Heading toward a corner table, Steve asked, “So, Sal, how far out is Waverly Manor? We’re anxious to move in.”
At the mention of Waverly Manor, one man quit eating and turned to stare at Steve as he passed.
The large man stood and announced, "Hey, everyone, look who's taking over the old manor." All eyes fell on the family seated in the corner.
Jackie looked to her parents. "What's the matter, Daddy? Why is everyone laughing at us?"
"Shhh, don't worry," Amanda said. "Someone just told a joke."
The large man had a huge belly laugh and remarked, “They won’t last the first night. Not at the haunted manor!” The laughter died down once the waitress, Belle, came out from behind the counter and stared the big man down.
"Enough, everyone. Big Ralph, you've had your fun, now sit down."
The waitress proceeded to the table with the new family and put one hand on her hip. "Hey, Sal, using my booth as your office again?"
"Oh, sorry. It's cramped at my place." Sal explained to Steve and Amanda that he shared his office space with the laundromat and only photocopy place in town.
Jackie's bright, happy face with her button nose and dimpled grin came into the waitress' view.
"Hi," Jackie said.
Steve interrupted. "Coffee, please."
"Juice-juice-juice, pretty please," Jackie sang.
The waitress smiled at Jackie. "Hello, darling. Would you like some juice?"
"Yes, please."
The waitress spoke to Steve. "And I'll bring your coffee, sir." She tilted her head toward Jackie again. "How about a cup of hot cocoa first to warm you up. It's a chilly morning."
"Mmm. You betcha, chickie baby," Jackie answered.
"What?" Belle put one hand on her hip and looked surprised.
"Sorry," Amanda spoke up. "She had an open minded babysitter where we used to live and picked up all kinds of things."
"Okay." Belle chuckled. "One hot cocoa coming right up. Miss, coffee for you, too?"
"Please. That would be great." Amanda sighed and relaxed her shoulders.
"Been driving all night?"
"Yes. Can you tell?"
The waitress laughed. "Yes, a little." She turned to Jackie. "Hey, young lady, do you like happy faces on your pancakes?"
"Umm, yes I do."
"Well then, you've come to the right place. It's named Smiling Pancakes for a reason." The waitress looked at Jackie's father. "Don't worry about this morning's coffee rabble. The town folk like to tease everyone new. Sal, anything for you?"
"No thanks. Heading back to the office." Sal handed the house key to Steve and stood. "Well, folks, if you need anything, call, okay?"
Steve and Amanda shook his hand and said goodbye.
"Goodbye, little girl," Sal said, then looked to Amanda. "Best of luck in your new home. Oh, by the way, we use your garden and the huge field on your property for our town's pumpkin patch and also our town Christmas lot. The money we earn goes into the repair kitty. Hope you don't mind the headache, but it's just seasonal."
Amanda nodded. "That will be fine. We love the activities and besides, we'll get a chance to meet the rest of the townsfolk."
Sal turned toward the front door. "See you then if not before."
Everyone in the restaurant called out, "Bye, Sal!"
Amanda said, "Wave bye, Jackie," and Jackie waved.
Jackie caught some of the people staring at her in the restaurant. She smiled and waved to them.
One of them, an old lady, said, "Hi, cutie. Too bad you won't like your new home."
"Why?" Jackie asked.
The old lady grinned, showing her coffee-stained teeth. "It's haunted, that's why."
"Please, ma'am," Steve said. "My daughter is not humored by your dislike of our new home."
"Of course. Just trying to be friendly."
"Friendly, huh?" Steve huffed.
"Shhh," Amanda said to her husband.
The family endured close inspection, chuckles and rude comments from the diners about their new house. Steve and Amanda sunk down into their seats, feeling self-conscious. Belle saw their trouble and stopped in the middle of the restaurant, holding a coffee pot in one hand.
"Say, Ralph?" she spoke in a loud voice. "How's your hemorrhoids doing? That ointment work yet?"
