I stomped on Walker’s foot as hard as I could, and he never called me that again.
“Where are you going, Drew?” Dad called from the den.
“Out,” I told him, and slammed the front door behind me. I like to keep my parents guessing. I try never to give them a straight answer.
You might say I’m as mischievous as an elf. But if you said it, I’d stomp on your foot, too!
I’m tough. Ask anyone. They’ll tell you that Drew Brockman is tough. When you’re the shrimpiest girl in your class, you’ve got to be tough.
Actually, I wasn’t going anywhere. I was waiting for my friends to come to my house. I walked down to the street to watch for them.
I took a deep breath. The people in the corner house had a fire going in their fireplace. The white smoke floated out from their chimney. It smelled so sweet and piney.
I love autumn. It means Halloween is on the way.
Halloween is my favorite holiday. I guess I like it so much because it gives me a chance to look like someone else. Or something else.
It’s the one night of the year that I don’t have to look like pointy-chinned me.
But I have a problem with Halloween. Two kids in my class are the problem. Tabitha Weiss and Lee Winston.
For the past two years, Tabby and Lee have totally ruined Halloween for Walker and me.
I’m so angry about it. Walker is angry, too. Our favorite holiday ruined because of two stuck-up kids who think they can do whatever they want.
Grrrrrrrr.
Just thinking about it makes me want to punch someone!
My other friends, Shane and Shana Martin, are upset about it, too. Shane and Shana are brother and sister, twins my age. They live in the house next door, and we hang out a lot.
Shane and Shana don’t look like anyone else I know. They both have very round faces with curly ringlets of blond hair. They have red cheeks and cheery smiles, and they’re both short and kind of chunky.
The twins are as angry as Walker and me about Tabby and Lee. And this Halloween, we’re going to do something about it.
Only we don’t know what we’re going to do.
That’s why they’re coming over to my house to discuss it.
How did the Tabby and Lee problem start? Well, I have to go back two years to explain it to you.
I remember it so clearly.
Walker and I were ten. We were just hanging out in front of my house. Walker had his bike on its side and was doing something to the spokes on one wheel.
It was a beautiful autumn day. Down the block, someone was burning a big pile of leaves. It’s against the law here in Riverdale. My dad always threatens to call the police when someone burns leaves. But I love the smell.
Walker was fiddling with his bike, and I was watching him. I forget what we were talking about. I glanced up — and there stood Tabby and Lee.
Tabby looked as perfect as always. “Little Miss Perfect.” That’s what Dad calls her — and for once, he’s right.
The wind was blowing pretty hard. But her long, straight blond hair stayed in place. It didn’t fly out all over her head like mine did.
Tabby has perfect creamy-white skin and perfect green eyes that sparkle a lot. She’s very pretty, and she knows it.
Sometimes it takes all my strength not to shake both hands in her hair and mess it all up!
Lee is tall and good-looking, with brown skin, dark brown eyes and a great, warm smile. He sort of struts when he walks and acts real cool.
The girls at school all think he’s terrific. But I can never understand a word he says. That’s because he always has a huge wad of green-apple bubble gum in his mouth.
“Mmmmmbbb mmmmbbbbb.” Lee stared down at Walker’s bike and mumbled something.
“Hey,” I said. “What’s up, guys?”
Tabby made a disgusted face and pointed a finger at me. “Drew, you have something hanging from your nose,” she said.
“Oh!” I shot my hand up and rubbed the bottom of my nose. Nothing there.
“Sorry,” Tabby snickered. “It only looked like you did.”
Tabby and Lee both laughed.
Tabby is always playing mean jokes like that on me. She knows I’m self-conscious about how I look. So I always fall for her dumb tricks.
“Nice bike,” Lee mumbled to Walker. “How many speeds?”
“It’s a twelve-speed,” Walker told him.
Lee sneered. “Mine is a forty-two-speed.”
“Huh?” Walker jumped to his feet. “There’s no such thing as a forty-two-speed!” he cried.
“Mine is,” Lee insisted, still sneering. “It’s specially made.”
He blew a big green bubble-gum bubble. That’s hard to do while you’re sneering.
I wanted to pop it all over his smug face. But he stepped back and popped it himself.
“Did you get a haircut?” Tabby asked me, studying my windblown hair.
“No,” I replied.
“I didn’t think so,” she said. She smoothed her perfect hair back with one hand.
“Grrrrrrr.” I couldn’t help it. I balled my hands into fists and let out an angry growl.
I growl a lot. Sometimes I don’t even know I’m doing it.
“Mummmmmbb mmmmbbbbb.” Lee said something. Bubble-gum juice ran down his chin.
“Excuse me?” I asked.
“I’m having a Halloween party,” he repeated.
