Short Story Mixture
Don Fern
Short Story Mixture
Copyright 2014 Don Fern
Table of Contents
The Haunted Bridge in Town
Time Trip to Missouri
Cow Kidnapping
Fishing
Escape to Party
Playing the Game
Waiting
Positive Thinking for Christmas
Santa Monthly
Chinese Christmas Decorations
Poems
The Haunted Bridge in Town
I had a horse. He was much bigger than me. His name was Goldie. One Halloween we went tricking or treating. I lived at the first house, about a quarter of a mile west of town, on the north side of the road. A curved lane led up to my house. There were about 30 houses in town. Mostly old grouches lived in these houses. They would not give you any candy.
Mom fixed it up for me to go to the Winters, where they were having a party with costumes and candy. I went as a ghost and Goldie went as a horse. I had made a jack-o-lantern, with a candle inside, and took that with me. Right around sundown, Goldie and I rode out of the barnyard. Mom closed the gate behind us. I rode down our lane to the road and turned left into town. It took only a short time to ride down the main street, which consisted of two blocks of homes. Then we crossed the bridge in town and passed the last house.
After another quarter mile, Goldie and I were at the Elis house lane. The house had always looked rundown before. But tonight it looked kept up. I could see a light in the windows downstairs. The house looked lit up and inviting, so I decided I might get some candy there. The house looked so inviting, I turned Goldie and we rode down the lane.
A storm had passed through two days before and all the leaves were blown from the trees. That night there were clouds but not enough to cover the light from the full moon. The trees bare branches stood out in the moonlight. The large leaves from the oak trees covered the lane. I rode Goldie down the center of the lane toward the house. Upon arriving at the gate to the front yard, I saw the light from inside the open doors of the barn. A man was feeding the cows in the barn.
I dismounted Goldie and tied him to the fence beside the gate. The house lights lit up the front porch. I felt I was going to get candy here for sure. I walked down the path and stepped onto the front porch. Then I could see the living room through the windows. The living room looked relaxing and inviting. I saw the screen door was open. And the inside door was standing open, about a half foot. It appeared so inviting to go in. While thinking of the candy, I was going to get, I walked across the porch to the front door.
From just outside of the door, I could clearly see the living room. I saw a lady looking at the cornucopia center piece on the table. I saw a young child sitting on the couch. I placed my hand on the outside door knob to hold the door, so I could knock on it. I softly knocked on the door and said, "Trick or treat". The lady looked startled and stared at the open front door. She looked directly at me. She looked puzzled and started walking towards me. When reaching the door, she put her hand on the inside door knob. With my hand on the outside doorknob, the door was gently pushed shut. I felt it was time for me to get out of there. I don’t know how I did it, but I turned and walked of the porch. Went straight to Goldie untied him and mounted him. Goldie knew it was time to get out of there also. He broke into a gallop and raced down the lane. After reaching the road he slowed to a walk and turned toward the Winters house.
We reached the Winters place and Goldie trotted up the lane. A group of children were roasting marshmallows over a fire in the side yard. I rode Goldie onto the lawn, dismounted, and tied him to a tree. I walked over to a table, with cookies, candy, and drinks. Mrs. Winter was behind the table. She said hello to me and gestured to the table saying, "Have as many as you want." I took a pumpkin cookie with orange frosting, a cat cookie with black frosting, and some apple cider. Then I went over by the fire where a group of younger kids were listening to Mr. Winter. He was telling them a story. He heard this story when he was young and lived about 20 miles from here.
According to him there was a town somewhere around here, he wasn’t sure where. Just east of the town, down a long lane, was a house. It was said that a husband and wife lived there with their young child and times were tough. So in order to find work they had to move. He knew of the story about the disappearance of the man, wife, and child.