Ralph turned beat red and slumped over his plate, not looking at anyone. Everyone else fell quiet, knowing better than to make fun of Belle's customers.
Once the McCaulou's breakfast came, the place emptied out as everyone had to go to work.
The waitress said, "Now you can eat in peace and quiet."
"Wow," Steve said. "Is it always this crowded?"
The waitress nodded. "It's how we all get together and talk. We can't afford a local paper yet, and we're not part of any other town's news since nothing ever happens around here, unless of course you count Jim's old cow Betsy getting loose and running down the main drag." She turned to Jackie. "How are the pancakes, dear?"
"I love them! I like choo-chooing on the bacon that makes the smiley part of the face."
"Thanks," Amanda said to the waitress. "That's the most breakfast I've seen her eat in a long time."
"About that manor you're moving into." The waitress rested one hand on Jackie's shoulder. "Word is it's a real doozy filled with mysterious unknowns. It gets everyone a little off their rocker around here, but soon you'll see that we just tease and mean no harm. That's how it is — sad, but we're a happy town. Any one of us would break their back to help the other person out. More coffee?"
"Yes," Steve said. "It's good, the best I've had."
"Thanks a lot." Amanda bumped her husband's shoulder.
"Just kidding, dear," Steve said. He nodded to the waitress. "About the manor. What concerns should I have?"
She leaned in close to him and whispered, "Ghosts."
"Aww, nonsense," Steve argued. "There's no such thing, right?" He looked at his wife, but she just shrugged.
"Have it your way, then," the waitress said, "but watch out for the witching hour. That's when the old owners said it got really wicked inside of that old place."
Steve glanced at a photo on the wall. The sign on it said it was the oldest building in town. The three-story Victorian house had a large front porch and above the porch, a balcony, all lined with wooden railing. White paint covered the old house with blue paint on the trim, and a cupola, complete with four spires, crowned the third floor. The porch and eaves were trimmed with copious amounts of gingerbread. On one end, a brick chimney went from the ground to tower above the roof.
A bare, weather beaten trellis leaned between two windows on the front, and Steve wondered what had grown there. Roses? Lilacs? Honeysuckles? Overgrown bushes almost hid the porch steps and front door, and huge trees surrounded the house.
When he read the name, he saw it was none other than Waverly Manor. A brass plaque on the oversized wooden frame read: most haunted place in town.
Amanda said, "I just love the look of the old place. It looks like it's filled with so much charm. How on earth can it be thought of so badly? I don't care what anyone else says, I like it."
Steve whispered back, "There's something about it that spooks me, and I feel it might be trouble."
"Spooky? I thought you said there was no such thing."
"Well, if all these townspeople think so, then it might be true."
Jackie stared at the old photo. She couldn't take her eyes off it.
CHAPTER 5
After that meeting in the cafe, the family paid their bill and said goodbye to Belle. They started the long, lonely drive down the road filled with rows of many oak and maple trees dotted here and there.
The family looked doubtful after being laughed at by the town, but their hopes were definitely high as they came closer to the manor. The front view of Waverly Manor looked normal to anyone who dared come down the old dirt road and take a good look. When the McCaulou family first saw th
eir home, they were swept up in its haunting beauty. But that's what the ghosts from the attic allowed them to think. A spell had been cast by Anna the witch so no one would know who hid in the attic.
On this fall day, the trees' red, gold and burnt orange leaves loosened in the breeze and settled on the manor, and all living things in the garden became barren for the season. A creepy, large shadow appeared in the yard, then moved into the manor quiet and slow. The old mighty oak that stood in front of the manor for hundreds of years, where the owl resided, seemed to move forward just for the newcomers, offering some light to the old place for the day.
Steve parked the car and craned his neck to look through the windshield and up at the house.
"We're here." He pushed open his car door and pulled the front door key from his pocket. "You ready to see your new home?"
Jackie clapped her hands and bounced on the backseat. "Yes! Yes! Where's my room?"
"We don't know yet, sweetheart," her mother answered. "Let's go look."
