The Climbing Ghost

Lance Montgomery watched as his mother sewed together his Halloween costume with her sewing machine.

“The costume has to be really scary,” Lance told her, “because Darth Maul is a really scary guy.”

“He was certainly scary in that ‘Star Wars’ movie,” his mother said as she pushed black shiny material under the darting needle. The machine chugged and whirred.

“I’ll be the scariest guy trick-or-treating at the Isle of Merchandise Mall.”

Lance and his mom both looked up when they heard mail drop through the slot in the front door.

“I’ll get it,” he cried, and ran out of the room.

He returned a moment later with a fist full of envelopes, which he handed to his mother. She went through them one at a time. Most of the envelopes contained bills. A few were trying to sell something.

“This one is for you,” Mrs. Montgomery said, and handed an envelope to Lance.

The envelope was covered with stickers of black cats and smiling pumpkins and ghosts saying “boo.”

Lance grinned as he read the return address.

“It’s from Fred Goldski,” he announced excitedly.

Fred had been Lance’s best friend. They lived next door to each other until Fred’s family moved to be closer to his mom’s job. Now Fred lived on the other side of town.

“What does it say on the back?” Mrs. Montgomery asked.

Lance turned the envelope over and saw that it said: Open at your own risk.

“Are you going to risk it?” his mom asked.

*

Monday: A risky invitation.

This story will be on The Times’ Web site at http://pixel.nohib.com./kids.