روح همسایه فصل 14

The Ghost Next Door - Chapter 14

Mr. Chesney grabbed Danny’s shoulders and pulled him away from the mailbox.

One of the wooden swan wings came off in Danny’s hands. As Mr. Chesney wrestled him away, Danny let it drop to the ground.

“You punks!” Mr. Chesney sputtered, his eyes wide with rage. “You—you—”

“Let go of him!” Hannah screamed from across the street. But fear muffled her voice. Her cry came out a whisper.

With a loud groan, Danny pulled free of the man’s grasp.

Without another word, the three boys were running, running down the middle of the dark street, their sneakers pounding loudly on the pavement.

“I’ll remember you!” Mr. Chesney called after them. “I’ll remember you. I’ll see you again! And next time, I’ll have my shotgun!” Hannah watched Mr. Chesney bend to pick up the broken swan’s wing. He examined the wooden wing, shaking his head angrily.

Then she began running, keeping in the dark front yards, hidden by hedges and low shrubs, running in the direction Danny and his friends had headed.

She saw the boys turn a corner, and kept running. Keeping well behind, she followed them through the town square, still deserted and dark. Even Harder’s ice-cream parlor was closed now, the shop dark behind the red glare of the neon window sign.

Two dogs, tall, ungainly mutts with thin, shaggy frames, crossed the street in front of them, trotting slowly, out for their evening walk. The dogs didn’t look up as the boys ran past.

Halfway up the next block, she saw Fred and Alan collapse beneath a dark tree, giggling up at the sky as they sprawled on the ground.

Danny leaned against the wide tree trunk, panting loudly.

Fred and Alan couldn’t stop laughing. “Did you see the look on his face when that stupid wing dropped off?” Fred cried.

“I thought his eyes were going to pop out!” Alan exclaimed gleefully. “I thought his head was going to explode!” Danny didn’t join in their laughter. He rubbed his right shoulder with one hand. “He really wrecked my shoulder when he grabbed me,” he said, groaning.

“You should sue him!” Alan suggested.

He and Fred laughed uproariously, sitting up to slap each other high-fives.

“No. Really,” Danny said quietly, still rubbing the shoulder. “He really hurt me. When he swung me around, I thought—” “What a creep,” Fred said, shaking his head.

“We’ll have to pay him back,” Alan added. “We’ll have to—”

“Maybe we should stay away from there,” Danny said, still breathing hard. “You heard what he said about getting his shotgun.” The other two boys laughed scornfully. “Yeah. For sure. He’d really come after us with a shotgun,” Alan scoffed, brushing blades of freshly cut grass from his scraggly hair.

“The respected town postmaster, shooting at innocent kids,” Fred said, snickering. “No way. He was just trying to scare us—right, Danny?” Danny stopped rubbing his shoulder and frowned down at Alan and Fred, who were still sitting in the grass. “I don’t know.” “Oooh, Danny is scared!” Fred cried.

“You’re not scared of that old geek, are you?” Alan demanded. “Just because he grabbed your shoulder doesn’t mean—” “I don’t know,” Danny interrupted angrily. “The old guy seemed pretty out of control to me. He was so angry! I mean, maybe he would shoot us to protect his precious mailbox.” “Bet we could make him a lot angrier,” Alan said quietly, climbing to his feet, staring intently at Danny.

“Yeah. Bet we could,” Fred agreed, grinning.

“Unless you’re chicken, Danny,” Alan said, moving close to Danny, challenge in his voice.

“I—it’s getting late,” Danny said, trying to read his watch in the dark. “I promised my mom I’d get home.” Fred climbed to his feet and moved next to Alan. “We should teach Chesney a lesson,” he said, brushing blades of grass off the back of his jeans. His eyes gleamed mischievously in the dim light. “We should teach him not to pick on innocent kids.” “Yeah, you’re right,” Alan agreed, his eyes on Danny. “I mean, he hurt Danny. He had no business grabbing him like that.” “I’ve got to get home. See you guys tomorrow,” Danny said, waving.

“Okay. See you,” Fred called after him.

“At least we got some free ice-cream tonight!” Alan exclaimed.

As Danny walked quickly away, Hannah could hear Alan and Fred giggling their gleeful, high-pitched giggles.

Free ice-cream, she thought, frowning. Those two guys are really looking for trouble.

She couldn’t help herself. She had to say something to Danny. “Hey!” she called, running to catch up to him.

He spun around, startled. “Hannah—what are you doing here?”

“I—I followed you. From the ice-cream store,” she confessed.

He snickered. “You saw everything?”

She nodded. “Why do you hang out with those two guys?” she demanded.

He scowled, avoiding her eyes, picking up his pace. “They’re okay,” he muttered.

“They’re going to get in big trouble one of these days,” Hannah predicted. “They really are.” Danny shrugged. “They just talk tough. They think it’s cool. But they’re really okay.”

“But they stole ice-cream cones and—” Hannah decided she’d said enough.

They crossed the street in silence.

Hannah glanced up to see the pale crescent of moon disappear behind black wisps of cloud. The street grew darker. The trees shook their leaves, sending whispers all around.

Danny kicked a stone down the sidewalk. It clattered softly onto the grass.

Hannah suddenly remembered going over to Danny’s house earlier to get him. In all the excitement of the stolen ice-cream cones and Mr. Chesney and his mailbox, she had completely forgotten what had happened on his back stoop.

“I—I went over to your house tonight,” she started reluctantly. “Before I went into town.” Danny stopped and turned to her, his eyes studying hers. “Yeah?”

“I thought maybe you’d want to walk to town or something,” Hannah continued. “Your mother was home. In the kitchen.” He continued to stare hard at her, as if trying to read her thoughts.

“I knocked and knocked on the kitchen door,” Hannah said, tugging a strand of blonde hair off her forehead. “I could see your mother at the table. She had her back to me. She didn’t turn around or anything.” Danny didn’t reply. He lowered his eyes to the pavement and started walking again, hands shoved in his pockets.

“It was so strange,” Hannah continued. “I knocked and knocked. Really loud. But it was like—like your mother was in a different world or something. She didn’t answer the door. She didn’t even turn around.” Their houses came into view ahead of them. A porchlight sent a yellow glow over Hannah’s front lawn. On the other side of the driveway, Danny’s house loomed in darkness.

Hannah’s throat suddenly felt dry. She wished she could ask Danny what she really wanted to ask.

Are you a ghost? Is your mother a ghost, too?

That was the real question in Hannah’s mind.

But it was too crazy. Too stupid.

How can you ask a person if he is real or not? If he is alive or not?

“Danny—why didn’t your mother answer the door?” she asked quietly.

Danny turned at the bottom of her driveway, his expression set, his eyes narrowed. His face glowed eerily in the pale yellow light from the porch.

“Why?” Hannah repeated impatiently. “Why didn’t she answer the door?”

He hesitated.

“I guess I should tell you the truth,” he said finally, his voice a whisper, as soft as the whisper of the shuddering trees.