32 - The Barking Ghost Read Online Free Page B

knows
that our house is haunted!”
    “Maybe that’s why we got such a good deal on the house,” Dad muttered,
chuckling.
    I didn’t see what was so funny.
    He stopped laughing and stared at me seriously. “Forget about the dogs for
now, Cooper. We’ll deal with it if you see them again. In the meantime, I’ll ask
around in town if anyone knows who owns them. Okay?”
    “But what about the house?” I asked. “Margaret said we should move as fast as
we can.”
    “French toast is ready!” Mom called out, interrupting me. “Come on, Cooper.
Before it gets cold.”
    “Go eat,” my father urged. “And please. Not another word about dogs or the
house being haunted.”
    With a sigh, I headed back to the kitchen. As I stepped through the door,
Mickey jumped in my face and let out a roar.
    Naturally, it scared me to death.
    “Mom!” I cried.
    “Mickey, enough!” my mother screamed. “Stop teasing Cooper. He’s having a
hard time adjusting to the new house.”
    “No, I’m not!” I yelled at her. Why wasn’t anybody taking me seriously? “This
house is haunted. You’ll be sorry you didn’t listen to me. You’ll be sorry!”
    Then I stormed out and stomped off to my room. I collapsed on my bed and
gazed around. Same old stuff, but the room didn’t feel like my own.
    I stayed in there all day. I didn’t want to see Mickey. I didn’t want to see
Mom and Dad. And I really didn’t want to see those dogs again.
    By dinnertime, I’d unpacked most of my things. The room felt a little better.
More like my old bedroom back in Boston.
    After dinner, I lugged all seventy-seven snow domes into the bathroom and
washed them, one by one. People don’t realize that you have to take care of snow
domes and keep them clean and filled with water or they’ll dry out.
    When they were all sparkling clean, I arranged them carefully on my new
bookcase.
    They looked awesome!
    I tried to organize them in some sort of size order, but that didn’t work.
Instead, I alphabetized them—from Annapolis to Washington, D.C. Of course, I
placed my absolute favorite dome—a Boston Red Sox snow dome—on the middle
shelf, front and center.
    I finished at eleven, then got ready for bed. All that unpacking had tired me
out.
    I had closed my eyes and was just drifting off to sleep when I heard it.
    Loud and clear.
    Barking.
    And growling.
    Outside my window.
    I bolted straight up in bed.
    I waited for my parents and Mickey to come running in. This time, they must
have heard the dogs, too.
    I waited. And waited.
    The barking grew louder.
    No one else in the house stirred.
    I lowered one foot to the floor, then the other. I stood up, listening hard.
    Listening to the two dogs barking.
    And to my horror, I realized that this time the barking wasn’t outside my
window.
    This time it was coming from inside my house!

 
 
11
     
     
    Frantically, I searched for a weapon. Something to protect me from the
barking dogs.
    I found my aluminum baseball bat in the closet. I gripped it tightly and
crept across the room to my bedroom door.
    I pushed it open. And listened.
    Yes.
    The barking was definitely coming from inside the house. From the living
room, I decided.
    I took a deep breath and slipped into the hallway. Where were my parents?
Their bedroom is directly over the living room on the second floor. They had to
hear this.
    Why hadn’t they come running out?
    Mickey’s room was on the first floor down the hall from mine. I peered down
the hall and saw that his bedroom door was closed.
    What’s his problem? I wondered. Where is everyone?
    I crept quietly down the hall, inching my way to the living room. I could
hear the dogs racing around in there.
    I gasped when I heard a loud crash.
    Something clattered to the floor. Great-grandma’s lamp, I guessed.
    I stared up at the ceiling—to my parents’ bedroom. Were they deaf or
something?
    Holding the bat in front of me, I jumped into the living room and snapped on
the ceiling