“Missy, would you like to go to the park with me and my friends,” Katie asks.
Katie takes me by surprise. She never asks me to go with her and her friends. Once her interests turned to boys, she spends her spare time painting her nails and rolling her hair in huge rollers. She looks like someone from outer space!
Katie and her boyfriend, Charlie Goodman, came up with a plan for when she babysits. She dials his number and lets it ring three times. This means she has put the kids to bed so he can come over. I suspect they spend their time alone on the couch kissing like Mama and Uncle Frank. She doesn’t need any practice in this area; she has peeked enough at Mama and Uncle Frank to get the idea.
“Are we going to have a picnic?” I ask curious.
“No, we’re just going out for a ride and we might play a little baseball,” Katie snickers.
I put my hair up in a ponytail with a baby blue ribbon tied to it. I choose my best pair of shorts; blue checked and to my knees. It should go nicely with my favorite white cotton shirt with an embroidered butterfly in the middle. Most of our clothes come from garage sales or our cousins. The only time we get something new might be for our birthdays or Christmas. The clothes we wear are usually a couple of sizes too big or too short. Some even have holes in them before we get to wear them. The worst is when I have to wear boy’s clothes. But at least they are always clean.
The only shoes I have are made of white canvas, which now look gray and have a hole at the right big toe. We wear bobby socks most of the time. Actually, I prefer to go barefoot. Mama can’t afford to buy us kids’ new shoes very often. She says, “If your feet grow any more, I’ll have to buy you skis; they’ll last longer. When I went to school I had to walk five miles even if my shoes were too tight or had holes in them. Sometimes I even had to go barefoot. You kids should be glad you even have shoes as poor as we are!”
• • •
Charlie picks us up in his 1957 red and white Chevy. He must have been shining his car all morning. We stop and pick up a couple more of their friends on our way to the park. The car sure is crowded.
We play baseball for what seems like an eternity. I’m not good at playing any type of ball. I got hit in the face with a hard ball once, and my face swelled all up.
“Missy, I’m not bringing you anymore. You embarrass me. Either catch the ball or go sit down, you big coward. If you catch it, it won’t hit you in the face!”
“Katie, I’m too hot. I don’t want to play anymore. No one has thrown the ball my direction for a long time. I’m just standing around most of the time.”
“If you didn’t duck, someone might throw the ball to you. Just go and be a baby, and sit down somewhere. I should have brought Billie!”
“You should have brought Billie. I’m sick of waiting for you to be done!” I yell, stomping to a nearby tree. I sure wish I’d brought my new Bobbsey Twins book to read. I have been sitting under this oak tree for so long the sun is starting to go down and it’s beginning to cool off. I wish we had packed us a picnic. I’m pretty hungry, and it is way past supper by now. My stomach is growling.
“Katie, when are we going home? Mama will be mad we missed supper. It’s starting to get dark. You can’t even see the ball when it comes your way!” I complain.
“Stop being a baby. The game’s almost finished!” She yells.
If I had known we were going to be gone this long, I would have brought along a sweater to keep myself warm. Bringing my knees to my chest and putting my arms inside my shirt makes me feel a bit warmer. One thing about the weather in the Midwest, the days can be hotter than blazes, but at dusk it might just cool down quick.
Katie and her friends begin laughing and carrying on. I wish I knew what was so funny. They must be up to something to be whispering and carrying on like gossiping girls. Maybe they are all making fun of me for ducking. I guess I’ll find out what the joke is soon enough.
“We have to go home. Mama will be worried sick, and she has to leave for work soon. She’ll ground us for sure, and it won’t even be my fault!”
Katie gives me an evil look like I am going to get it when she gets me alone. I’ve seen that look many times before.
Everyone begins piling into the crowded Chevy. All of us are crammed into the car like jelly in a doughnut. The boys smell worse than catfish guts on a river bank. I try holding my breath for as long as I can. All of Katie’s friends are roaring with laughter and staring at me. I wish I could be at any other place but in the back seat of Charlie’s Chevy.
“Missy, we are going to stop somewhere before we go home. We want to show you something!” Katie begins laughing.
“But we have to go home!” I protest.