Steve's shoes thudded on the wooden porch, and the screen door squeaked when he opened it, disturbing a cobweb stretched across one corner.
Unlocking the door, he paused at the sounds from the old house. Within the manor walls hummed a grandfather clock's peaceful heartbeat. The living, dwelling inner sanctum was snug and secure. The grandfather clock stood against the wall inside the front hall and could be heard outside as it marked every second with its pendulum. Tick...tock echoed down the hallway with the clock's measured sounds of silence and time.
Sal must have started the clock, Steve thought.
He took a deep breath, smelling dust and old wood and memories. Jackie bumped into him from behind, in a hurry to see her new house.
"Slow down, honey," he warned and took her hand. "Wait for your mother."
Amanda walked up and stopped to look at the entry way and the staircase winding up to the second floor. Floral wallpaper decorated the walls, though it had started to peel at the top. She could see the living room on her right, with its high ceiling and huge windows. Their old apartment could fit into this one room.
"I'm going exploring outside," she announced. "I want to look at the gardens."
"Me, too, Mommy." Jackie followed her mother outside again.
A few minutes passed when Steve called from inside the house, "Umm, honey?"
"Yes, dear, I'm outside," Amanda said.
"I just fell!" He struggled to stand and rubbed his sore head.
"Holy moly. I'm so sorry. What happened in there? Come out to the light and let's get a good look at you. Are you okay?"
"Which question do you want me to answer first?" Steve laughed and walked to the front yard to stand next to her. "Sorry, just joking in my time of pain. I was walking in the front room and, when I stepped into the kitchen, a loose floorboard flew up and hit me in the face. Pow!"
"Pow?" Amanda repeated with a grin.
"It was more like wham, actually. My head is pounding. That's not the worst part though."
"Oh?"
"I heard whispers — millions of them, like voices hiding in the walls, except it sounded like it was coming from one person, a young girl. She was speaking right above me, echoing around me. It made me dizzy just trying to keep up with the sound of her voice, and then the room rumbled. It was the strangest thing."
"Really?" Amanda wasn't sure what to make of the voices. Maybe he'd hit his head harder than he realized.
"And then there was howling and it sounded like a bell clanged or a horn blew and it kept getting closer to me."
"That must have been terrible for you."
"It made me so afraid I wanted to run, but I couldn't. I'm a man. I shouldn't get spooked by this, but when the door creaked, I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up straight."
"What did you do next?"
"I-I didn't see anything. You probably think I'm going crazy but, I’m little scared."
"I don't have to think…"
"What was that?" Steve asked, thinking he heard something.
"Nothing."
"What if those people weren't kidding in the restaurant?"
"Aw, come on now, you can't take the word of a group of whackos. You're just tired from driving all night and you've been deprived of T.V. for a few days, too."
"Well, I am a little stressed. I could use some sack time," Steve said.
"Poor baby!"
"Oh, come on. Don’t be that way in front of Jackie. All right? Speaking of her," Steve said while he looked around, "where's she at?"
Amanda shrugged. "Probably with her teddy bear somewhere."
"Oh, okay." He jabbed a finger toward the house. "I want to fix that floor board first thing."
The door slammed and a creaking sound came from inside the kitchen.
"Did you hear that?" Steve asked.
"It's probably just the wind. You worry too much. Old places creak!"
"Doors mysteriously slam and bang and make sounds like the walls are filled with ghosts or demons, huh?"
"I'm from the country. Old homes always have character. Face it, you're a city boy. Scaredy cat."
Steve wanted to change the subject. "Our daughter is sitting by the swing tied to that big oak. She's talking to a pretend friend. How cute." He turned to Amanda. "What the townspeople feel about this place is just the fear of the unknown, and once they see us enjoying ourselves here, they'll feel different about the old place. Right?"
"Right. This is a beautiful house." Amanda saw the concern on her husband's face. "I think maybe you're deeply upset about moving here and you secretly hate this place. You miss the big, smoggy, overcrowded city."
