The Ghost of Cutler Creek (3 page)

The letters reminded Allie of L.J. “You know what he said to me today?” she asked.

Dub didn't ask, Who? He knew she was talking about L.J. That was one of the many great things about Dub, in Allie's opinion. His brain and hers seemed to be on the same wavelength. If only he could see ghosts, too…

Allie didn't really understand
why
she was able to see ghosts. Or why Michael could, too, when neither of their parents seemed to have the same ability. Or the same curse, depending on how you looked at it. Most of the time, Allie chose to see being a ghost magnet as cool and exciting…except when it was absolutely terrifying.

She'd always been aware that there was more to most people than could be seen at a glance. She sometimes wondered if her interest in what lay beneath the surface was the reason ghosts were drawn to her. But Dub was a lot like her in that respect, and he'd never been contacted by a ghost. Why Allie had was one of life's many mysteries.

“So what did L.J. say to you?” Dub asked. He sounded a little impatient, as if he'd asked the question before, while Allie had been preoccupied.

“He said, ‘I don't need you or anybody else for a baby-sitter, so just back off.'”

Dub whistled under his breath. “Nice.”

“I didn't want to agree with Karen,” Allie said, “but he gives me the creeps.”

“That makes three of us,” said Dub. “Do you think he'll come back tomorrow?”

“I hope not.”

When Allie arrived at her classroom the next morning, her wish seemed to have come true. There was no sign of L.J. Most of the other kids were already there, gathered around Hoover, who was lying on the floor on her back, having her belly and throat and ears rubbed. Her eyes were closed and she was grinning in ecstasy. Allie dropped to her knees next to Brad Lewis and joined in, leaning down to give Hoover a kiss on the end of her soft black nose.

“Don't look now, Al,” Dub said quietly, with a nod toward the door, “but he's back.”

Allie did look. L.J. and a man with the same dark hair were standing together just inside the room. Watching them, Allie decided that
together
wasn't exactly the right word. Even though they stood quite near each other, they appeared to be miles apart. L.J. stood with his back to the man. His arms were folded tightly across his chest, and he glared stonily at a spot on the floor. The man, who Allie figured had to be his father, gazed around the room. He ignored the kids, but when he saw Hoover he looked at the dog for a long time before giving a short nod of what might have been approval.

Allie smiled to herself, thinking,
No one can resist Hoover.

Then Mr. Cutler, if that was who he was, glanced at Mr. Henry. Giving L.J. a shove, he said, “You won't have no more trouble with him.” Before Mr. Henry had a chance to answer, Mr. Cutler turned on his heel and left.

L.J., pushed off balance, stumbled a few steps farther into the room. He stood there, motionless, scowling at the floor.

The room was quiet for a moment. The kids looked uneasily from L.J. to Mr. Henry and back again. The bell that signaled the beginning of school broke the silence. All the students except L.J. went to their desks and sat down.

“L.J.,” Mr. Henry said gently, “you may take the seat you had yesterday.”

Without acknowledging Mr. Henry, L.J. slid into his chair and assumed the same slouched posture as he had the day before. Allie sneaked a peek at him from the corner of her eye and immediately looked away. His face was so twisted up with anger—or hatred, or
something
, she didn't know what—that it frightened her.

At the same time, a part of her felt sorry for him. She couldn't imagine how she would feel if her father acted as L.J.'s had. But her father would never do anything like that.

Before she knew what she was doing, she whispered, “Hi, L.J.”

L.J. didn't respond. Hostility flowed from him in waves she thought she could actually sense against her arm and the side of her face. She felt like a fool.

That's it,
she thought.
I'm never speaking to you again.

She tried to pay attention to what Mr. Henry was saying.

“Well, guys, I can hardly believe it, but this is it. The end of the year.”

Allie couldn't help being sad about that. Her feelings must have shown on her face, because when she looked at L.J., he was grinning at her mockingly. She turned away, furious. At that moment, she was glad it was the last day of school so she wouldn't have to sit next to him, wouldn't have to
see
him, all summer.