“I’ll just tell Mama we stopped to pick up my babysitting money. You know Mama never gets mad when it comes to making money!”
• • •
We start driving up the hill toward the town’s small cemetery, Grand Oak. I have heard stories from my friends at school about the cemetery being haunted. You never want to go there after dark. There is a rumor about a young girl from our town visiting her grandmother’s grave and never being seen again. I never want any part of any cemetery day or night. There aren’t even any stars out yet, and I can’t see much of the moon either.
The sky has a dark eerie look to it. The wind is blowing ever so lightly; making it sound like someone whispering. I wish I was home in my own bed with the covers over my head.
We stop at the middle of the cemetery. My heart feels like it is going to beat right out of my chest.
“Why are we here? I want to go home! I want to go right now, please?”
Katie points to an object towering above all the other dimly lit tombstones. “Missy, we’re just going to walk a little ways over to that tombstone. I have a surprise for you. I will give it to you when we get there; if you’re not a coward. Missy, you’ll love it. Trust me. It will be fun!”
“Nothing about this cemetery looks fun to me, Katie Canfield!”
The boys begin laughing. Terrified, I will my feet to move toward the huge structure. My body is chilled to the bone just thinking about what might be lurking behind it.
“Close your eyes, Missy. When you open them, you’ll see your surprise!” Katie instructs.
I close my eyes anticipating the worst. My heart is clean up in my throat. I’m trying to take deep, slow breaths, but it isn’t helping. After what seems like a lifetime, I slowly open first one eye and then the next. There isn’t a soul to be seen. Darkness is suffocating me. The only sound I hear is the whispering of the wind coming from all directions. I can’t stop shaking, and I am so hungry I could eat catfish bait!
I collapse beside the tall tombstone; placing my hands inside my shirt to keep warm. And then I begin crying until there are no tears left to fall onto my damp shirt.
When my senses return and I get up the courage, I begin searching for Katie and her mean friends. Their playing pranks on me has gone too far this time. Maybe they are watching me squirm from behind another tombstone; snickering and carrying on. I’ll show them. I’m not going to cry like a baby again so they can make fun of me for the rest of my life!
Katie has played her last prank on me. I’ll show her I’m not going to be such an easy target from now on; if my lily white skin isn’t glowing in the dark for Dracula to find!
Sometimes Katie convinces Billie to help her hold me down. They tickle me until it hurts. And when she babysits, she turns the light to the upstairs off as I’m climbing the stairs. I swear she loves hearing me scream.
But this is the last straw! The next time old Uncle Sammy tries bumping into her, I’m going to make myself invisible. She’ll have to find someone else to come to her rescue.
“Katie…Charlie, are you guys out there? This is not funny. Please! I will do anything you want. I will do the dishes for two weeks and make your bed. Come on. I’m cold and hungry!”
No one answers. Katie and her friends left me out here to die. I can’t see my hand in front of my face. Which way did we come in? I’ll never find my way out! I lie down by the nearest tombstone, curl up into a fetal position and put my arms inside my shirt. If I go to sleep and make it through the night alive, I will get even with her tomorrow!
• • •
When I wake up, the sun is shining bright through my lace curtains. The male cardinal is sitting on a branch outside my window again. If I had the window open, I could almost touch him. The heat from the sun feels wonderful beating on my face. Today is going to be a glorious day. I am going to get even with Katharine Canfield if it is the last thing I do!
When I arrive in the kitchen for breakfast, Mama is there waiting for me. I’m sure she’s going to want all the details of last evening. And I want to know how I got home. Mama looks tired which means someone is in big trouble. She didn’t even curl her hair with bobby pins as usual. And she looks madder than a raccoon with rabies!
“Missy, how did you end up at the cemetery last night? Why weren’t you home before dark? You know I’m too tired after working all night to be playing these games with you kids. What in the blazes got into you? You better have some answers young lady, and I want them now!” Mama begins crying.
Mama always cries when she is angry. Someone is about to get it and get it good. From the look on her face, I best begin talking and fast. Believe me; I’m not going to forget any details!
I begin with the baseball game and keep on talking until I got to the part about Katie kissing Charlie. I especially don’t want to leave the kissing out. Katie is going to be in horse manure right up to her elbows for kissing him!