"I don't secretly hate this place, geez. We just got here," Steve said.
"I'm sorta happy to be here because we are together."
Steve laughed. "That's the main thing, honey."
"Bats…"
"What?"
"Probably just bats — the noises you heard."
"Oh brother, bats she tells me now. Yes, dear, it was bats!" Steve pointed toward the third floor. "Bats trapped up in the attic. That's that sound I heard, like a little girl's voice. She flapped her wings and hung upside down from the rafters."
"I didn't mean it in that way, but yes, each new sound can mean something different to us."
Steve put his arm around his wife's waist and pulled her close. They both stared at the front of the manor.
"Don't worry, baby," Steve said. "I'll protect you from those nasty, blood sucking old bats."
The front door of the house opened by itself and then closed. Steve noticed it, but Amanda didn't. Steve stiffened and backed up one step, gulping loudly.
"Honey, are you okay?" Amanda asked. "You're acting odd."
"I'm fine. No ghost or demons, it was just bats — I'm sure you're right," Steve said. "I just want to unpack and get the T.V. set up."
"Yep, the big game is on tonight."
"I don't see an antenna on the roof. Hope I can get some sort of television reception out here with a coat hanger and tin foil."
"Let's get the car unpacked then."
CHAPTER 6
Anna, Tomfoolery and Boo were hanging out in the attic when they heard the key turn in the front door. Anna was less than pleased.
"Who on earth could that be?" she said. "Boo! Watch the door."
"Yes, Anna."
Boo slipped through the floorboards and took a long peek through the wallboard and the old flaky paint, and then came back to the attic with a frightful look on his face.
"What is it?" Anna asked. "Did you see anything?"
"Probably just a traveling salesman," Tomfoolery said.
Boo didn't answer. He kept rubbing his eyes and shaking his head.
Anna yelled at the top of her voice, "Who was at the door, Boo?"
"I…I can't believe it," Boo shuttered.
"What?" Tomfoolery asked.
"Human alert!"
"What!"
"Human
s at twelve o'clock," Boo yelled. "Everyone take cover! And they have a child, too. Oh no!"
Anna walked over to the floorboard and grumbled. Boo and Tomfoolery hid while she got down to her knees with the dust flittering around her. Spying with her right eye through the crack in the floor, she watched the family enter the manor with suitcases and boxes.
"Good grief, they're humans all right!" she said. "The beloved living keep reappearing, don't they?"
There were only three of them, and no pets, thank goodness.
Anna smelled trouble right away as the little girl played with the doorbell until her mother made her stop and come into the living area where her father stood. The little girl swirled around, carrying her teddy, and danced on her tiptoes. While she danced, she sang a song. It was faint, but Anna could hear:
Four little pumpkins sitting on the gate. The first one says, "Oh my, it's getting late. Close the gate. Don't let the witches out!"
The second one says, "There are witches in the air on a broomstick, I do declare. How will we get them all down? It's past their dinnertime."
The third one says, "But we don't care. The witching hour has begun. They are up to so much fun despite the sun and feast later."
The fourth one says, "Let them have some fun. Cast the sun into the moon and let's cruise onwards to Mars to see the Martians."
Then whoosh went the wind and out went the light and four little pumpkins rolled out of sight! And the witches came to get us instead…woo-hooo.
Anna laughed and found the little wonder refreshing and very sweet.
"Hey, guys," Anna said. "The little girl won't be any trouble."
Boo hovered next to Anna. "Are you sure?"
"Pretty sure. Time will tell."
"Right!"
All of them went back to watching through the knothole.
"They have a child, and you know what that means," Tomfoolery shouted. "Nothing but trouble!"
Boo looked at Tomfoolery and disagreed. "But Anna said it would be all right."
"Aw, what does she know?" Tomfoolery grumbled. "Anna is a mere child herself. Humans are nothing but problems. That's a fact."
The three heard odd sounds of laughter and talking that echoed up to the attic. On one occasion that day they even heard the child giggling.
"What was that?" Boo asked.