20 - The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight

  She pushed at her red hair with both hands. “What are you two planning for today?” she asked brightly. “It’s a beautiful morning to go riding. Before they left this morning, Grandpa Kurt had Stanley saddle up Betsy and Maggie, in case you wanted to ride.”

  “Sounds like fun,” I told her. “What do you say, Mark? Before it gets really hot out?”

  “I guess,” Mark replied.

  “You two always enjoyed riding along the creek,” Grandma Miriam said, putting the cornflakes box away.

  I stared across the room at her, stared at her red, curly hair, her pudgy arms, her flowered housedress.

  “Are you okay, Grandma Miriam?” I asked. The words just tumbled out of my mouth. “Is everything okay here?”

  She didn’t reply. Instead, she lowered her eyes, avoiding my gaze. “Go have your ride,” she said quietly. “Don’t worry about me.”

  Grandpa Kurt always called Betsy and Maggie the “old gray mares”. I guess because they were both old and they were both gray. And they were as grumpy as can be when Mark and I climbed onto their saddles and started to urge them from the barn.

  They were the perfect horses for us “city kids”. The only time we ever got to ride horses was during our summers at the farm. So we were not exactly the most skillful riders in the world.

  Bumping along on these two old nags was just our speed. And even as slow as we were moving, I dug my knees into Betsy’s sides and held onto the saddle horn for dear life.

  We followed the dirt path past the cornfields toward the woods. The sun was still climbing a hazy, yellow sky. But the air was already hot and sticky.

  Flies buzzed around me as I bounced on top of Betsy. I removed one hand from the saddle horn to brush a big one off Betsy’s back.

  Several scarecrows stared back at us as Mark and I rode past. Their black eyes glared at us from under their floppy hats.

  Mark and I didn’t say a word. We were keeping to our promise of not talking about scarecrows.

  I turned my eyes to the woods and tossed the reins, urging Betsy to move a little faster. She ignored me, of course, and kept clopping along over the path at her slow, steady pace.

  “I wonder if these horses can still get up to a trot,” Mark called. He was a few paces behind me on the narrow dirt path.

  “Let’s give it a try!” I called back, grabbing the reins tighter.

  I dug my sneaker heels into Betsy’s side. “Go, girl—go!” I cried, slapping her gently with the reins.

  “Whoooa!” I let out a startled cry as the old horse obediently began to trot. I really didn’t think she would cooperate!

  “All right! Cool!” I heard Mark shout behind me.

  Their hooves clopped loudly on the path as the two horses began to pick up speed. I was bouncing hard over the saddle, holding on tightly, off-balance, beginning to wonder if this was such a hot idea.

  I didn’t have a chance to cry out when the dark figure hurtled across the path.

  It all happened so fast.

  Betsy was trotting rapidly. I was bouncing on the saddle, bouncing so hard, my feet slipped out of the stirrups.

  The dark figure leaped out right in front of us.

  Betsy let out a shrill, startled whinny—and reared back.

  As I started to fall, I saw immediately what had jumped onto the path.

  It was a grinning scarecrow.

  16

  Betsy rose up with a high whinny.

  My hand grabbed for the reins, but they slipped from my grasp.

  The sky appeared to roll over me, then tilt away.

  I slid backwards, out of the saddle, off the horse, my feet thrashing wildly for the flapping stirrups.

  The sky tilted even more.

  I hit the ground hard on my back.

  I remember only the shock of stopping so abruptly, the surprise at how hard the ground felt, how so much pain shot through my body so quickly.

  The sky turned bright red. A glowing scarlet. Like an explosion.

  And then the scarlet faded to deep, deep, endlessly deep black.

  * * *

  I heard low moans before I opened my eyes.

  I recognized the voice. Mark’s voice.

  My eyes still shut, I opened my mouth to call to him. My lips moved, but no sound came out.

  “Ohhhh.” Another low groan from him, not far from me.

  “Mark—?” I managed to choke out. My back ached. My shoulders hurt. My head throbbed.

  Everything hurt.

  “My wrist—I think I broke it,” Mark said, his voice shrill and frightened.

