Ghost House by Carol Colbert Read Free Book Online Page B

stories to tell their mom.
Sarah laughed when she saw that even Mr. Pickles had on the company
t-shirt.
    “We have missed you!” Sarah said and meant
it. “Come sit down, I made spaghetti!” Sarah said, turning on the
oven to heat the garlic bread and asking Jim to get the salad out
of the refrigerator.
    “Yea!” Suzanne squealed.

Chapter 7

    Saturday morning everyone slept in except
Cooper. He went into Sarah and Jim’s bedroom and rubbed his head
against her outstretched foot. Sarah let him out into the backyard
and then made herself some coffee, went into the living room and
turned on the T.V. She rarely had time to watch television since
they moved to Michigan. She was amused at a news story about a
little dog, a cockapoo like Cooper. When the dog’s owner would tell
the dog to ‘say momma’, the little dog would say it and it actually
sounded perfectly clear.
    She heard Cooper jump up against the back
screen door so she let him in and poured herself another cup of
coffee. Cooper jumped on her lap as soon as she sat back down.
Sarah looked at Cooper and said “Say Momma, Cooper.” Cooper turned
his little head looking at her and said nothing. Sarah wasn’t going
to give up that easily. She looked at him and over and over again
she said “Momma”.
    “Try and see if he will say Daddy.” Jim
laughed at her from the doorway. He walked into the kitchen and got
himself a cup of coffee and sat down next to his wife. “There was a
story on the news and it showed a little dog just like Cooper and
he would say momma every time his owner asked him to.” Sarah
explained. “Cooper is smart, but I bet even if he could talk, it
would be a long time training him to. Not that he would know what
he was saying.” Her husband said.
    “I want to run some things past you before
the girls get up, Jim.” “More to-do things for the list?” He
asked.
    “No, this is more important.” Sarah then
detailed how she found Cooper on the stairs to the upstairs bedroom
behind the shut door and how she probably got to him just in time.
Jim became angry and said that he told the girls they had to be
responsible for the dog if they got one. He said he would have a
stern talk with them. “But why would they even open that door and
wouldn’t they notice that Cooper was behind the door before they
shut it?” Sarah asked.
    “Apparently not. What else could it have
been? I doubt Cooper opened that door by himself, or if he did it
would have stayed open at least wide enough for him to exit back
out of there.”
    “He seems to have recovered nicely, I have
been keeping an eye on him since then. It’s amazing how attached
you become to pets in such a short time. Oh – another thing, I met
a guy named Alex.”
    “You are leaving me for a guy named Alex?”
Jim teased. Sarah told him about her encounter with the much
tattooed teenager. She mentioned what he had said about the new
siding, but left off the part where their teenage daughter appeared
smitten with the boy.
    “Hey, good deal, as long as he does a good
job. This is a lot of grass in front and in the back. Does he have
his own mower, or should I put that on the list of things to get
today?” Jim asked. “I see how seriously you take the list, Jim that
has been on your list of things to do since we got here.”
    “I can get a lawn mower, but where would we
store it? We have to get a key for that garage out there. Come to
think of it, it’s been a few weeks since we got here and yet the
grass looks just fine, I wonder why?”
    “Why? It’s because that Mr. Witters has been
cutting it.” Sarah explained.
    “I think it is about time that we paid the
management company a visit.” Jim said and his wife agreed.
    Sunday morning the family was enjoying a late
breakfast when Cooper started to bark and ran to the side door. A
knock on the door followed. “You must be Alex” Jim said, answering
the door. Riley jumped up and ran into her bedroom to get out of
her pajamas and