Golden Box Book Publishing Three Ghosts in a Black Pumpkin | Page 16

passed the math test, so I thought pulling on my ear worked,
and I’ve been doing it ever since.”
“Okay,” Jack said and nodded with a wide grin on his face. He
was sure he could win their usual race to the back gate this
time. He looked at Nikki and said, “Steady.”
“Go!” Nikki said.
They raced each other across the backyard and toward the gate
in the fence. Nikki, one year older than her mischievous cousin
Jack, who was eleven, reached the gate first.
“I win!” she sang out victoriously.
“You always win,” Jack complained with a sourpuss expression
on his oval face.
Nikki tried to ease his sadness and made a mental note to let
him win next time. “That’s because I’m a year older than you.”
Jack shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. He pushed
his chest out like a fancy peacock, brushed a speck of lint from
his T-shirt and boasted, “But I’m bigger than you!”
“Yup, it’s true, but I’m faster than you!” Nikki said, not feeling
sorry for Jack anymore. You can forget it, buster! I’m never
gonna let you win. She thought.
Nikki opened the gate and they wandered over to the small,
shallow creek running alongside the house. Not far from the
creek, the leaves and branches of the weeping willows of
Weeping Meadow danced in the breeze.
Jack had come to spend the weekend at Grandma Sweet’s
house. His parents were throwing a big Halloween party, for
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