  “You fell, too?” I asked.

  “Yeah. I fell, too,” he groaned.

  I opened my eyes. Finally. I opened my eyes.

  And saw the hazy sky.

  All a blur. Everything was a watery blur.

  I stared at the sky, trying to get it in focus.

  And then saw a hand in front of the sky. A hand lowering itself toward me.

  A bony hand stretching out from a heavy black coat.

  The hand of the scarecrow, I realized, staring up helplessly at it.

  The hand of the scarecrow, coming down to grab me.

  17

  The hand grabbed my shoulder.

  Too terrified to cry out, too dazed to think clearly, my eyes followed the dark coat sleeve—up to the shoulder—up to the face.

  A blur. All a frightening blur.

  And then the face became clear.

  “Stanley!” I cried.

  He leaned over me, his red ears glowing, his face tight with worry. He gently grabbed my shoulder. “Jodie—are you all right?”

  “Stanley—it’s you!” I exclaimed happily. I sat up. “I think I’m okay. I don’t know. Everything hurts.”

  “What a bad fall,” Stanley said softly. “I was in the field. And I saw it. I saw the scarecrow….”

  His voice trailed off. I followed his frightened gaze up ahead of me on the dirt path.

  The scarecrow lay facedown across the path.

  “I saw it jump out,” Stanley uttered with a shudder that shook his whole body.

  “My wrist…” Mark moaned from nearby.

  I turned as Stanley hurried over to him. Mark was sitting up in the grass at the side of the path, holding his wrist. “Look—it’s starting to swell up,” he groaned.

  “Oooh, that’s bad. That’s bad,” Stanley said, shaking his head.

  “Maybe it’s just a sprain,” I suggested.

  “Yeah,” Stanley quickly agreed. “We’d better get you to the house and put ice on it. Can you get back up on Maggie? I’ll ride behind you.”

  “Where’s my horse?” I asked, searching both ways along the path. I climbed unsteadily to my feet.

  “She galloped back to the barn,” Stanley replied, pointing. “Fastest I’ve seen her go in years!”

  He glanced down at the scarecrow and shuddered again.

  I took a few steps, stretching my arms and my back. “I’m okay,” I told him. “Take Mark on the horse. I’ll walk back.”

  Stanley eagerly started to help Mark to his feet. I could see that Stanley wanted to get away from here—away from the scarecrow—as fast as possible.

  I watched as they rode off down the path toward the house. Stanley sat behind Mark in the saddle, holding the reins, keeping Maggie at a slow, gentle pace. Mark held his wrist against his chest and leaned back against Stanley.

  I stretched my arms over my head again, trying to stretch the soreness from my back. My head ached. But other than that, I didn’t feel bad.

  “Guess I’m lucky,” I murmured out loud.

  I took a long glance at the scarecrow, sprawled facedown across the path. Cautiously, I walked over to it.

  I poked its side with the toe of my sneaker.

  The straw beneath the coat crinkled.

  I poked it harder, pushing my sneaker hard into the scarecrow’s middle.

  I don’t know what I expected to happen. Did I think the scarecrow would
cry out? Try to squirm away?

  With an angry cry, I kicked the scarecrow. Hard.

  I kicked it again.

  The burlap bag head bounced on the path. The scarecrow’s ghastly painted grin didn’t move.

  It’s just a scarecrow, I told myself, giving it one last kick that sent straw falling out from the jacket front.

  Just a scarecrow that Sticks tossed onto the path.

  Mark and I could have been killed, I told myself.

  We’re lucky we weren’t.

  Sticks. It had to be Sticks.

  But why?

  This wasn’t a joke.

  Why was Sticks trying to hurt us?

  18

  Stanley and Sticks weren’t at lunch. Grandpa Kurt said they had to go into town for supplies.

  Mark’s wrist was only sprained. Grandma Miriam put an ice bag on it, and the swelling went right down. But Mark was groaning and complaining. He was really making the most of it.

  “Guess I’ll have to lie on the couch and watch TV for a week or so,” he moaned.