Mr. Henry suggested that while they cleaned out their desks, they could reminisce about their favorite moments during the year. With an already empty desk and no memories to share, L.J. sat staring at his desktop. Allie had to wonder once more what he was doing at school, but she was determined not to allow him to ruin the last day for her.

“Remember when Hoover came on our field trip to the apple farm and we found her in the barn rolling in cow manure?” Dub was saying.

The class groaned.

“On the way there you were all fighting over who got to sit with her on the bus,” Mr. Henry said. “But on the way back, as I recall, she was all mine.”

Everybody laughed.

“The coolest thing was on the trip to Fossil Glen, when she dug up Lucy Stiles's dead body,” Joey said in his usual loud, booming voice.

A murmur went through the class as the kids remembered that day, and Allie shivered despite herself. She had been the only person present when Hoover had discovered Lucy's remains buried in the cliffside. Then Lucy's killer had shown up, and Hoover had run back to find Mr. Henry and the rest of the class, leaving Allie alone, face-to-face with a murderer. Lucy's ghost had been there, too, fortunately for Allie.

“I don't know if
cool
is the right word,” said Julie Horwitz. “But if we're talking about things we'll never forget, that's definitely one of them.”

“That's for sure,” said Pam Wright. The rest of the kids nodded in agreement.

Allie couldn't help noticing that suddenly L.J. seemed to be listening to what was going on. She supposed talk of finding a dead body might get anyone's attention, even his.

Then, to her surprise, L.J. spoke. Without raising his hand, he said, “You ever breed her?”

He was speaking to Mr. Henry, who appeared confused by the question. Allie felt confused for a moment, also, until she figured out that L.J. had to be asking about Hoover. She was thinking that it was a very peculiar question to ask out of the blue, when a tingle passed over the back of her neck. At the same time, she heard inside her head the desperate crying she'd followed in her nightmare. Even odder, she smelled something awful—something “poopy,” to use Michael's word. She looked around to see if any of the other kids were sniffing or wrinkling their noses or giggling, but nobody else seemed to have noticed the odor.

If this was a message from her ghost, she didn't have any idea what it meant. She wanted to focus on it and see if she could learn more, but at the same time she was interested in L.J.'s question and wanted to hear Mr. Henry's answer.

“No,” Mr. Henry was saying. “Hoover's a little young for that. She's not even two yet.”

L.J. shrugged and said, “Looks old enough.”

Mr. Henry shook his finger toward Hoover and said sternly, “No boyfriends for you yet, young lady. No dates for a long, long time.”

The kids laughed, except for L.J.

Mr. Henry went on. “I was told it's healthier for the mother if she's at least three when she has her first litter. It's better for the puppies, too, I understand.”

It was impossible to tell from L.J.'s impassive expression what he thought about that.

Joey said, “Hoover still acts like a puppy herself half the time.”

“You're right about that,” said Mr. Henry. He looked toward Hoover and his fond smile turned to a puzzled frown. “What's the matter, girl?”

Hoover was crouched beneath Mr. Henry's desk, whining and rubbing her paws back and forth over her ears.

“She didn't like that talk about having puppies,” Pam said with a laugh.

Some other kids laughed, too, and Allie had to agree that it seemed as if Hoover was trying to shut out something she didn't want to hear. But the way she was hiding under the desk made Allie think she'd been spooked. As Allie had learned, Hoover was definitely aware of the presence of ghosts. Was that the cause of her odd behavior?

“My dog does that when he needs his ear medicine,” Brad said.

“Maybe that's it,” Mr. Henry said.

Hoover looked up then, as if to ask,
Why is everyone staring at me?
The shivery feeling Allie had had was gone, and so was the peculiar odor. The crying sound inside her head had faded, too.

Hoover stood up as if nothing unusual had happened and went over to sniff the table where all the party food and drinks were waiting.

“Well,” said Mr. Henry, “it appears that Hoover has decided it's party time!”

Allie tried to push aside the questions in her head and enjoy the party. During the punch and cake and cookies, Mr. Henry handed out blank journals, his end-of-the-year gifts to them all. “So you'll keep up the habit of writing,” he explained.