My heart started to pound. “A real Halloween party?” I demanded. “With everyone in costumes, and hot apple cider, and games and bobbing for apples, and scary stories?”
Lee nodded. “Yes. A real Halloween party. At my house on Halloween night. You guys want to come?”
“Sure!” Walker and I replied.
Big mistake. Real big mistake.
The Halloween party was already crowded with kids from school when Walker and I showed up. Lee’s parents had orange and black streamers strung up all over the living room. Three huge jack-o’-lanterns grinned at us from the window seat by the front window.
Of course Tabby was the first person I ran into. Even in costume, she wasn’t hard to recognize. She was dressed as a princess.
Perfect?
She wore a frilly pink princess-type gown with long, puffy sleeves and a high, lacy collar. And she had her blond hair pinned up with a sparkly rhinestone tiara in it.
She smiled her lipsticked lips at me. “Is that you, Drew?” she asked, pretending she didn’t recognize me. “What are you supposed to be? A mouse?”
“No!” I protested. “I’m not a mouse. I’m a Klingon. Don’t you ever watch Star Trek?”
Tabby snickered. “Are you sure you’re not a mouse?”
She turned and walked away. She had a pleased smile on her face. She gets such a thrill from insulting me.
I growled under my breath and searched for someone else to talk to. I found Shane and Shana in front of the fireplace. The twins were easy to recognize. They were both big, puffy white snowmen.
“Excellent costumes!” I greeted them.
They wore two white snowballs. One big snowball over their bodies. A smaller snowball over their heads.
The snowman faces had eyeholes cut in them. But I couldn’t tell Shane from Shana. “What is the snow made of?” I asked.
“Styrofoam,” Shana answered. She has a high, squeaky voice. So now I knew who was who. “We carved them out of big blocks of it.”
“Cool,” I said.
“Great party, huh?” Shane chimed in. “Everyone from our class is here. Did you see Bryna Morse’s costume? She sprayed her whole body with silver spray paint. Her face and hair, too!”
“What’s she supposed to be?” I demanded, searching the crowded room for her. “Silver Surfer?”
“No. I think the Statue of Liberty,” Shane replied. “She was carrying a plastic torch.”
A loud crackle in the fireplace made me jump. Most of the lights were off, giving the room a dark, Halloween mood. The fire made long shadows dance over
the floor.
I turned and saw Walker making his way to us. His entire body was wrapped in bandages and gauze. He was a mummy.
“I’m in trouble,” he announced.
“What’s your problem?” Shane asked.
“My mom did a terrible wrapping job,” Walker complained. “I’m coming unraveled.” He struggled to retie the loose bandages around his neck.
“Aaaagh!” He let out an angry cry. “The whole thing is coming undone!”
“Are you wearing clothes underneath?” Shana asked.
Shane and I laughed. I pictured Walker huddled in the middle of the party in his underwear, piles of bandages at his feet.
“Yes. I’ve got my clothes on underneath the costume,” Walker replied. “But if these bandages all come undone, I’ll fall on my face!”
“Hey — what’s up?” Lee interrupted. He wore a Batman costume, but I recognized his dark eyes under the mask. And I recognized his voice.
“Awesome party,” Shana said.
“Yeah. Awesome,” I repeated.
Lee started to reply. But a thunderous crash made everyone gasp.
We all froze. “What was that?” Lee cried.
The crowded room grew silent.
I heard another crash. Bumping sounds. Low voices.
“It — it’s coming from the basement!” Lee stammered. He pulled off the Batman mask. His bushy hair fell over his face, but I could see his frightened expression.
We all turned to the open doorway at the far end of the living room. Beyond the doorway, stairs led down to Lee’s basement.
“Oh!” Lee gasped as we heard another crash.
Then heavy footsteps — up the basement stairs.
“Someone is in the house!” Lee shrieked in terror. “Someone has broken in!”
R.L. Stine’s books are read all over the world. So far, his books have sold more than 300 million copies, making him one of the most popular children’s authors in history. Besides Goosebumps, R.L. Stine has written the teen series Fear Street and the funny series Rotten School, as well as the Mostly Ghostly series, The Nightmare Room series, and the two-book thriller Dangerous Girls. R.L. Stine lives in New York with his wife, Jane, and Minnie, his King Charles spaniel. You can learn more about him at RLStine.com.
Goosebumps book series created by Parachute Press, Inc.
Copyright © 1998 by Scholastic Inc.
Cover design by Steve Scott
Cover art by Brandon Dorman
Originally published as Goosebumps Series 2000 #2: Bride of the Living Dummy
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC, GOOSEBUMPS, GOOSEBUMPS HORRORLAND, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
First printing, August 2018
e-ISBN 978-1-338-31872-2
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R. L. Stine, Bride of the Living Dummy
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