  Grandma Miriam served ham sandwiches and homemade coleslaw. Mark and I gobbled down our lunches. All that excitement had made us really hungry.

  As we ate, I decided to tell Grandpa Kurt everything that had been happening. I couldn’t hold it in any longer.

  I told him about how Sticks was making the scarecrows move at night. And how he was trying to frighten us, trying to make us think the scarecrows were alive.

  I caught a glimpse of fear in Grandpa Kurt’s blue eyes. But then he rubbed his white-stubbled cheeks, and he got a faraway look on his face.

  “Sticks and his little jokes,” he said finally, a smile spreading across his face. “That boy sure likes his jokes.”

  “He’s not joking,” I insisted. “He’s really trying to frighten us, Grandpa.”

  “We could have been killed this morning!” Mark joined in. He had mayonnaise smeared on his cheek.

  “Sticks is a good boy,” Grandma Miriam murmured. She was smiling, too. She and Grandpa Kurt exchanged glances.

  “Sticks wouldn’t really hurt you,” Grandpa Kurt said softly. “He just likes to have his fun.”

  “Great fun!” I muttered sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

  “Yeah. Great fun,” Mark groaned. “I almost broke my wrist!”

  Grandpa Kurt and Grandma Miriam just smiled back at us, their faces frozen like the painted scarecrow faces.

  After lunch, Mark slumped to the couch, where he planned to spend the rest of the afternoon staring at the TV. He loved having an excuse not to go outdoors.

  I heard Stanley’s truck pull up the drive. I decided to go find Sticks and tell him how fed up we were with his stupid scarecrow tricks.

  I didn’t think his jokes were all in fun. I really believed he was trying to frighten us or hurt us—and I wanted to find out why.

  I didn’t see Sticks or Stanley out in the yard. So I made my way across the grass to the guest house where they lived.

  It was a warm, beautiful day. The sky was clear and bright. The air smelled fresh and sweet.

  But I couldn’t enjoy the sunshine. All I could think about was letting Sticks know how angry I was.

  I knocked on the guest house door. I took a deep breath and tossed my hair behind my shoulders, listening for signs of life inside.

  I tried to think of what I was going to say to Sticks. But I was too angry to plan it. My heart started to pound. I realized I was breathing hard.

  I knocked on the door again, harder this time.

  There was no one inside.

  I turned my gaze to the cornfields. The stalks stood stiffly, watched over by the motionless scarecrows. No sign of Sticks.

  I turned to the barn, across the wide grass from the guest house. Maybe Sticks is in there, I thought.

  I jogged to the barn. Two enormous crows hopped along the ground in front of the open barn doors. They flapped their wings hard and scrambled out of my way.

  “Hey—Sticks?” I shouted breathlessly as I stepped inside.

  No reply.

  The barn was dark. I waited for my eyes to adjust.

  Remembering my last creepy visit to the barn, I stepped reluctantly, my sneakers scraping over the straw on the floor. “Sticks? Are you in here?” I called, staring hard into the deep shadows.

  A rusted baling machine stood to one side of the straw bales. A wheelbarrow tilted against the wall. I hadn’t noticed them before.

  “Guess he isn’t here,” I said to myself out loud.

  I walked past the wheelbarrow. I saw something else I hadn’t noticed before—a pile of old coats on the barn floor. Empty burlap bags were stacked beside them.

  I picked one up. It had a frowning face painted on it in black paint. I dropped the bag back onto the pile.

  These must be Stanley’s scarecrow supplies, I realized.

  How many more scarecrows did he plan to build?

  Then something in the corner caught my eye. I walked quickly over the straw. Then I bent down to examine what I saw.

  Torches. At least a dozen torches, stacked in the corner, hidden by the darkness. Next to them I spotted a large bottle of kerosene.

  What on earth are these doing here? I asked myself.

  Suddenly, I heard a scraping sound. I saw shadows slide against shadows.

  And I realized that once again I was no longer alone.

  I jumped to my feet. “Sticks!” I cried. “You scared me.”

  His face was half hidden in darkness. His black hair fell over his forehead. He didn’t smile. “I warned you,” he said menacingly.