A few of the kids besides Allie had presents for Mr. Henry. Allie was pleased when he took off Hoover's old collar and replaced it with her handmade one, exclaiming over the clever idea of adding Hoover's name and phone number.

She and Dub watched anxiously as Hoover sniffed the bag holding their homemade treats. Mr. Henry gave her one. Hoover chewed it quickly, wagged her tail, and barked.

“She wants another one!” said Joey.

Dub and Allie gave each other the “thumbs-up” sign.

“It's okay, Mr. Henry,” said Allie. “They're low-calorie.”

Hoover ate a couple more cookies while the kids polished off the food on the table and Mr. Henry opened the rest of his gifts. Then he gave out report cards and, all of a sudden, sixth grade was over.

The kids who rode buses were dismissed first. Allie wasn't the least bit sorry to see Karen Laver leave right after them. L.J., she noticed, slipped out the instant the bell rang. But most of the walkers, Allie and Dub included, hung around, reluctant to leave. Finally, they were the only two kids left.

“Did you have a chance to talk to your parents about taking care of Hoover, Allie?” Mr. Henry asked.

Allie nodded. “They said it was fine.”

“And I can help if Allie needs it,” added Dub.

“So I guess we're all set, aren't we, girl?” Allie bent down to pat Hoover's smooth, soft ears.

“Great!” said Mr. Henry. “I'd like to leave tomorrow, so I'll have a chance to get organized out there. But I could wait until Sunday.”

“Tomorrow's fine with me,” said Allie.

“Terrific. I'll give Hoover her breakfast before I go. Later, you can take her for a walk, and go back at dinnertime. Well, I don't have to tell you. Just follow the same routine as before.”

“Okay.”

Then Mr. Henry said, “I'm glad you both stayed. I have another favor to ask.”

“Shoot,” said Dub.

“I've been thinking about L.J., and how hard it must have been for him to move to a new place right at the end of the year. He's got the whole summer ahead of him, and he didn't have a chance to get to know anybody or make any friends.”

He didn't try very hard,
Allie thought. She had a bad feeling about what might be coming next and, sure enough, it did.

“I was hoping you two might make an effort to include him in some of your summer activities. Maybe give him a call if you're going to do something, or stop by to say hi if you're out riding your bikes. What do you think?”

There was a moment's silence while Allie and Dub looked at each other.

“I don't think L.J. likes me very much, Mr. Henry,” Allie said at last.
And I certainly don't like him,
she added to herself.

Mr. Henry nodded. “I can see how you'd think that, Allie,” he said. “But I doubt it was you he didn't like.”

“He didn't seem too happy about being here,” Dub said.

Mr. Henry nodded in agreement. “There could be a lot of reasons for that. We don't really know L.J.”

Allie felt that she knew enough. She didn't want to disappoint Mr. Henry, but she didn't want to spend any more time with L.J. Cutler, either.

“I keep thinking about something you said, Allie, when you decided to interview Mrs. Hobbs for your Elders Day project,” Mr. Henry continued.

“Something
I
said?” Allie echoed.

Mr. Henry nodded. “The class thought you were crazy. They all thought Mrs. Hobbs was weird and scary because of the way she looks.”

Allie smiled. Now that she'd gotten to know Mrs. Hobbs, she hardly noticed the cafeteria lady's appearance, which had caused the students, including Allie, to call her the Snapping Turtle.

Mr. Henry continued. “You said, ‘We've all known Mrs. Hobbs since kindergarten, but we don't really
know
her.' I was so proud of you that day. You reminded all of us that our first impressions of people don't always tell the whole story.”

Great. It was her own big mouth that had gotten her into this. How could she say now that she wouldn't give L.J. another chance?

She looked at Dub. “Okay,” they both said, at almost the same instant. “We'll do it.”

Mr. Henry beamed at them. “I was thinking last night about who I could ask to do this, and out of all the kids in the class, I came up with you two.” He looked serious for a moment. “It might not work out, I understand that. But I appreciate that you're willing to give it a try.”

Allie forced herself to smile back at him. She told herself that he was right, that
she
had been right when she said there was more to people than first met the eye.

But she wasn't the least bit convinced this was true of L.J. Cutler.