(this was originally published on my Facebook Fanpage last Halloween. I am reposting it here in case you don’t go there.)
“I dare you…” whispered Frankenstein. “Heck…I double dog dare you!”
There was no way to ignore a double dog dare that wouldn’t make you a coward and a total laughing-stock. Especially when you were eleven and supposed to be all grown up.
Fiddling with the star pinned to his vest, Sheriff Pete sighed. “It’s awfully late. We were supposed to go straight home after Carter Street.”
“You are a chicken,” crowed Kevin the Hobo. “Oh, boy! I can’t wait to tell Melissa.” He made smootchy kissing noises at the Sheriff.
The Sheriff sighed again. If he didn’t take the dare, he might as well move to Africa, because life on Willow Street would be over.
Straightening his shoulders, he adjusted his vest and set his cowboy hat more firmly on his head. Taking a deep breath, he marched up the cracked sidewalk toward the dark porch of the ramshackle house.
Everyone knew the cardinal rule of trick-or-treating: if the porch light was off, the people in the house didn’t want to be bothered. But a double dog dare superseded even an important rule like that one. You couldn’t ignore a double dog dare unless you were tired of living.
Pete O’Brien didn’t feel much like a lawman any more as he forced himself to keep moving up the walk. He felt very much like someone who would rather be at home sorting his Halloween candy. But Tommy and Kevin would never let him live it down if he didn’t answer the challenge, and he couldn’t risk Kevin talking to Melissa.
Pete reached the rickety front steps and cautiously climbed them. It sure was dark…the moon was a mere sliver of light, and clouds covered most of the stars. The nearest streetlight was on the corner. Not a glimmer of light shown in the rundown house before him.
He stepped onto the porch, and a board creaked loud enough to wake the dead. He shuddered at the thought.
Stepping quickly across to the door, he rapped the old-fashioned knocker. The sound boomed inside the house, echoing as if through barren rooms. Before the echoes died, he turned and was moving toward the stairs.
“See? No one home,” he called to the others. He set a foot on the top step.
And the door creaked open behind him.
“Yes…?” croaked a deep voice from the darkness inside the door frame.
Pete jumped a foot in the air then whirled toward the doorway. He could see nothing beyond the edge of the door.
“T-trick or t-treat?” squeaked Pete.
“Ah, is it All Hallow’s Eve already?” asked the voice from the darkness. “The years pass so quickly of late.”
Pete gulped and nodded, belatedly thrusting out the pillowcase he was using to collect his goodies. “Yes…sir…?” he answered tentatively, unsure if the voice was actually male or maybe female. “Trick or treat.” His voice was a little stronger now. He took a step toward the door.
“Certainly. Come inside, my dear.” The voice sounded amused as the door opened wider.
Pete darted a glance over his shoulder at the others. “I-I…my friends—” He gestured to Tommy and Kevin. “I really gotta—”
“I have some lovely apples in the kitchen. You can bring some for your little friends too.”
A warning bell seemed to clang in Pete’s head. Apples…? From a scary-voiced weirdo in a falling-down house…? He didn’t think so.
“T-that’s all right, ma’am. We’re running awfully late. I don’t want to put you out.” He edged closer to the steps once more.
“It will only take a moment. Please…come in.”
“Don’t be rude, Petey!” called Tommy, hand cupped to his mouth as he and Kevin stood safely on the street. “Go on…I dare you!”
It wasn’t a double dog dare, but at this point, it was just as good. If he backed down now Kevin would still ruin his chances with Melissa…and she was the first girl he’d ever even looked at twice.
Exhaling gustily, Pete stepped across the threshold. Beyond the door, it wasn’t quite as dark as it looked from the outside. There were flickering candles sitting on bookcases and dressers lining the sides of a long hallway. Their soft light revealed dark, brooding paintings of people in old-fashioned clothing and lonely landscapes with lots of dead trees and crows.
“Uh…nice artwork, ma’am,” Pete murmured. Now that he could see better, it was obvious that the figure who had opened the door was a hunched old woman dressed all in black. Her face was seamed with wrinkles, her hair a pile of dirty white braids atop her head.
She shuffled down the hallway before him, crooking her finger over her shoulder. “Follow me, young…Peter, is it?”
Reluctantly, he did.
The hallway ended in a large, dark room. She flipped a switch and it lit up as a bank of fluorescent lights flickered on. The room proved to be a kitchen, painted a sunny yellow.
The kitchen was amazingly modern compared to the rest of the house. All the appliances and countertops were stainless steel. Everything was neat and tidy. A large bowl of apples sat on the counter beside the quietly humming refrigerator.
“Swell kitchen,” blurted Pete before he thought.
“Thank you, kind sir,” she replied, cackling with laughter. She slowly crossed the spotless tiles to the bowl of apples.
Reaching into the bowl, she took out three shining red apples, holding one of them out toward him in her clawed hand. “Here is your apple. Will you take the others to your friends?”
Suddenly a picture of the Wicked Witch from Snow White flashed through his head.
“Uh…sure,” he said, vowing not to eat the apple…even if his mom would think that was better for him than the candy.
She shuffled back to him and dumped the apples into his bag. “Enjoy.”
“T-thank you, ma’am.” Pete backed away from the old woman into the hallway.
As soon as he was out of sight of the kitchen, he turned and ran out of the house. He bolted down the front steps and skidded to a stop before the others.
“I’m impressed,” said Tommy, nodding his head in admiration. “I never would have thought you had it in you.”
Kevin raised a thumb. “Yeah, Pete. That was awesome.”
Pete reached into his bag and pulled out two of the shiny red apples. He handed one to each of the others. “Here’s your treat. Go on, eat ‘em up. I dare you.”
