Patches Read Online Free

that’s not the only reason I called you back over here,” Sammy said. “Listen.” He held up one finger and tilted his head toward the front of the haunted house.
    Charles tilted his head, too. What he heard made him gulp.
    It was a low, moaning sound.
    It wasn’t Patches.
    Maybe this time it really was a ghost!

CHAPTER SIX
    A ghost! Charles started thinking. What was the best way of slipping around to the front of the house so he could grab his bike and take off for home? But Sammy had other ideas.
    He put a finger over his lips.
“Shhh.
It must be the ghost! Come on, we’ll sneak up on it.”
    Charles wasn’t even sure you
could
sneak up on a ghost, but he knew one thing: He didn’t want to try. Was he chicken? Not really. He just wasn’t all that interested in ghosts. If Sammy was, well — fine! Sammy could sneak up on the ghost.
    The moaning sound continued. Now Patches started to sing along.
    Ohhhhh, where did you goooooo? Pleeeease, pleeease come back and play with meeeee!
    Charles wondered if the new moaning they were hearing could possibly be coming from
another
lonely beagle in the neighborhood. If so, maybe they could introduce Patches, and the dogs could become friends. No more loneliness. Problem solved.
    While Charles was thinking, Sammy had tiptoed up onto the back porch. Charles could just get a glimpse of him between the vines. Sammy was inching his way over to a window, staying low so he could peek over the windowsill without being seen. Charles felt his heart pounding hard, as if
he
were the one up on that porch.
    Then, suddenly, Sammy jumped back from the window and ran down the porch stairs. When he got back to Charles, his face was white.
    “What is it? Is it a ghost?” Charles could tell something had frightened his friend.
    Sammy shook his head. “No,” he said, panting a little. “A lady. She’s in there, painting the walls white.”
    “A lady? But — why is she moaning?” Charles was confused.
    “She’s not moaning. She’s singing!” Sammy started to laugh. “Her back was to me, but I could see that she’s wearing headphones and singing along. You know how that always sounds so weird?”
    Charles did. Lizzie sometimes sang along while she was wearing her headphones. Dad said she sounded like a “lovesick moose.”
    “Anyway” — Sammy glanced over his shoulder, back at the house — “I bet she’s going to come out after us. I think she heard me when I ran off the porch!”
    Yikes. Maybe a ghost would have been safer.
    Charles was about to suggest that they make a run for it when the back door of the haunted house slammed open. A young woman stepped out ontothe porch. She was wearing white pants and a white T-shirt, all splattered with different colors of paint. She was tall — and she looked
strong.
    “Noelle?” Sammy was staring at the woman.
    “Sammy? Is that you?” The young woman stared back.
    “I don’t believe it,” said Sammy.
    “Me, neither! I haven’t seen you since Gram’s birthday!” She was smiling now. “And I think you’ve grown two inches since then.”
    “What’s going on?” Charles asked.
    “That’s my cousin!” Sammy pointed at the woman. “Noelle. She’s
way
older than any of my other cousins. She already finished college!”
    Noelle laughed. “I’m not
that
old.”
    “This is Charles,” Sammy said. “He lives next door to me.”
    “Hi, Charles!” Noelle smiled and waved. Then she looked back at Sammy. “So was that you looking in the window? Come on in, if you’re curious. I’ll give you a tour.”
    Sammy and Charles looked at each other. Charles knew he wasn’t supposed to go into a stranger’s house on his own — but he wasn’t alone, and Noelle wasn’t a stranger. She was Sammy’s cousin!
    A minute later, the boys were standing in the middle of an empty living room, looking at two big splotches of paint on the wall and agreeing with Noelle that “Historical Ivory” looked better than “Clamshell