish most of his science lab so he could enjoy the night and the rest of the weekend. While he worked, his mom seemed totally distracted by her conversation on the phone. She was talking and rummaging around the kitchen. Finally, after what seemed like an uncomfortable pause, she hung up the phone.
“What was all that about?” Lilly asked.
“Your uncle is trying to finalize the will and the estate papers. He needs to account for some of your grandpa’s stuff and the books we donated to the library. He says that one of them is missing. Do you know anything about that?”
Horace shrugged as Lilly gave him a knowing stare.
“We brought everything down in boxes just like you asked,” answered Sara as Horace pretended to be suddenly interested in the newspaper lying on the table.
Horace continued his work, and his mom started making preparations for an early dinner. After Horace finished his lab, he walked over to the counter and started helping her. He chopped an onion and then added it to the spaghetti sauce simmering on the stovetop. Ten minutes later his dad walked into the house, carrying several bags of supplies from the local hardware store. “Hey, guys,” he announced, “you know what tonight is?”
“Halloween!” Horace and his sisters shouted.
“Now, to complete the final pieces of the display out front, I need your help, Horace.”
Horace looked down at his watch. “Do I have to? I told my friends that I’d meet them after dinner.”
“You’ve got plenty of time. It’s not even six yet,” his mom said as she put a handful of noodles into a pot of boiling water. “What’s the matter? Why are you so antsy? Aren’t you excited to help your dad with the decorations?”
“Yeah,” Horace said unenthusiastically. “I guess I’m still thinking about Uncle George. I just don’t like his selling all of Grandma and Grandpa’s stuff.”
“We already talked about this. While the will prevents him from selling the farm, he has every right to clean out some of the old junk.”
“It’s not junk, though,” Horace said firmly.
His mom frowned. “I’m not going to fight with you. You’ve got to give it a break. A lot of that stuff needs to be cleaned out. You’ve been acting funny ever since we went back to the farm.”
“Horace,” Lilly said with a sneer, “why do you care so much about what’s at the farm anyway?”
Horace gave his sister a side glare and returned to stirring the sauce on the stove top. A few minutes of silence passed as Lilly set the table, and then his mom served the spaghetti. Soon they were all eating and discussing the night ahead. Sara and Lilly were heading to Halloween parties with their friends, and Horace told his parents he was meeting up with Milton and Anna. Finally, after a long discussion about how much candy they were allowed to eat that night, Horace dragged a piece of garlic bread through the remaining sauce on his plate, devouring the last morsels of food. “Ready, Dad,” he announced.
His dad had converted most of the front yard into an enormous cemetery with headstones and coffins. The climax of the scene was to be a mummy that popped out of a wooden coffin as kids stepped onto the porch. He needed Horace to help with the rigging, which would be triggered by a motion sensor planted next to the front door.
Horace followed his dad out to the front of the house. An eerie soundtrack was playing from an open window, and a smoke machine hidden under the porch pumped fog out over the yard. Horace could see Shadow perched on his window ledge above.
Before tackling the rigging, they first moved a pair of coffins so that they perfectly framed the sidewalk leading to the porch. The rigging took a little longer than expected. The string running between the coffin and the front door kept getting snagged on the porch and rocking chairs as his dad tried to hide it from view. Horace had to admit that this was by far his dad’s most elaborate holiday production and likely to cause some serious nightmares for younger children.
“All set,” his dad announced, placing his hands on his hips and looking over the yard in pride. “Now, be sure to stop by with your friends before it gets too late. I want to make sure you get some good candy.”
“Yeah, we will,” Horace answered, jumping onto his bike. It was still light out, but he knew that the sun would set soon.
“Now, have fun!”
“Thanks.” Horace looked down at this watch. He had just enough time to make one quick stop before meeting up with Anna and Milton. Ghosts or not, he was going to find the Beeson Crypt.