Scary Mary Read Online Free Page A

she saw the client over her shoulder. Her mouth snapped shut,
and her eyes widened.
    A chubby woman with short, curly, brown hair and
wearing small round glasses peeked out from behind the curtain. She
clutched under her arm a small, stuffed, black dog, not the plush
toy kind but the taxidermy kind. Mary stared with incredulous eyes.
It had been a Scottish Terrier when alive, now it was a furry
paperweight with his mouth permanently open in a happy pant, and
his tail raised in a frozen wag. It was beyond creepy. Mary slowly
turned to Gran for an explanation.
    Gran performed the introductions. “Mary, I’d
like for you to meet Mrs. Polk. She’s here to contact her deceased
pet Chowder. Mrs. Polk, this is my granddaughter Mary.”
    “ How do you do.” Mrs. Polk hefted the dog
higher under her arm to extend her hand.
    Ignoring the outstretched hand, Mary turned to
her grandmother. She pointed at the dog under Mrs. Polk’s arm.
“Chowder?”
    There was another bark.
    Mary jumped and looked down at her feet, though
there was nothing there to see.
    “ He’s here, isn’t he?” Mrs. Polk gushed,
patting the head of the little dog.
    “ You could say that,” Mary replied. The
canine ghost jumped up on one of Mary’s shins with small invisible
paws, wanting the teenager’s attention. “Get away from me, mutt,”
she muttered, shaking her foot.
    “ Chowder? Are you here, boy?” Mrs. Polk
called, staring at the ceiling. The little invisible presence
stayed at Mary’s feet, totally ignoring the voice of his mistress.
Mary grimaced at the floor. She wasn’t a fan of living dogs, let
alone dead ones.
    Gran could see her discomfort. She moved to Mrs.
Polk’s side and took her arm. “No, I believe he’s gone now, Mrs.
Polk.”
    “ But he was here. I could almost feel
him,” she said as she squeezed the stuffed dog. Gran nodded and
patted Mrs. Polk’s arm. “Yes, he was here, and his spirit is
strong. I’m sure that at our next session, we’ll be able to contact
him again.”
    “ Oh, I can’t wait. I so miss my little
Chowder.” Mrs. Polk kissed the dog’s head. Mary had to swallow hard
to keep herself from gagging at the sight. Chowder began to whine
and jump at Mary’s feet again.
    “ Heel,” she whispered at the small ghost
at her feet.
    “ What?” Mrs. Polk asked.
    “ Nothing,” Mary quickly lied.
    Gran gently pulled Mrs. Polk’s arm. “Let me show
you out.” They disappeared behind the curtain. Gran’s office had
its own outside entrance. Chowder whined one last time at her feet
but reluctantly followed his body out of the house.
    Mary was in the kitchen chopping vegetables
while a pot of water boiled on the stove when Gran came back in.
She sat down in a kitchen chair with a heavy sigh.
    Mary’s lips twitched. “You were channeling a
dog.”
    “ I wouldn’t say channeling, more like
taking out for a walk,” she said as she walked her fingers walk the
table.
    Mary snickered. “Did you know she’d actually
bring ‘Chowder’?”
    “ I did tell her to bring a few of his
things,” Gran trailed off as she began to chuckle.
    Mary’s body shook as she tried to hold in the
laughter. “I guess his body is a thing, and it was his.”
    “ If you could’ve seen your face when Mrs.
Polk came out.”
    “ I know, and could you feel him dancing at
my feet? It was all I could do not to kick the air.”
    “ He didn’t become a distinct presence till
you arrived,” she commented.
    That sobered Mary up fast. “Yeah, I guess that’s
how it goes.”
    Gran got up and hugged her from the back. “Oh
Mary, I honestly didn’t think you’d be home before I was done with
Mrs. Polk.”
    “ You know I don’t like you channeling. Why
can’t you just do fortunes?” It was an old argument that didn’t
hold any real fire anymore, but she still couldn’t help expressing
her anxiety.
    Gran sighed. “We’ve had this discussion.
Fortunetelling isn’t as popular as it once was. I have to do this
to pay