The Birthday Party of No Return!

  My mouth dropped open. I could feel my face grow hot, and I knew I was blushing.

  “Sorry,” I said. “It was a stupid idea. I … I didn’t want you to have real bad luck.” I shook my head. “Really. I’m sorry.”

  His eyes went cold. He blew out a long whoosh of air. “Kind of a dirty trick,” he said. “You’re supposed to be my friend.”

  I opened my mouth to answer. But my eyes went to the open window.

  The sky darkened suddenly. I saw an ugly creature soar toward the window. It filled the window. Huge. Let out a raw bleating sound.

  An enormous gray and black vulture.

  It stepped onto the window ledge, cawing loudly. It raised one leg. The leg had no claw at the end!

  Just a black stump. A ragged, ugly bump.

  I uttered a cry as the huge bird lowered its head — and bolted into the room.

  “Look out!” I screamed.

  No time to duck. Or run.

  It raised its wings high. Lowered its massive beak — and dove at me.

  I screamed and covered my head.

  Cory laughed. “I’m not going to hit you,” he said. “You don’t have to duck.”

  I blinked. I lowered my arms. I gazed at Cory. He stood staring at me, a puzzled expression on his face.

  “Lee — what was that about?”

  “Well … I …”

  No ugly bleating vulture in the room.

  I was seeing things again. Another hallucination. I should have known.

  “Are you okay?” Cory asked.

  My whole body was trembling. “Not really,” I said. “This claw is messing up my brain.” I reached into my pocket and felt the claw. “I have to get rid of it.”

  He nodded. “Yeah. As fast as you can.”

  I apologized again for wrecking his birthday party. And for trying to pass off the bad-luck claw to him. Then I hurried to the kitchen to find Mom.

  “So what happened, Lee?” Mom asked as we drove home. “What went wrong at the party?”

  “Everything,” I replied. How could I explain?

  Both hands on the steering wheel, Mom turned to stare at me. “Maybe you could describe it a little better than that?”

  “I really can’t,” I said. “I — I smashed his TV. Then I fell. And I knocked the food over. And then I fell again — on the cake. It was all a horrible accident.”

  “Were you dizzy?” Mom asked. “Should we take you to Dr. Markoff?”

  “No. I told you — it was an accident,” I said.

  Mom nodded. She gazed out the windshield and bit her bottom lip. She only bites her lip like that when she’s worried.

  I stared out the car window. We passed a group of kids on bikes. They grinned at me and raised their arms. They all had claws instead of hands.

  “Oh, noooo,” I muttered.

  A scrawny gray and black vulture landed on the hood of the car. It stared at me through the windshield. Then it raised an ugly, clawless stump at me.

  I’m living a nightmare! I thought. I can’t tell what’s real and what isn’t real.

  My life would never return to normal until I got rid of that horrible claw.

  Mom pulled the car up our driveway. I pushed open my door and bolted out, eager to get going.

  “There’s something I have to do,” I said.

  “Yes, there is,” Mom replied. “You have to walk Arfy.”

  “Huh?” I started to protest. But Mom pushed me toward the house.

  “Give Arfy a good long walk,” she said. “He’s been lying around the house all day. He needs some exercise.”

  “But, Mom —”

  “No arguing,” she said. “Some fresh air will do you good, too.”

  No, it won’t, I told myself. Fresh air won’t change my luck. Fresh air won’t stop these frightening hallucinations.

  I stepped into the house first. Arfy was waiting. The big sheepdog leaped onto me and tackled me to the floor. Then he wrapped me in a head-lock and planted wet tongue kisses all over my face.

  I screamed. He had a vulture head. He was licking me … licking me with a disgusting, scratchy vulture tongue!

  “Noooo!” I rolled out from under him and jumped to my feet. His head was back to normal now. I grabbed his leash off the hook by the back door. I hooked Arfy up, and we headed out the door.

  The late afternoon sun was dipping behind the trees. Long shadows stretched across the front yards. Trees shimmered with their fresh leaves.

