“Oh,” I replied. What else could I say?
“Have you ever heard of the Golden Rule?” he asked, his caterpillar
eyebrows going wild. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
“I never heard of that one,” I muttered.
A group of kids had gathered around us in the hall. I started to feel
embarrassed. Mountain still had his huge paw on my shoulder.
Some girls were asking Vinnie how he got all wet.
Mr. Benson leaned over me. I could smell coffee on his breath. Yuck.
16 “Would you like Vinnie to splash water all over you?” he asked.
“I tripped!” I lied. “It was an accident.”
Mr. Benson’s eyebrows jumped up and down on his broad forehead. He shook
his head. “Brandon, I told you, I saw the whole thing,” he repeated.
“He told me it was acid,” Vinnie chimed in. The little wimp.
A few kids gasped.
“Come with me,” Mr. Benson ordered. He began to guide me down the hall.
“But I’ll be late for class!” I protested.
“Too bad,” Mr. Benson replied. “You and I need to talk. I’m going to
give you Lecture Number Three-forty-five.”
“What lecture is that?” I grumbled.
“It’s all about cruelty to others.”
He led me into his science classroom and shut the door. Then he made me
sit across from his desk.
He sat on the edge of his desk, hovering over me like a buzzard about to
eat its prey.
“For the rest of this week, I’d like you to stay after school and clean
the science lab,” he said.
“But I didn’t mess it up!” I protested.
He ignored that and began his lecture about this Golden Rule thing -
about how we have to be nice to other people if we want them to be nice
to us.
The lecture seemed to go on for hours. But I
17 tuned out after the first minute or two. His voice droned on in the
background.
I was already planning my revenge.
Mr. Benson, I thought, it’s almost Halloween.
You shouldn’t get on my case just before Halloween. Because now I have
no choice.
Now I have to think up a nice Halloween surprise for you.
18 I stayed after school and cleaned the science lab. It put me in a
really bad mood.
The last class had been doing some really smelly experiments. And now I
smelled just like the experiments.
I kicked my backpack most of the way home. It was so late, the sun was
already starting to go down. Fat brown leaves swirled around my legs in
a gusty, fall wind.
Starting up my driveway, I had a really good idea.
I dumped my backpack on the front steps. Then I made my way to the side
of the house. I climbed the wide oak tree that nearly touches the house.
And I edged out on a limb right outside my sister’s bedroom window.
I slid open the window. And I waited.
19 The lights were on in Maya’s room. And her computer screen glowed. I
knew she’d come upstairs soon. And when she entered her room, she
wouldn’t be expecting any visitors. Especially not from the window.
I leaned close to the house and listened. Yes! Footsteps in the hall.
I edged along the tree branch, closer to the window. Then I leaned back
so Maya wouldn’t see me when she walked into the room.
I held my breath and waited.
Maya stepped into the bedroom. I peeked in. What was she carrying? A
bowl of something. And a glass of chocolate milk.
Perfect.
She took a few steps toward her desk.
I leaned forward … closer …
“AAAAAAAGH!” I opened my mouth in a terrifying shriek - and dove through
the window.
Maya’s eyes bulged. Her mouth dropped open, but no sound came out. Her
hands shot up. And the bowl and glass went flying.
The bowl shattered on the floor. Potato chips flew everywhere. The glass
landed on its side, spilling chocolate milk over the white shag rug.
“BRANDON!” Maya shrieked. “You jerk! You JERK!”
“Oops - just joking!” I exclaimed. I started to laugh. I thought I might
keep on laughing for at least a year.
20 Maya started furiously pounding my chest with her fists. But of
course, that only made me laugh harder.
“Okay, okay. I’ll help you clean up,” I told her. I knew I had to calm
I was totally cheered up. It doesn’t take much to put me in a good mood.
Just a good scare.
“Promise you’ll never do that again,” Maya insisted.
“Promise,” I replied.
“Do you really promise?” she demanded. “Really, really?”
“Sure,” I said, patting her head. “I really promise.”
It’s easy to make promises. I mean, what are promises? Things that are
easy to break - right?
I helped her clean up the broken china and the potato chips and
chocolate milk. The rug had a big stain in it - but what could I do?
When we finished, Maya started getting her Halloween costume together.
What did she plan to be? A princess, of course.
“Brandon, what are you going to be?” she asked, fiddling with the
elastic band on a sparkly tiara.
“For trick-or-treat?” I replied. “I’m not wearing a costume. That’s for
babies. I’ll just scare some kid and grab his bag of candy.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “You’re kidding - right?”
I grinned in reply.
21 Why would I kid about a thing like that?
I lowered my voice. “Know what Cal and I are going to do?”
“Something horrible, I’d guess,” Maya said, making a face.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Cal and I are going to trash Mr. Benson’s house.”
“You are not!” Maya declared. She picked up a pink crepe skirt and held
it against her waist. “That’s stupid.”
“Why is it stupid?” I demanded.