Uncle Frank leans in closer to me when I begin talking about Katie kissing. He sure is a pervert. He’s almost as bad as Uncle Sammy. Maybe this is the reason they are best friends.
After I finish telling Mama about Charlie, I kind of figured he wouldn’t be coming around the house for a while to help Katie pull pranks on me. And poor Katie, she’ll have to walk to babysitting from now on. She won’t be sitting in Charlie’s shiny 1957 Chevy for quite a while. She will be putty in my hands!
Mama glares at Katie. “You know Missy is afraid of the dark! How could you do this to your sister, Katharine Canfield?”
“Charlie and the rest of the kids thought it would be funny to watch Missy try to find her way out of the cemetery. We all know she’s a baby about everything. And, Mama, Missy needs to get over her fear of the dark!”
“You’re grounded for two weeks. You aren’t to leave the yard, and absolutely no one is to come over to visit you. Don’t you even think of using the phone! Do you understand me?”
“Yes, Mama, I understand.”
“Oh, and Katie, you can do Missy’s share of the chores!”
“But, Mama….”
“Katie, I don’t ever want to hear about you kissing Charlie while babysitting again. That isn’t in the job description, and it isn’t what you are getting paid for!”
I wish I could have handed out the punishment for Katie instead of Mama. I would have added cleaning the bathrooms, scrubbing windows, and ironing all of Uncle Frank’s and Uncle Sammy’s boxers.
Uncle Frank begins looking at Katie strangely after the cemetery prank. Mama keeps telling him he ought not to be looking at Katie that way. This has caused quite a few arguments between them lately.
Since Mama grounded Katie, she had to miss out on Charlie’s 17th birthday party. She heard all the details from one of her friends who stopped by the house when Mama wasn’t home. Charlie took a freshman to his party as a date. The girl has real long, curly auburn hair and a figure like an hour glass. Her family is one of the richest families in Grand Detour. Katie went to her bedroom and cried all night. She didn’t even come down for supper. Of course, Mama kept her word and made Katie come down to do the dishes. Immediately after, Katie went back to our bedroom. I almost feel sorry for her.
Uncle Sammy is trying more than ever to brush up against Katie’s chest area. He must have heard from Uncle Frank about her kissing Charlie. I pretend to look the other way when he is around. Maybe Katie will think twice about needling me again!
• • •
Just as I anticipate, I begin having nightmares about being back at the cemetery. There are no stars shining or a bright moon to light up the sky. The air is brisk and damp. A man with no teeth just grins at me from behind a tombstone. The man’s bald head glows in the dark. An empty grave has a tombstone engraved with my name on it. Someone keeps calling my name. “Missy…Missy it’s too bad your Mama didn’t arrive in time to save you. It didn’t take long for my hands to squeeze the life out of you. Now you can join your dead daddy. Come with me!”
Just as the man reaches out to pull me towards him, I wake from my dream. The nightmares continue a couple times a week. Every time the toothless man reaches for me, I wake up. It takes hours for me to close my eyes in fear of resuming the dream.
• • •
Katie told me that once, when Mama sent Uncle Frank to pick her up from babysitting, she saw him peeping through the living room window at her and Charlie. She said he grinned so much he looked like a pumpkin at Halloween. Old Uncle Frank never said a word to her all the way home. He just drove in silence with an evil look on his face. One day Uncle Frank will slip up and Mama will see just how evil he is!
Several weeks later I had the same dream. Mama tells me in the morning I went into her and Uncle Frank’s bedroom and began hitting him as hard as I could. She said Uncle Frank wanted to pop me right there on the spot. Lucky for me, Mama convinced him I was sleepwalking. She had Uncle Frank carry me upstairs to bed without waking me. She told him it wasn’t good to wake someone when they are sleepwalking.
Billie and Katie got a tickle out of me smacking Uncle Frank. I thought they would never stop laughing. Uncle Frank turns toward me and gives me an evil look.
“I should have just left you out in the dark cemetery for someone to bury you, Missy Canfield!”
Funny thing is I never had the dream again after I hit old Uncle Frank.