  19

  Feeling the fear rise to my throat, I stepped out of the corner and moved past him, into the light from the doorway. “I—I was looking for you,” I stammered. “Sticks, why are you trying to scare Mark and me?”

  “I warned you,” he said, lowering his voice to a whisper. “I warned you to get away from here, to go back home.”

  “But why?” I demanded. “What’s your problem, Sticks? What did we do to you? Why are you trying to scare us?”

  “I’m not,” Sticks replied. He glanced back nervously to the barn doors.

  “Huh?” I gaped at him.

  “I’m not trying to scare you. Really,” he insisted.

  “Liar,” I muttered angrily. “You must really think I’m a moron. I know you threw that scarecrow onto our path this morning. It had to be you, Sticks.”

  “I really don’t know what you’re talking about,” he insisted coldly. “But I’m warning you—”

  A sound at the doorway made him stop.

  We both saw Stanley step into the barn. He shielded his eyes with one hand as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. “Sticks—are you in here?” he called.

  Sticks’ features tightened in sudden fear. He let out a low gasp.

  “I—I’ve got to go,” Sticks whispered tensely to me. He turned and started jogging toward Stanley. “Here I am, Dad,” he called. “Is the tractor ready?”

  I watched the two of them hurry from the barn. Sticks didn’t look back.

  I stood in the darkness, my eyes on the empty doorway, thinking hard.

  I know Sticks was lying to me, I thought.

  I know he made the scarecrows move at night. I know he dressed as a scarecrow to scare me in the woods and at the barn. And I know he tossed that scarecrow in front of the horses this morning.

  I know he’s trying to frighten Mark and me.

  But enough is enough, I decided.

  Now it’s payback time.

  Now it’s time for Sticks to be frightened. Really frightened.

  20

  “I can’t do this!” Mark protested.

  “Of course you can,” I assured him. “This is going to be really cool.”

  “But my wrist hurts again,” my brother whined. “It just started hurting. I can’t use it.”

  “No problem,” I told him. “You won’t have to use it.”

  He started to protest som
e more. But then a smile spread across his face, and his eyes lit up gleefully. “It’s kind of a cool idea,” he said, laughing.

  “Of course it’s an awesome idea,” I agreed. “I thought of it!”

  We were standing in the doorway to the barn. The white light from a full moon shone down on us. Owls hooted somewhere nearby.

  It was a cool, clear night. The grass shimmered from a heavy dew. A soft wind made the trees whisper. The moonlight was so bright, I could see every blade of grass.

  After Grandpa Kurt and Grandma Miriam had gone to bed, I dragged Mark from the house. I pulled him across the yard to the barn.

  “Wait right here,” I said. Then I hurried into the barn to get what we needed.

  It was a little creepy in the dark barn at night. I heard a soft fluttering sound high in the rafters.

  Probably a bat.

  My sneakers were wet from the grass. I slid over the straw on the barn floor.

  The bat swooped low over my head. I heard a high-pitched chittering up in the rafters. More bats.

  I grabbed one of the big, old coats from the pile. Then I pulled up one of the burlap bag faces and slung it on top of the coat.

  Ignoring the fluttering wings swooping back and forth, back and forth, across the barn, I hurried outside to Mark.

  And explained my plan, my plan to get our revenge on Sticks.

  It was actually a very simple plan. We’d dress Mark up as a scarecrow. He’d stand with the other scarecrows in the cornfield.

  I’d go to the guest house and get Sticks. I’d tell Sticks I saw something weird in the field. I’d pull Sticks out to the field. Mark would start to stagger toward him—and Sticks would be so freaked, he’d have a cow!

  A simple plan. And a good one.

  Sticks deserved it, too.

  I pulled the burlap bag over Mark’s head. The black, painted eyes stared back at me. I reached down, picked up a handful of straw, and began stuffing it under the bag.

  “Stop squirming!” I told Mark.

  “But the straw itches!” he cried.

  “You’ll get used to it,” I told him. I grabbed his shoulders. “Stand still. Don’t move.”