Golden Box Book Publishing Three Ghosts in a Black Pumpkin | Page 19

“Liar! How many times do I have to tell you, Jack?” Nikki’s
eyes flashed with anger. “Stealing matches and lying about it is
wrong!” She snatched the book of matches from Jack’s hand
and punched his shoulder again, a little harder this time.
“Hey, that hurt!” He looked at her. “Now give those back!”
Nikki stuck the matches into another pocket of her jeans. “You
want them? Then take them from me.” She knew Jack was a
little afraid of her and he wouldn’t push her to fight over the
matches.
Glaring at her, Jack’s blue eyes suddenly looked past her.
“Nikki, turn around and look behind you.”
“Is this some kind of trick to get the matches away from me?”
Jack pointed. “No! Just turn around and look!”
With a sigh of frustration, Nikki turned and saw what Jack was
pointing at. “That looks like a pumpkin,” she said. “But it’s
black. I’ve never seen a black pumpkin before. Have you?”
“Nope,” Jack told her, shaking his head.
The black pumpkin was sitting on the ground, near one of the
willow trees at the edge of Weeping Meadow. They
immediately forgot all about their argument and ran to look at
the pumpkin.
“I think this pumpkin is rotten,” said Nikki.
Jack grabbed the black pumpkin and held it up to his nose.
“Doesn’t smell rotten. Come on, let’s take it back to the house
and cut it open.”
“It’ll probably be filled with bugs and worms and other creepy-
crawly creatures,” Nikki said.
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