“Because you’re stupid!” she replied nastily.
“You’re too stupid to be stupid!” I told her. If she wanted to fight, I
was ready.
Maya dropped the skirt to the bed. “That house is too creepy,” she said.
She was right about that. Mr. Benson lives in this big, old wreck, very
dark and totally falling apart. The house is on the edge of Raven’s Ravine.
“You know Mom and Dad said you’re not allowed to go near the ravine,”
Maya sneered.
I repeated those words, mimicking her whiny voice.
She stuck her tongue out at me.
“Bet I could jump the ravine,” I bragged.
She gasped. “You’re not going to try it - are you?”
I grinned. “Maybe.”
Actually, I had no plans to try to jump Raven’s Ravine.
22 It was a steep drop, right behind Mr. Benson’s house. A rock cliff,
like a deep crack in the earth - about ten feet across to the other side.
It’s really dangerous. But lots of kids have jumped the ravine on dares.
If you miss, you fall straight down onto the jagged rocks below.
“Don’t look for trouble,” Maya warned.
“Thanks, Mom!” I snapped. “Don’t tell me what to do - okay?”
She frowned at me. “If you go to Mr. Benson’s house, you’ll get caught,
Brandon.”
“No way,” I protested. “Cal and I -
we’re too fast and too cool.”
If only I had listened to her …
23 Cal called me after dinner on Halloween night. “We’re going headless,
right?”
“Right,” I replied.
“So I don’t need a costume, right?”
“Right. You can use one of my masks to put on your shoulders.”
“We’re not going to trick-or-treat. We’re just going to scare kids, right?”
“Right,” I repeated. “And we’re going to trash Mr. Benson’s house.”
“Cool,” Cal said.
“So hurry over, okay? It’s already dark out. Time to get moving.”
I grabbed two ugly rubber monster masks from my collection, and hurried
downstairs.
A horrible surprise awaited me in the front hall.
24 A kid in a shiny black Darth Vader costume stepped through the
doorway. At first, I thought it was just a trick-or-treater.
But then, through his heavy plastic mask, he said, “Hey, Brandon.” And I
knew it was Vinnie.
“What are you doing here?” I demanded.
Mom walked into the front hall. “Doesn’t Vinnie look scary?” she asked.
She patted him on top of his plastic head.
“What is he doing here?” I repeated.
“You’re taking him trick-or-treating,” Mom replied.
I let out a groan.
“And you’re taking Maya and her three friends too,” Mom announced.
“You’re being a good big brother,” Mom replied.
“No way!” I protested. “No way!”
Maya and her three friends came bouncing into the hall. One of them was
Ariel the Mermaid. Maya and the other two were all princesses. Yuck.
Maya was pulling on her cardboard tiara. The other two princesses were
pushing down their crepe skirts and adjusting their glittery masks. The
mermaid was tugging at her fin.
“Let’s go,” Maya said.
“NO WAY!” I screamed.
Mom narrowed her eyes at me. “I expect you to be a good sport about
this, Brandon.”
25 Before I could reply, Cal stuck his head in the front door. “What’s
up?” he asked.
“You and Brandon are doing a good deed,” Mom answered. “You’re taking
these kids trick-or-treating.”
Cal nearly swallowed his tongue. “We are?” he cried.
“Let’s go!” Vinnie whined. “It’s hot inside this mask. I’m sweating!”
Mom stood over me, arms crossed, staring me down. I could see that I had
no choice. “No problem,” I whispered to Cal. “We’ll dump them as fast as
we can.”
“Okay, okay. Let’s go, you guys,” I declared. I led the way out the
front door.
“Take good care of them,” Mom called after me. “And don’t let Vinnie get
scared.”
“Yeah. Sure,” I muttered.
I led them across the front lawn toward the neighbors’ house. It was a
clear, cool night. Wispy clouds wriggled across the full moon like snakes.
The perfect night for scaring kids. But I was stuck with these babies.
The girls were giggling excitedly and talking nonstop. Vinnie held his
heavy mask in place with both hands and trotted to keep up.
I could see small groups of trick-or-treaters all the way down the
block. Cal and I guided Vinnie and the girls to three or four houses and
watched from the driveway as they received their candy.
26 “This isn’t any fun,” Cal grumbled.
“Let’s ditch the geeks,” I whispered.
His eyes grew wide. “Huh? Just leave them?”
“Sure. Why not?” I replied.
“But they’re only seven!” Cal protested.
“They’ll be fine,” I told him. “What could happen? They won’t even
notice we’re gone.”
Maya and her friends stood in front of an empty lot, talking to another
group of girls. I didn’t see Vinnie.
“Come on - run!” I ordered Cal.
The two of us took off across the street. The girls didn’t even see us.
We turned the corner and kept running.
After about half a block, I heard footsteps behind us. And Vinnie’s
whiny voice: “Hey, wait up! Wait up!”
He came running up to us, breathing hard under the mask. Breathing like
the real Darth Vader.
