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The Haunted Car
By: Anne Skalitza
In the middle of the block on Vandire Street, in the middle of a weed-filled lot, sat a very rusty, very old, red car. Its tires were flatter than pancakes and its windows were cracked. Tall grass grew around it and crumpled newspapers tossed this way and that, like they were trying to get far, far, away.
You see, a strange sound came from that car. It sounded like “Ee-ow! Ee-ow!”
People turned up their coat collars and hurried past. Children ran away as fast as they could.
Everyone said the car was haunted.
One day, just as Jacob thought he and his dog, Dex, were safely past the weed-filled lot. A scary sound came from the very rusty, very old, red car. 
“Ee-ow! Ee-ow!”
Dex pulled hard on his leash.
"No, Dex. Come on," Jacob pleaded.
Dex pulled harder on the leash. The leash snapped off. Dex galloped toward the very rusty, very old, red car.
Jacob ran after Dex, stumbling through the weeds and crumpled newspapers.
The sound became louder. “Ee-ow! Ee-ow!”
Dex stopped and barked at one of the car's broken windows.
"Come on, Dex," Jacob cried. "Come on. We have to go home."
Something jumped out at them. Jacob scrunched his eyes closed and held his breath. Something sharp dug into his shoulder. Something wet tickled his cheek. Slowly, Jacob opened one eye, then the other.
He looked right into the face of a gray cat, its fur matted and dirty.
“Ee-ow! Ee-ow,” the cat cried.
It was the same sound that scared everyone away.
“So you are the ghost of the old car,” Jacob said, holding the not-so-scary cat. “Most cats say ‘me-ow,’ but you say, ‘ee-ow’!”
Dex and Jacob clambered through the weeds away from the car with the kitten in Jacob's arms. When they got to the sidewalk, people were standing there, watching.
"It's okay," Jacob told them. "It was only this cat making the noise. The car isn't haunted."
With his free hand, Jacob patted Dex's head. "Good boy, Dex. Now Mom and you and I will have a cat, too."
That very rusty, very old, red car still sits in that lot on Vandire Street. But now when people walk by, they walk a lot slower. And they smile.
~The End~ Illustration Copyright © 2008 Angela Hawkins
Copyright © 2008 by Anne Skalitza |
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