by Linda Smith

Created on: April 24, 2008

Dinosaurs Ruin Everything

The best time of year at Grandma Bellman's is Halloween. There are two reasons. First, she lives on a farm and it has old buildings, huge spooky trees and a gigantic pumpkin patch. And second, nobody puts together a better haunted house than my Grandma Bellman. She creates it in her basement. Her house is old so the basement is dark and cold and musty smelling; perfect for a haunted house. And last, something always happens on Halloween.

Three years ago, the mailman died; on Halloween, two farms down from Grandma Bellman. The Rumor was that he'd been scared to death. An article in the newspaper said he'd had a heart attack. My cousins and I always wondered: what had caused the mailman to have a heart attack on Halloween? Nathan, Hawthorne (who hates his name and would rather be called Haw), Judy and I are cousins. We get to spend every Halloween at Grandma Bellman's. It's a tradition. We think it's because our dads, who are brothers, always had such a good time when they were kids on that farm. On Halloween, we get to take the day off school so that we can help set up the haunted house.

Pumpkin pies were cooling on the counter in the kitchen early in the afternoon. Grandma Bellman had put a big jug of apple cider in a tub of ice to get cold and an enormous bucket of candy stood ready at the front door for trick-or-treaters. Even though the farm was a ways out of town, many people came to Grandma Bellman's because of the haunted house. Haw was sniffing the pies when he thought he saw something out the kitchen window, something that shouldn't have been there.

He got the rest of us and told us we needed to check out the backyard. Judy didn't want to, she was busy putting the finishing touches on her pirate costume. Nathan convinced her that it looked fine, so we all headed outside, wondering what the big deal was. Haw explained that whatever it was he saw, it was headed towards the potting shed. We were all glad that it was still mid-day, because on Halloween, you didn't want to go anywhere near the potting shed.

"You boys!" That was Grandma Bellman. She always included Judy in the "You boys," because it just made it easier than saying "You boys and Judy." She sounded upset, so we changed direction and headed back to the house. Grandma Bellman was standing at the basement doo, looking madder than a hornet. She herded us down the steps and pointed to the first station on the haunted house tour. It was covered in mud.

The first station

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