  “Whoa!” I let out a cry as Arfy started to run. “Slow down! Hey — take it slower!”

  The big guy had been cooped up all day. I could see he wanted to stretch his legs. He wanted to run.

  But I wanted to take it slow. I needed to be careful, to watch out for more hallucinations.

  “Arfy — stop!” I shouted. “Arfy — stay! Stay, boy!”

  He gave the leash a hard tug and bounded into the middle of the street. I tried to pull him back onto the sidewalk. But he was a lot stronger than me.

  “Arfy — stop! Stop!”

  He lowered his furry head and plowed on, picking up speed. Running down the middle of the street.

  “Arfy — no!”

  I heard a snap. The leash flew back and hit me in the chest. Arfy kept running.

  Running free!

  The leash had snapped off, and Arfy was on the loose.

  “Stop! STOP!” I screamed.

  This was not a hallucination. This was real. The dog kept running full speed, his four legs pounding the street pavement.

  I chased after him, running as fast as I could. But the big dog was galloping now. My legs ached. My heart throbbed. I couldn’t catch up.

  “Arfy — please!” I wailed breathlessly. “Please stop!” I was in a total panic now.

  I didn’t see the black car. I only heard the squeal of tires.

  A horn blared right behind me. So close and so loud that I screamed.

  The tires squealed.

  WHUMMMP.

  The car hit me from behind.

  I felt the bump at the bottom of my back. It didn’t feel very strong.

  But it sent me flying.

  I didn’t really have time to know what was happening.

  I landed hard on my back a few feet away.

  I died instantly.

  No. I was alive. I didn’t die.

  I didn’t even come close to dying. It was hard to believe but I actually wasn’t hurt at all. Not a scrape.

  I opened my eyes. I was sprawled flat on the pavement. Arfy stood over me. He lowered his head and began licking my face.

  A small, dark-haired woman in a short black jacket and black skirt stood staring down at me. She had her hands balled into tense fists. Her whole body was trembling.

  “You — you’re okay?” Her voice came out in a whisper. “Should I call for an ambulance?”

  I moved my arms and legs. I sat up. “I’m okay,” I said. “I feel fine.”

  She let out a long whoosh of air. “I’m so glad,” she said. “I couldn’t stop in time. You ran right out in front of me.”

  “I was chasing after my dog,” I said. I held on to Arfy’s leather collar.

  “Can you stand?” The woman reached to help me up. “Does anything hurt? Want me to drive you home?”

  Her hands on my shoulders were ice-cold. Her whole body still shook.

  I let her pull me to my feet. I stretched, testing my arms and legs. I rolled my head around, testing my neck.

  “I’m fine. It wasn’t a hard bump,” I told her. “No problem. Really.”

  She led me to her car. She insisted she had to drive me home.

  I stuffed Arfy into the backseat. All the way home, I swore to her I felt fine. She pulled up the driveway and watched me lead Arfy into the house. She didn’t leave till I closed the door.

  Mom was waiting in the kitchen for me. “Lee, you got a phone message. From Coach Taylor. He said the tag football game is first thing tomorrow morning.”

  “Tom
orrow?”

  She nodded. “Is this the final competition for the scholarship?”

  “Yes,” I said. “It’s my last chance.”

  “Do or die,” Mom said.

  I wished she hadn’t put it that way.

  “I know you’ll be a star,” she added. She patted my shoulder. Then she made a face. “Ooh. What’s that smell?”

  I checked the bottom of my sneakers. “Oh, noooo.” I’d stepped in dog poop. Both sneakers were totally smeared with it.

  No way I can be a star tomorrow, I thought. No way I can escape this bad luck. My life is getting more and more dangerous. I was hit by a car because of the claw.

  What will happen next?

  I knew I couldn’t keep the claw another minute. I grabbed it and swung it around by the rope. Then I ran to the backyard.

  Dad keeps our three trash cans behind the garage. I opened the first metal can and stuffed the claw inside it. Then I slammed the lid shut.

  My heart was pounding. Sweat poured down my face. But I felt better already.

