THE SCARY TIME

Jenny was delighted with the two small grinning jack-o-lanterns on the kitchen table. Mother had
scraped the pumpkin meat out of the inside to make a yummy pumpkin pie and Daddy had taken his jack knife and cut wide mouths and triangular noses and eyes in the pumpkin shells. Margaret had set 2 fat little candles in them, which when first lit, made them smell like burning pumpkins, but now began to give off a nice holiday smell of candles. Daddy had gone to his American Legion meeting and Mother was reading the newspaper.

“This is Halloween night,” Margaret said to Jenny, and then she half whispered, “and there’s
witches riding through the air on broomsticks with evil black cats on their backs, and ghosts of the dead are all around, and goblins and bats and monsters and evil spirits and banshees.” Jenny looked apprehensive.

“Don’t let her scare you,” said Mother, “just don’t pay any attention to that nonsense.”

Jenny knew that Mother was right, yet maybe part of what Margaret had told her was true. The
golden kerosene lamplight caused big shadows to be cast on the far wall. Toby, the gray cat, was sitting on a chair in the dark corner of the room. Jenny thought his yellow eyes looked wild tonight. Perhaps after they were all in bed, an evil witch would take him for a ride on her broomstick over houses and up by the moon. Toby could never tell anyone though, and the next day he would curl up by the fire just as if nothing had happened.

Margaret emerged from the kitchen bedroom with a pillow case over her head saying, “Fee fie foe
fum. I smell the blood of an Englishman.” Then her voice became ghostly and she groaned,”I am the ghost of poor Margaret and I have come to haunt you.” Then she curled her fingers grotesquely and lunged toward Jenny. Jenny screamed and backed into a chair, knocking it over. Margaret was such a convincing actress.

“Kids!” scolded Mother, “why can’t you be good? You stop that, Margaret.”

Margaret slipped the pillow case off and laughed hideously. Jenny blew out her jack-o-lantern candle and pulled it out and rolled it into a ball between the palms of her hands.

“Dummy. Now you won’t be able to light yours,” Margaret said. “I’m going to blow mine out to
save the candle so I can light it again tonight when it gets darker.”

“I don’t care,” said Jenny, “I’d rather do this.”

The teacher read us a Halloween story today at school,” Margaret said, and began telling it. Jenny listened eagerly. Nothing she ever did at home could compare with the thrilling things that happened at school. She’d be glad when next year came and she could start to school.

“I gotta go to the toilet,” Jenny announced. She left the door open as she went outside into the
dark chilly autumn air. She left the door open as she went outside and a square of light fell on the porch from the open door.

“Shut the door,” called Mother, “or the wind will blow out the lamp.” Jenny pretended not to hear, so Mother shut the door herself and the comforting square of light vanished. Jenny started for the toilet, but the tall building loomed up on the little rise in the land, so dark and foreboding that she squatted down in the shadow close to the house..

She heard the weeds rustle. The moon had a mist in front of it tonight. She thought she saw a shadow move near a tree and thought that it might be a banshee or a bat or a witch. She finished her errand as quickly as possible, and dashed into the house, quite out of breath. Margaret was lighting the candle in her jack-o-lantern.

“I’ll bet you wish you could still light yours,” she said in an overbearing manner. Jenny didn’t say anything. She picked up her dark jack-o-lantern and looked longingly at Margaret’s lighted one. She asked Mother for another candle, but Mother said that’s all there were Margaret set her lighted jack-o-lantern on yhr window ledge and said, “This willl keep the spooks away."

“Oh, phooey,” said Jenny, “Anybody knows there’s no such thing as spooks.”