Halloween had finally arrived. The night air was crisp and most of the leaves had fallen from the trees. Twelve-year old Ashley Enright thought she was really too old to go trick or treating, but her six-year old sister, Kelly, was looking forward to it. Kelly was dressed as a bumblebee and Ashley was dressed like a detective with a magnifying glass, tweed hat and cape.
She asked her best friend, Josh Stewart, if he’d go trick or treating with them. He jumped at the chance!
“I can be Jupiter Shadow,” said Josh. Then he thought about the idea for a minute and said, “Well, we’re really just doing this for your little sister. But, it is kind of fun to get candy!”
Ashley’s mother told them to only go to the houses of people that they knew and to not go beyond five blocks. She said that she expected them to be back in two hours.
Ashley and Kelly stopped at the two houses that were between theirs and Josh’s and were rewarded with candy.
Kelly was excited and started to open a bag of M&M’s that a neighbor gave to her.
“Not now, silly goose,” said Ashley. “You can eat your candy later after we get home and Mom has examined everything.”
“Why does Mommy have to examine everything?” asked Kelly.
“Well, she wants to make sure that all of the candy is wrapped properly,” answered Ashley. Besides, she likes to take out all of the candy that she likes!”
They stopped at Josh’s house and his mother, Mrs. Stewart, gave them candy.
“What a great bumblebee,” said Mrs. Stewart looking at Kelly’s costume. “I hope you don’t sting anybody!”
“That’s silly,” giggled Kelly. “I’m not a real bee. I’m just me!”
Josh came swooping down the stairs dressed in silver tights with a blue cape swirling out behind him. “Jupiter Shadow has arrived,” he exclaimed.
Ashley laughed and held up her magnifying glass. She said, “I can see that! Now, let’s get going!”
They all said goodbye to Mrs. Stewart and started on their way up and down the blocks around Foggy Bottom Road. After a few blocks, their trick or treat bags were starting to get heavy. Ashley thought it was time to head back.
“Wait,” said Josh. “We haven’t gone down this street yet. We can make this the last one.” He pointed to a street sign.
Ashley looked down the street lined with trees and said, “I don’t think there are even any houses here.”
“Sure there are,” said Josh. “I can see the lights from one house right there!” He pointed to a spot about halfway down the street.
“O.k.,” said Ashley. “But this is the last house!”
They walked down the street and up the driveway of what appeared to be the only house on the block. There were lights on inside the house and the porch light was on.
They walked up the four steps to the porch and were startled the sight of a woman dressed in black with the tall hat who was sitting in a chair in the dark.
Kelly let out a bloodcurdling shriek and ran back down the driveway screaming, “A witch, a witch!” Ashley ran after her little sister.
The witch yelled after them, “Wait, I’m not really a witch!”
Josh looked at her skeptically, gulped and said, “You’re not? You look like the real thing to me!”
The witch laughed — it wasn’t a cackle it was a normal laugh. She said, “I’m sorry I scared your little friend. I just didn’t want to have these pumpkins smashed, so I thought I’d sit out here and protect them. You see, I spent a lot of time carving them.” She pointed to the four huge pumpkins on her front porch steps.
Josh looked closely at each intricately-designed pumpkin and said, “Wow! These are really good! You’re really an artist.”
The witch laughed and said, “I guess I am. My name is Carly Walthers.”
Josh introduced himself and started to shake her hand. “Wait,” he said pulling his hand back. “Why is your hand green?”
“Oh, that’s just food coloring,” said Carly.
“I’d better go after my friends,” said Josh. “It was nice to meet you. I hope that your pumpkins stay safe!”
“It was nice to meet you, too,” said Carly as Josh went down the front driveway. “I don’t get to meet too many people anymore,” she said to herself.
Josh caught up with Ashley and Kelly and said, “She wasn’t really a witch. She was just guarding her pumpkins.”
“She sure scared me,” said Kelly. “I want to go home. Wait, what candy did she give you?”
“I forgot all about the candy!” said Josh smacking his head.
“How could you forget about candy?” said Kelly. “Boys can be so dumb.”
“All right,” said Ashley. “We’ve had enough excitement for one night, let’s go home.” They all walked to Foggy Bottom Road. They said goodnight to Josh as he walked up his driveway and they went home.
Later that evening, the Enrights and Gram sat around the dining room table to sort the candy. Gram was Ashley and Kelly’s grandmother. She had come over to help give out candy to trick or treaters. Kelly was worn out from her Halloween adventures and was already in bed.
Ashley told Gram about all the houses they went to and how there was a witch at a house on Daniels Street.
“A house on Daniels Street?” questioned Gram. “Are you sure it was Daniels Street?”
“Yes,” said Ashley. “It was just a few blocks away. It was the only house on the street, but we saw lights on and went to it. Why do you ask, Gram?”
“Well,” answered Gram. “Maybe they’ve built a new house there, but I thought that street’s been empty for years.”
“Empty?” exclaimed Ashley. “That’s not possible. There was a house there. We went there.”
Gram said, “I guess they’ve built something on the old Walthers lot.”
“Walthers was Carly’s last name,” said Ashley.
“Carly Walthers?” said Gram. “Now that’s a coincidence. There was a Carly Walthers who disappeared at sea in the 1920’s. I remember hearing my parents talk about it. She was a promising young artist and was never found.”
“That is quite a coincidence,” said Ashley’s mother. “But I think we’ve had enough candy and stories for one evening.”
The next morning Ashley called Josh to tell him what her grandmother had said about Carly Walthers.
“That’s weird, Ashes, “said Josh. “But we all saw her and I talked to her. I know she was real. Maybe she’s related somehow.”
“Why don’t we ride over there and ask her?” suggested Ashley. Josh agreed and ten minutes later he met Ashley at the end of his driveway on his bicycle.
They didn’t talk much on the short ride to Daniels Street. When they got halfway down Daniels Street, they both hit the brakes and gasped.
There was no house standing where they had been the night before, just the remains of an old foundation.
“Ashes,” gulped Josh. “What’s going on here?”
“I don’t know,” said Ashley. “Don’t tell Kelly, but I think we may have met a ghost last night.”
HAPPY HALLOWEEN
AshleyEnrightInvestigations 