“I couldn’t see you!” he cried. “It’s hard to see in this mask.” He
started scratching his shoulders, then struggled to scratch his back.
“This costume is so itchy. And it’s boiling in here!”
“Maybe you should have been Princess Leia,” I joked.
Vinnie turned his black plastic head from side to side. “Where are the
girls?” he asked.
“Uh … they decided to go on ahead,” I told him.
Cal nodded in agreement. “Maybe you want to catch up to them,” he
suggested to Vinnie.
27 “No. I’ll stick with you guys,” Vinnie replied. “It’s kind of scary
out here. It’s so dark.”
Cal and I both sighed. We started walking again. Crossed a street. Then
another. Vinnie kept running up to the houses, ringing the doorbells,
holding up his Darth Vader trick-or-treat bag for candy.
“He’s going to ruin everything,” Cal grumbled. “We haven’t been able to
scare one kid.”
“We’ll dump him too,” I replied. “I have a plan.”
“But he’s such a wimp,” Cal said, shaking his head. “When he sees we’re
gone, he’ll probably start to cry.”
“No problem. Someone will feel sorry for him and take him home,” I replied.
“But what will your mom say?” Cal asked.
I shrugged. “I’ll tell her Vinnie ran off. I’ll tell her we spent the
whole night searching for him.”
“Cool,” Cal replied.
We led Vinnie to the haunted house at the dead end. It was old and
creepy and surrounded by thick woods.
“We’re not going to lock him in, are we?” Cal whispered.
“No. We’ll just ditch him here,” I whispered back. I turned to the
mighty Darth Vader. “Go try this place,” I said. I gave him a push into
the weed-choked driveway.
The broken-down old house had no lights. I could barely see Vinnie step
onto the front porch.
28 Cal and I took off, running as fast as we could.
We had only gone a few steps when we heard a frightening scream.
Vinnie!
Cal and I stopped. And listened.
We both gasped as we heard another shrill scream. Cut off in the middle.
And then … silence.
29 I laughed. “I guess poor old Vinnie met the ghost!” I exclaimed.
Cal glanced behind us toward the old house. “Shouldn’t we go back and
see if he’s okay?”
“No way!” I cried. “He’s fine. He just likes to scream. Besides, if
something bad happened, it’s too late anyway.”
“But your mom - ” Cal started.
“Forget about it,” I replied. “Now that we ditched the losers, it’s
finally time for some fun.”
I pulled the two rubber masks from my coat pocket and handed one to Cal.
We both tugged our coats up over our heads and zipped them all the way.
Then we propped the ugly masks on our shoulders.
“Headless Halloween!” I cried. “Come on. Let’s find some
victims!”
30 The block next to the middle school was crawling with
trick-or-treaters. Cal and I waited behind a tall hedge.
When some kids came by, we jumped out in front of them and took off our
masks.
“Headless Halloween!” Cal and I growled.
The kids screamed like crazy.
We made our way down the block, terrifying kids right and left. Without
even trying, I made two little boys burst into tears.
A few minutes after that triumph, Cal and I jumped out into the street
and made another boy fall off his bike.
Ha ha!
“I’m getting hungry,” Cal said, his voice muffled under his coat.
“No problem,” I replied.
I grabbed a full trick-or-treat bag from a kid wrapped from head to foot
in mummy bandages. I knew that a mummy wouldn’t be able to run after us
very fast.
Cal and I took off across the street.
The kid was shrieking his head off. “Come back! That’s mine! That’s mine!”
I tossed him a Snickers bar. It bounced off his chest and into the street.
Then we ran until the little wimp was out of sight.
Cal and I hid behind someone’s house. We dumped all the candy on the
ground. Then we
31 ripped open about a dozen candy bars and shoved them into our mouths.
Man, I love Halloween!
We heard the mummy boy crying his eyes out on the street. We pressed
ourselves against the wall of the house and hid until the kid was gone.
Cal grinned. “Poor guy,” he said. Cal had chocolate smeared all over his
chin.
We stuffed ourselves with candy. I opened a bag of M&Ms, tilted it to my
mouth, and poured them all down my throat.
Yum.
“Let’s go,” I said, burping up chocolate. “We’ve got to get to Mr.
Benson’s house - remember?”
“Are we just going to leave all this candy on the ground?” Cal asked,
still chewing.
“No. Bring it with us,” I replied. “We might get hungry while we’re
trashing Mountain’s house.”
“Cool,” Cal said, swallowing a mouthful of Tootsie Rolls. He shoved a
load of candy bars back into the bag.
Then we tucked our heads under our coats and walked headless up the hill
toward Mr. Benson’s house.
The moon had disappeared behind heavy black clouds. The houses ended as
we neared Raven’s Ravine, and the street grew very dark.
“Are we really going to trash Mountain’s house?” Cal asked timidly.
32 “Sure,” I replied, burping again. I didn’t feel too well. Maybe I ate