Image provided by: Friends of the Sandy Public Library; Sandy, OR
About Sandy post. (Sandy, Oregon) 1938-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 13, 1984)
Who’s Watching? By Tot Jones November 12 Dear Hank. There’s something watching us at night. The new house is terrific, but something is going on that none if us can figure out. It’s a good thing 1 don’t believe in ghosts or I’d think we had one. It always happens at night. Little sounds and then a feeling that something is looking at us. Sometimes I’ll be sit ting in my rocker and all of a sud den I have goose bumps for no reason. Spooky. Not that I’m scared, but I sure wish I knew what is was. Well, guess I should have start ed at the beginning. Dad loves his new job. and school is O.K. I don't really know anyone yet, but I’m going to try out for the soccer team. I can't wait until summer when you come for a visit. You'll love our new house— it's on stilts, sur rounded by trees, and hangs over a ravine. There are sun decks on three sides, and the ravine end is all glass. But back to the spook. We nev er see anything, only sometimes stuff gets moved around from one place to another. When we first moved in. we found this plastic tub on the deck with dirty water in it. We figured the Martins, the former owners.had a dog and fed him on the deck. Anyway. Mom cleaned it up and propped it against the bed room-deck railing. Two days later it was on the front deck, and none of us had touched it! Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. There’s a trap door on the deck. I pulled the lid up, and it opens onto a slanting beam that goes from the deck to the ground about twenty- five feet. We can't figure out who or what would climb clear up here. I think the Martins must have had a cat, too, but Dad said a cat wouldn’t need a trap door— it would just squeeze through the railing. Good point, unless it was a cougar! (Ha ha! That’s a joke!) Well, better get to bed. Please write soon. David December 5 Dear Hank, The plot thickens! Yesterday we put a Christmas tree out on the deck. We can see it from all over the house. Anyway, last night our spook came and took a whole bunch of ornaments off and put them in the plastic tub I told you about. The funny thing was that none of the ornaments were bro ken. The tinsel was scattered all over, and it couldn’t have blown off, because there was no wind. lust who or what would climb up on our deck to play with the Christmas tree? Any bright sugges tions? You have to go through the house to get onto the deck, so whatever it was had to come from the ground. We’re really curious now, and I have to admit that I still get goose bumps when I’m sitting in the rocker at night looking out side. Oh, by the way, 1 made the soccer team. Exams are next week. Ugh. Did you break your arm or something? That's a hint—write soon.) David December 15 Dear Hank, Thanks for your letter. It was great to hear what you guys have been up to. Guess what? The spook likes bread. Last night I decided if the spook felt at home, maybe it would show itself. So I left a few slices of bread outside and put water in the tub. Sure enough— this morning the bread was gone, the water was dirty, and there were about eight ornaments floating in it. Wouldn’t you know it— each morning it's my job to put the ornaments back on the tree, because the spook takes some off every single night. Whetever it is, it’s smart. Last Saturday night Dad and I sat up until one o’clock in the morning with all the lights out, waiting for the spook. It never showed up. But the next morning the ornaments were in the tub. I'll get to the bot tom of this somehow. Well, got to go. Left some more bread out for the spook and changed the water. Tell the gang Happy New Year for me and write again soon. Merry Christmas! David December 25 Dear Hank, Merry Christmas again! lust wanted to tell you the mystery has been solved. I was staring at the tree two nights ago when the goose bumps started. One of the branches seemed to be quivering. I stopped rocking and stared, and pretty soon I realized something was staring back at me. Round, black eyes. That’s all I could see. My knees turned to jello, and it took five minutes for me to slither out of the rocker and streak into the den where Mom and Dad were watching TV: 1 yelled that some thing was in the Christmas tree, and we all raced back to the living room, but the eyes weren’t there any more. Dad thought 1 was im agining it, but I knew I'd seen those eyes. That night I couldn’t sleep. About midnight I heard a little noise like something breaking. Without turning on any lights, I got out of bed and crept through the house. The moon was pretty bright, and when 1 looked out on the deck, I saw something moving. I flipped on the deck lights and couldn’t believe my eyes. There were three spooks staring at me. One was eating a piece of bread by the tub, another was pulling an or nament off the tree, and the third was standing straight up on his hind legs just looking at me. They wore masks and had fluffy gray coats and black rings on their tails. You guessed it, our spooks are rac coons! We must’ve stared at each other for ten minutes, but they didn’t run. I went into the kitchen, got some bread, eased the sliding door open, and threw it out to them. They pounced on it, and while they were eating, I woke up Mom and Dad. We watched them for hours. Dad thinks they’ve been around here for ages and were just making sure we’d welcome them before they let themselves be seen. Now I really can’t wait for you to get here and meet my masked buddies. This was the best Christ mas ever. How often does Santa bring you three new friends? See you in six months! David ft PAGE 10 YOUNG AMERICAN DECEMBER 1984