  The claw was history. Time for my luck to change…

  At dinner that night, I felt tense. I waited for something bad to happen.

  Would I scald my mouth on the soup? Knock my spaghetti on the floor? Fall off my chair and break my neck?

  When that didn’t happen, it made me even more nervous.

  I kept picturing the claw in the trash can behind the garage. Was it still too nearby? Could it still cause me all kinds of danger?

  Dad wiped the spaghetti sauce off his chin and turned to me with a solemn expression. “I’ve got bad news, Lee,” he said softly.

  I gasped. “Wh-what?” I stammered.

  A smile slowly crossed his face. “I could only get tickets in the second row for the Stampede game next Saturday night,” he said.

  Of course, he was making a joke.

  “That’s awesome!” I cried. “Second row. Wow!”

  He nodded. “We’ll have fun.”

  “Dad, what day do they pick up the trash?” I asked.

  He squinted at me. “The trash? It’s out back? Why?”

  I shrugged. “Just wondering.”

  “Tomorrow, I think,” Mom said. “Why on earth do you care about the trash, Lee?”

  I had to think fast. “Uh … we’re studying trash in school,” I said.

  Pretty good answer — right?

  We had chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Just as we were finishing, the doorbell rang.

  I shut my eyes. The sound sent a shiver down my back.

  Was someone bringing bad news? Was my bad luck starting up again?

  I hurried to the front door. Pulled it open — and let out a cry.

  “Laura!” I exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

  She made a face at me. “Oh. Nice welcome. Thanks. Great to see you, too.”

  I could feel myself blushing. “But — But —” I sputtered. “I didn’t expect —”

  She rolled her eyes. “I texted you twice this afternoon. Don’t you read your texts? I said I was coming over to fill out the science work sheets with you.”

  “Uh … really?”

  I couldn’t believe it. Laura came over to do homework with me. That was definitely good news.

  Maybe … just maybe … the evil spell of the claw had ended.

  She was wearing a yellow sweater over a blue T-shirt and dark jeans with silver studs around the pockets.

  She pushed past me into the house, bumping me with her backpack. Mom and Dad greeted her from the dining room. She followed me in. Mom offered her some cookies.

  I picked up a cookie, bit off a big chunk of it — and it went down the wrong pipe. I started to choke.

  I made a horrible wheezing sound. I couldn’t breathe in or out.

  Dad slapped me hard on the back. A wet glob of cookie came flying out of my mouth and splatted the front of Laura’s sweater.

  She lifted it off with two fingers and set it down on a plate. “You’re gross,” she said.

  “I think Arfy taught him how to eat,” Dad said.

  It was a joke. A really lame joke. But Laura laughed like it was a riot.

  Did the claw make me choke? I asked myself. I pictured it in the trash can out back. Was it still too nearby?

  Laura and I went into the den to fill out the science sheets. We sat down beside each other on the green leather couch and rested the papers on the coffee table in front of us.

  I couldn’t relax. I couldn’t concentrate.

  I was so totally ready for disaster.

  Laura had to do most of the work.

  The vulture claw was just too close to forget about.

  “Hey, I was hit by a car this afternoon,” I blurted out.

  Laura gazed hard at me. “Ha!” she said. “I don’t get it.”

  “It’s not a joke,” I said. “I was hit by a car. Really.”

  “And you got up and walked away?” she said. “Who are you supposed to be? Superman?”

  “Never mind,” I muttered. I could see she was not going to believe me.

  Laura tapped her pencil on the coffee table. “You know, I’m playing in the football game tomorrow morning, too,” she said.

  “Yeah, I know,” I replied. “So?”

  “So you and Cory don’t think that I have a chance — do you?”

  “Of course you have a chance,” I said. I groaned. “You’re way ahead of me.”

  “You and Cory are both total weirdos,” she said. She poked me in the stomach with the eraser end of her pencil.

  “We are not!” I said. “Why are we weirdos?”

  “Walking around wearing those ugly claw things?” she said, shaking her head. “I couldn’t believe when you tried to give him one, and he already had one.”

