One More House

“Hey, wait, Billy! We missed one!”

Bill rolled his eyes and turned to look over his shoulder at Timmy. Little brothers were a pain. Especially on Halloween.

“What are you talking about, squirt?” Bill called.

“We missed a house. See?” Timmy pointed off past the edge of town. An orange light flickered through the blackness.

“That’s weird,” Bill said. As far as he knew, there was only forest and swamp to the west of Morgan.

“Let’s go see if they have any candy left,” Timmy said.

“I don’t know,” Bill said. “We’re already late, and mom told us not to go trick-or-treating outside of town.”

“Oh, c’mon, Billy. Please? It’ll just take a minute.”

Bill glanced at his watch – ten after nine. What could another few minutes hurt? Besides, a little adventure might be fun.

“Alright,” Bill said. “But we have to hurry.”

“Yes!” Timmy exclaimed and punched his fist in the air. Then he sprinted off into the night.

“Wait!” Bill screamed after his brother as the red bandana from the boy’s scarecrow costume flapped in the darkness.

Bill ran as fast as he could toward the orange light and, after a couple of minutes, an old house came into view. On the front porch sat a jack-o’-lantern, flickering a one-tooth grin at Bill. The stem was unusual, spiraling upward like a corkscrew.

But Timmy was nowhere in sight.

“Timmy!” Timmy!” Bill called into the dark. There was no answer.

Bill pivoted back toward town and called for his brother again. Still nothing.

When Bill turned back to the house, it was gone. In its place, moonlight splashed on a scarecrow tied to a small tree by a red bandana.

At the feet of the scarecrow was a pumpkin with a corkscrew stem.