Read Online Ghosts Beneath Our Feet by Betty Ren Wright - Free Book Online Page A

her hand to me as if she wanted something.”
    â€œAnother ghost, huh?”
    â€œI don’t know. Joan went back to look, but whatever-it-was was gone.”
    â€œIt was probably one of the Newquay kids trying to scare the girl from the big city. You ought to write ghost stories—you’ve got the imagination for it.” He leaned forward, suddenly intent. “Does your mother know you were in that shaft house?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œDid she even ask where you went?”
    â€œShe knew Joan and I were going exploring.”
    â€œBut not to the shaft house. You didn’t tell her that. You didn’t tell her you broke into an old building with a hole in the floor a couple of thousand feet deep.”
    â€œNow, wait a minute,” Katie protested. “It wasn’t dangerous. There’s a big iron gate in front of the shaft. And we didn’t hurt anything.”
    Jay stood up and went to stare out the window. “The point is, she doesn’t cross-examine you every time you go out the door. You were on somebody else’s property as much as I was, but nobody hassled you about it. She doesn’t expect you to get in trouble. Why is it I can’t even turn around without getting yelled at?”
    Because you do get in trouble , Katie cried silently. And my mom never had a son before, and she’s afraid of messing up . But she knew there was some truth in what Jay said. Her mother did assume that Katie would behave herself, and that Jay wouldn’t.
    â€œYou could try to show her she’s wrong,” Katie suggested timidly.
    â€œYou mean be a good boy and let her boss me around.” He turned to her with an angry smile. “I’ve got one friend in this stupid town, and now I’m not supposed to see him anymore. He’s the only person who isn’t half dead—”
    â€œJust because he rides a motorcycle!”
    â€œThat’s part of it! I told you before—I hate this place. All I want is to go back to Milwaukee. But as long as I’m here, I’m going to have some fun, and nobody’s going to stop me. Not the sheriff and not her !”
    Katie wanted to slap him for that insulting her . “You’re so dumb you don’t know when people are trying to help you,” she snapped. “You make me sick!” She marched out of the room and across the hall, trembling with rage.
    Jay’s voice followed her. “You’re the one who’s sick. You’re psycho! I may be dumb, but at least I don’t see spooks around every corner and hear ’em under every rock.”
    Mrs. Blaine came upstairs an hour later. By that time Katie was in bed. She didn’t want to talk to her mother or to anyone else. She just wanted to be alone.
    She heard her mother go down the hall to her room, then to the bathroom, then return to Katie’s door. The knob turned, and Katie closed her eyes. After a moment the door clicked shut, and the footsteps retreated.
    As the house became still, all the sounds of the summer night crowded in. An owl hooted, and insects banged against the screen. Far off, an airplane droned. Boards creaked. Katie tried to get to sleep, but sleep wouldn’t come. Too much had happened today. The blond ghost-girl in the shaft house, the piercing eyes of the sheriff, Jay’s fierce scowl—she saw them all when she closed her eyes.
    Finally she gave up. The Sinking of the Titanic was down in the library; she might as well read if she couldn’t sleep. She slipped out of bed and found the flashlight her mother had stowed in her dresser drawer “for emergencies.” Then she opened the door and tiptoed into the hall.
    The flashlight made a narrow tunnel of light. She waited for a minute to make sure no one had heard her, and then she started toward the stairs. As she moved, there was a shushing sound behind her, and a sudden chill in the air. She whirled around, pointing the