Halloween in Moriches, Page 3

  *****

  Tommy woke up in a basement made of old, moldy bricks. It took a while for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. There was a little moonlight coming in from the tiny basement window. The window wasn’t too high. He could just reach it. There was a loose brick on the ground, and he bent to pick it up, but before he could, he heard a snarling growl from behind him.

  In a far corner of the basement, he spotted the largest rat he had ever seen, the size of a small dog, even. The rat had curved, yellow fangs, and his eyes glowed in the dark, one deep red, and the other spooky green—like a broken traffic light, sideways. Tommy stamped his foot, and told the rat to shoo. Three more rats appeared. One was gnawing on a bone that was about the size of one of Tommy’s ribs. Casting his eyes about the basement, Tommy saw there were bones picked clean all over the basement. Tommy stifled a scream.

  He quickly picked up the brick and threw it at the window, but the brick bounced off as if the window were made of steel. Tommy thought he heard the rats snickering at him. The window glimmered a ghastly green where the brick had struck it, but then returned to normal. Witchcraft! Tommy thought.

  But the Memory Stealing Mist hadn’t seeped into this damp basement. Tommy grabbed the brick once more, cocked it back, and snapped his fingers [SNAP SNAP] and said “woo woo!” He threw the brick as hard as he could and the window shattered. Tommy scrambled out of the basement. He looked up at the building and around the yard. He was at the white house by Kaler’s Pond!

  Tommy ran as hard as he could away from the witch’s house, and he quickly came upon a school bus that was loading passengers, both children and adults. It was the Spookywalk! Tommy climbed on the Spookywalk bus. It was leaving Camp Paquatuk, which was good. Tommy was glad he’d made his escape, and was about to congratulate himself, until he realized the bus was going the wrong way! It was going to the King Kullen parking lot in Center Moriches.

  “Time for Plan B,” Tommy decided. He looked around at the other people on the bus, but there was no parents he knew. “Okay,” Tommy thought. “Plan C.” Tommy would find a payphone on Main Street, Center Moriches and call his mother. Or, even better, he might find a policeman there, and he would ask the policeman for help.

  Once off the bus, Tommy looked for a payphone outside King Kullen, but none of them were working. Tommy walked down Main Street. There had to be a payphone or policeman there.

  Tommy finally spotted a payphone, and was about to pick up the receiver, when he noticed something moving out of the corner of his eye. Tommy’s gaze followed the motion, and it was by the lamppost nearest him. Tommy looked down at his foot. He was standing on a crack in the cement. The scarecrow on the lamppost had come to life! The golem-doppleganger slid down the lamppost and was coming towards Tommy. Squish-ker-plock, squish-ker-plock. The golem-doppleganger’s feet made this wet sucking noise as it lumbered toward Tommy. Squish-ker-plock, squish-ker-plock.

  Tommy was frozen with fear. The golem-doppleganger put a muddy wet hand on Tommy’s shoulder, and a shiver ran through Tommy that was colder than the worst of winter ice storms. Tommy pulled away and started running. But as he ran, he stepped on more cement cracks, and more golem-dopplegangers plopped down from their lampposts and chased after him. They ran in a jerky, clumsy fashion, as if they hadn’t used their legs for a long, long time.

  Tommy was crying now, and running with all his might. The whole time he kept snapping his fingers [SNAP SNAP] and shouting “woo woo!” Tommy regretted not having been a good boy when he had the chance. If he had, the golem-dopplegangers wouldn’t be chasing him.

  Tommy ran and ran until he couldn’t run any longer. Finally, when he was exhausted, he climbed into a Dumpster, and hunkered down. He spent hours snapping his fingers [SNAP SNAP] and saying “woo woo.” And when he wasn’t doing that, he grabbed his knees and kept saying, “I’ll be good from now on. I’ll be a good boy. I’ll be good.” Over and over again he said this, until finally Tommy fell asleep in the Dumpster.

  When he woke up, it was morning. The smell of the Dumpster made him sick. He climbed out, and discovered he was in the McDonald’s Dumpster in Shirley. Tommy never ate stinky, smelly McDonald’s food again.

  The morning sun shone brightly on a payphone by the curb, and Tommy went to use it. He wondered if last night had all been a dream.

  He stopped wondering when he saw the Moriches Daredevils, three boys and two girls, in front of the Shirley McDonalds.

  He started to call for them, but quickly realized they had been turned into bronze statues.

  To this very day, if you go to the McDonalds in Shirley, you can see all five of them. Little boys and girls who misbehaved, and were turned into bronze statues.

  Tommy was a good boy from that day forth.

  This is a true story.

  AFTERWORD

  My good friend Stacy asked me last week if I knew a scary story she could read to her son’s fourth grade class in East Moriches. I thought about it for a bit, and then decided, why not write down a local story, peopled and colored with local flavors, and personalized, to a degree. Here it is. Enjoy!

  For videos of the man on the roof, go to YouTube and search for Moriches Halloween. Or try these links:

  Halloween 2009

  www.tinyurl.com/MorichesHalloween2009

  Halloween 2006

  www.tinyurl.com/MorichesHalloween2006

  Halloween 2005

  www.tinyurl.com/MorichesHalloween2005

  ###

  About the Author:

  John Gannon was born at St. Clare's Hospital in Hell's Kitchen, too many years ago. He has since made his pilgrimage to the bucolic suburban splendors of Suffolk County, Long Island. John has worked for the federal government since 1987, and also spent several years teaching as an adjunct professor at Long Island University, Southampton. Hanging on his study wall alongside his Masters in Fine Arts in Creative Writing is his Juris Doctor degree from Brooklyn Law School. John Gannon is a licensed attorney currently practicing in New York state. He is the proud recipient of the "Most Cooperative" Award from the summer program at Northside Elementary School in Farmingdale, two years in a row (1974-5).

  The Leprechaun's Treasure

  Suburb Noir

  Connect with John Gannon Online:

  Twitter: JJ_Gannon

  John Gannon’s Blog: www.JohnGannonAuthor.com