  “Yeah. That was a little weird,” I admitted. Then I added: “But I got rid of mine.”

  Laura’s mouth dropped open. “Excuse me?”

  “I dumped mine in the trash out back,” I said. “It was bad news. I don’t believe in good-luck charms.”

  She laughed. “You’re going to need a good-luck charm at the game tomorrow. I’m going to trash both you guys.”

  We filled out the work sheets. I don’t think glaciers are very interesting. But Miss Harrison must like them a lot. She keeps giving us assignment after assignment about the glaciers.

  Laura and I had a few more cookies. In fact, we finished the plate. Then she went home. “Good luck tomorrow,” she said as she stepped out the door.

  I’ll need it, I thought.

  My last chance.

  Later, I changed into my pajamas and got ready for bed. I felt restless. My stomach kept growling and groaning.

  I knew I couldn’t relax until the trash was picked up and the claw was carried away.

  A soft breeze blew my curtains. I stepped up to my window and gazed outside. My window faces the backyard. I could see Dad’s vegetable garden.

  The tomato plants tilted on their poles. A branch had fallen off the maple tree next to the garage. It lay in the grass, raised at one end like a fat snake.

  Moonlight made the grass shimmer like silver. And … and…

  What was that dark object slithering through the silver grass?

  Like a dark glove scrabbling toward the house.

  I stared down at it, frozen in terror. I watched it slide and crawl through the bright moonlight.

  The claw. The claw … crawling back.

  “Nooooooo.” I sent a horrified howl out the window. “Nooooooo.”

  I spun away from the window and took a deep breath. I could feel the blood pulsing at my temples.

  This can’t be happening.

  This is impossible.

  The claw was crawling to the house, bringing its bad luck back to me.

  Returning so that it could ruin my chances tomorrow morning.

  No. No way!

  Before I realized what I was doing, I was running barefoot down the stairs. The house was dark. Mom and
Dad must have been sound asleep.

  I was in my pajamas, but I didn’t care. I burst out the kitchen door and ran into the backyard. My bare feet slipped and slid on the wet, dewy grass.

  A cool breeze blew against my hot face. My pajama shirt fluttered like a kite in the wind.

  White moonlight poured over the lawn. The backyard gleamed, almost as bright as day.

  Where is it? Where?

  My eyes scanned the lawn as I ran. I had to find it.

  What would I do with it when I did? Heave it as far as I could?

  I jumped over the fallen tree limb. The old maple tree creaked and groaned in the strong breeze.

  In the bright moonlight, I could see every weed, every blade of grass.

  And there it was! The dark claw! Scrabbling slowly … so slowly … through the wet grass.

  I stopped, my heart pounding so hard that my chest ached. My knees nearly folded. I took another deep breath, trying to steady myself.

  Then I lowered myself to take a closer look at the crawling claw.

  “Oh, wow,” I murmured out loud. “Oh, wow.”

  Not the claw.

  It wasn’t the claw. It was a small box turtle. Its square shell dark against the shimmering grass.

  A box turtle. Crawling slowly over the backyard.

  A laugh escaped my throat. I wanted to cheer. But that might wake up my parents.

  A light was on in the kitchen window next door. Did the neighbors see me out here in my pajamas?

  Would they think it was weird that I ran out late at night to stare at a box turtle?

  Well, yes, it was weird. But my life had been weird lately.

  No more. No more weirdness, I told myself.

  I turned to the trash cans behind the garage. The lids were all tightly clamped shut. The claw was safe inside its can.

  As I stared, the metal cans made a rattling sound.

  I started to panic. But I caught myself. And laughed again.

  They were rattling because of the wind.

  It had to be the wind. Right?

  Early the next morning, I dropped my backpack in my gym locker and started to get dressed for the football competition.

  It was only tag football. But Coach Taylor made everyone wear full equipment — knee pads, shoulder pads, and a helmet.

  I tried on three helmets, and they were all too big for me. I never knew I had such a tiny head! Finally, I just took one of the big ones. I figured it was no big deal if it slipped around a little.