He told the story. "Some people never heard of the fierce rainstorms, called Thunderbird storms. They are perpetual storms that circle the earth high in the sky. The long chilly nights of late October pull the rainstorms down to earth. Large birds called Thunderbirds both cause the storms and are forever caught in them. The bird's gigantic wings are eternally flapping and cause the winds to send rain and lightning bolts to it the earth.
On one evening, with a full moon, the family was returning from a walk along the creek. As they approached the barn, they felt the winds start gusting and the rains start falling, then the moonlight dimmed. Looking above, they saw the clouds coming down from the sky. And the lightning bolts coming down, striking the fields. Three gigantic thunderbirds were seen flying in circles under the clouds. They realized the thunderbird storm was coming and ran for the house. It was too late, the three birds swooped down and they were snatched up in the birds claws. The gigantic birds, with the three, flew up into the clouds.The clouds rose straight upward and disappeared into the sky. The man, wife, and child were never to be seen again. Each fall the year, there are rumors of seeing the three in their house during the late days of October."
After the story, I thought of it as something to scare the younger kids. During the evening I went around to the food table and took as much candy as I could. Of course I never let anyone see me and always left some, as mom had taught me to do. I also tried to roast some marshmallows but they either burnt or fell off into the fire. I only recognized two kids that were there and they didn’t say anything to me. All the others looked younger than me. I got a lot of candy so going there was worth it.
After about an hour, I decided it was time to go home. The clouds were thicker now and the moon light lit up the ground less. So I said goodbye to Mrs. Winter and mounted Goldie. In my ghost costume with the candle in my pumpkin lit, Goldie and I rode to the road. Goldie walked to the lane to the Elis house. I saw the house looked different now; it looks old and run down again. I slowed Goldie to a stop. Then I realized the story told to scare the children was real. This was the house just east of town. I held the lit pumpkin in front of me in my right hand and held Goldie’s reins in my left hand. I signaled Goldie to go. He ran toward the bridge in town. My white ghost costume was fluttering behind me. Goldie galloped across the bridge in town. Children, trick or treating, were running down the road in front of us and jumping into the ditch as we raced by.
To this day the children, on Halloween, are afraid to cross the haunted bridge in town.
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Time Trip to Missouri
He put 11 in the age box, keyed 6 am into the time box, entered the park's coordinates in the location box, and clicked send.
From outside the closed door a female voice stated firmly, "Eric, Get off the computer it's time to go to bed."
Eric replied, "Ok Mom."
Eric's Mom and sister continued down the hallway and entered the sister's room.
Eric's sister showed an expression of concern and asked her mother, "Will Eric be Ok.".
Her mother hesitated a while looking at her daughter and then answered, "It just takes time.".
Saturday morning arrived and the alarm went off at 5:30. Eric was already dressed and quickly pressed the alarm to stop the sound of the ringing. He quietly left his room, his house, and walked to the park. He sat on the bench just inside the par
k. Looking at his watch he saw it was 25 minutes until 6. He wondered why he got up so early or maybe he didn't sleep at all. He looked at the houses across the street. Everything had the still calmness of the morning. A few birds chirped and fluttered in the trees.
Eric heard from behind, "Eric. Six o'clock. We should be going now."
He stood, turned, and saw two young looking adults.
The male said, "I'm Robert Minter." motioned to the female and continued, "This is Sara Chainman. We're here to take you to Riverport in 1847."
Eric stood in amazement. He didn't know if this was real. He didn't know what to say. He didn't know he could say anything if he knew what to say.
Sara after observing his astonishment explained, "The chamber is over there." And pointed to nothing in the park. She continued, "You can't see it until just before you enter."
Eric stood looking at the nothing in the park.
Sara said, "Just come this way we'll show you."
Eric followed until the chamber appears 5 feet in front of them. Eric stopped and looked at the open door.
Sara said, "It's ok. You can go in." and held her hand toward the open door.
Eric slowly walked by himself into the time chamber. Sara and Robert followed him. The door closed.
Sara said, "We're arriving on a slope behind the house so we can see the river."
In 5 seconds the door
