The best thing about the new house they were
building down by the woods at the
other end of town was that there
wasn't any watchman.
You know how cool it is to
play in a house that's being built?
All that sand and all those wooden beams
over the cellar that you can
walk tightrope on?
The kind of playing that
it's a good thing parents don't know
anything about because if they did they'd
have a fit.
Well, it all happened on a
Saturday in the summertime.
The time of
year when you have dinner and still have a few hours
of daylight left to play
Johnny, a husky 10 -year -old, and his pals were playing king
of the hill on the sand pile by the new home,
and
Johnny was doing a pretty good job of being
the king.
As they wrestled up and down, the sun slowly set through the trees and cast long,
shadowy fingers
across the unfinished house and the
great piles of unused lumber.
The darker it got, the brighter
glowed the red warning lantern,
which the workmen had left behind until finally
everything was bathed in an eerie red glow.
Finally the game stopped and the boys,
breathing heavily, looked about them.
Gee, it's scary, isn't it?
One of the boys said with wide eyes.
Nothing to be scared of, said
Johnny, who liked to think that he
wasn't scared of anything.
One of the boys whispered,
Gee, fellas, I think I'll just head on home.
Oh yeah, whispered another boy. I'll bet
that you get out of here as fast as we do.
Johnny yawned and stretched. I don't know, fellas,
maybe I'll just spend the night here, the whispering boy said.
Go on, I just dare you to.
What'll you give me if I do, said
Johnny, who liked to take dares
to show how brave he was.
My new scout knife whispered the boy as
he edged toward the road home.
Sure, said
Johnny, like taking candy from a baby.
Drop off and tell my folks I'm camping
out for the night.
Johnny looked around and star
ted for the unfinished house.
He was startled for a moment as he saw
a great shadow moving against the side of it,
But he laughed weakly to himself as he realized it was his
own shadow caused by the red lantern light.
One room was almost finished.
At least it had a floor and a roof on.
Good a place as any, said
Johnny to himself as he found a clear place
on the floor and settled down.
The wind blew crisply through the
open doors an d windows.
There was just a sliver of a moon, but it
was quickly covered by a swift -moving cloud.
Soon there was no light at all, but the red lantern
glowed against the opposite wall.
After a while,
Johnny thought his eyes were playing tricks on him,
because the red lantern light seemed
to be getting dimmer and dimmer.
What was that?
He heard the sound of scratching
from the next room.
It got louder and louder,
then around the corner scurried a squirrel, said
Johnny
half to himself.
The squirrel looked at
Johnny and almost grinned, at least
Johnny
thought he did,
and he settled back again.
What was that?
Scratching again, louder
this time, then he saw a shadow move slowly
into the doorway.
It was another
squirrel but it was as big as a cat
Johnny pretended
to be asleep the big
squirrel pattered over to the little squirrel and
spoke to him hello there
Henry well what are we gonna do with him
good evening
Clarence we'll wait until
Charlie comes said the little squirrel and
they both turned and grinned in
Johnny's direction.
Through half -closed eyes
Johnny thought that their teeth were
awfully long an d that he didn't care so
much about that new scout knife.
A few
moments later there
was some more scratching.
Pretty loud this time and in
the door came a squirrel as
big as a sheepdog.
He shuffled over to the others
and nodded in greeting.
Mmm,
Henry?
Clarence?
Mmm, what'll we do with him?
Henry piped up.
Mike, I just told
Clarence here,
George.
I'll wait till
Charlie comes.
George nodded an d grinned at
Johnny,
who was beginning to
have some doubts
about this whole adventure.
He was beginning to wish he was home
in his own bed
when he heard a heavy noise.
And in through the door came a squirrel as
big as a good -sized pony.
His bushy tail brushed the top of the
door as he entered.
He lumbered over to the other three and sat up,
and his head almost touched the ceiling.
He said,
Hello,
Clarence,
George.
Oh, I didn't see you there,
Henry.
Well, what are we going to do with him?
The other three said,
Hello
Cecil, wait till
Charlie comes.
Then they all turned toward
Johnny.
But before they could grin at him,
Johnny leaped to his feet
and as he ran wildly out
the door he shouted,
Tell
Charlie I couldn't wait!
