Ghost House by Carol Colbert Read Free Book Online Page A

than usual.” Jim explained. “Can
mommy go too?” Suzanne asked. “Thank you, Suzanne, but mommy and
Cooper will stay here. We still have a lot to do around here.”
Sarah told her. “Can I bring Mr. Pickles and Freddie to work,
daddy?” “They would be bored.” Her father said. “O.K., Freddie can
stay with mommy and Mr. Pickles can come with us.” Suzanne
decided.
    Sarah did all of her grocery shopping the
next day and got several other errands out of the way that were
easier to do without the girls. When she pulled up to the curb and
turned off the van she noticed smoke coming out of the back
basement window. She had to think for a moment if she had left the
dryer on and the smoke like mist was from that, or was there an
actual fire in her basement?
    Sarah ran to the back door and opened it with
her key and then ran down the stairs into the basement. Nothing. No
smoke, nothing out of place. That is so odd . Sarah made
several trips in from the car and once she had all of her groceries
and other packages from her shopping trip on the table she again
thought of the white smoke she had seen and how she then saw
nothing in the basement that would have caused that.
    Sarah realized with a start that there was
something else that she hadn’t noticed until just this second.
Where was Cooper? She had neither seen, nor heard him since she
came home.
    “Cooper! Cooper!” Sarah went through every
room and finally she heard him whimpering behind the closed door to
the upstairs bedroom that they had never explored yet because of
the extreme heat. Sarah threw open the door and there was little
Cooper looking up at her with his big eyes and he looked tired and
was panting heavily.
    Sarah picked him up and then grabbed a cold
bottle of water out of the refrigerator and an empty bowl and her
keys. She ran outside with Cooper in her arms. She got into the van
and turned on the air conditioner at almost full blast and sat
Cooper on the seat next to her and poured out some of the water
into the bowl. Cooper lapped it up so quickly that she was afraid
it would make him sick if she gave him too much more cold water in
his hot tummy. She did get some paper towels out of the back seat
and wet them and placed them on Coopers head. Little Cooper looked
up at her with love in his eyes and the two of them sat there in
the van with the air conditioning on until Cooper seemed back to
normal. “You scared me, little sweetheart.”
    Cooper jumped out of the van when Sarah
opened the door and he ran into the backyard and took one lap
around it before stopping to relieve himself. Sarah waited until he
was through and they went back into the house together. The house
was cool because Sarah had left the air conditioning units on while
she had been shopping, but there was no air conditioning upstairs
and with that door shut and no way to get to his water dish, Cooper
could have been in serious trouble if he had stayed there much
longer, or if he had been an older dog.
    Cooper stayed by Sarah’s side as she put the
groceries away, the ice cream had been well on its way to melting.
She made spaghetti and meat balls and set the table for dinner so
Jim and the girls wouldn’t have to wait on their dinner. Sarah had
enjoyed her day to herself, days like that were rare. Suzanne would
start school in September and then she would have more time, but it
was nice to get things done today without having the kids with her.
She felt guilty now though, poor little puppy. She wondered how
Cooper got stuck on the stairs behind that door. It was not a door
they ever had reason to open. They had not even stored anything up
there like she originally thought they might do.
    Sarah finished her dinner preparations and
then sat in the living room with Cooper on her lap, both taking a
well-deserved break.
    “We’re Home!” Sarah heard Jim’s voice coming
in the back door. The girls had t-shirts with the JAMICO logo on it
and both girls were smiling and full of