Goblins and Ghosties by Maggie Pearson Read Free Book Online Page B

hand.
    It must have been gone midnight when the bar owner’s wife finally turned them out so she could get a bit of shuteye.
    Jacob went back to where he’d left the cart (the donkey patiently waiting all this time), climbed up on the driver’s seat, and they set off for home.
    What with the gentle swaying of the cart and the quiet rumble of the wheels on the empty road, it wasn’t long before Jacob was as sound asleep as a baby rocked in its cradle.
    The donkey plodded on. She knew the way as well as he did: probably better, since she always did the full stretch with her eyes wide open.
    Suddenly, she stopped. So suddenly that Jacob nearly toppled clean off the cart.
    â€˜What’s the matter?’ he mumbled. ‘Are we home already?’ Then, seeing nothing but darkness all around, ‘Come on! Stop playing games. Let’s get on home.’

    The donkey didn’t budge.
    Then, peering deeper into the dark, he saw what was holding them up. A man was standing there, slap-bang in the middle of the road.
    â€˜ Lost your way in the dark?’ said Jacob.
    The man didn’t answer.
    â€˜Do you want a lift?’
    Still no answer.
    â€˜I can take you as far as my place. That’s a mile or so down the road. If that’s any help to you…’
    Already the man was climbing up beside him.

    â€˜Off we go, then! Soon be there.’ That’s if he could get the donkey moving again. She took a deal of persuading – and threatening – before she’d shift from that spot.
    â€˜Can’t think what’s got into her tonight,’ said Jacob. ‘She’s not usually like this.’
    The stranger said nothing, not one word. Not even when it started raining. Pouring down it was, like someone up there was tipping it out of a bucket. The stranger just sat there, didn’t even turn up his collar to stop the drips from his hat going down his neck.
    It was still raining when they got to the house. Jacob jumped down from the cart, got the donkey under cover, and then ran for the porch.
    He looked back and saw the stranger still sitting on the cart.
    He didn’t much care for the guy, but he couldn’t just leave him, so, ‘Come on!’ he yelled. ‘Come up here on the porch. You can wait here for the rain to stop.’
    The stranger got down and walked over – no hurry – though he must be soaked through by now. The rain was running off him, forming puddles on the porch.
    â€˜Better get out of those wet clothes,’ said Jacob.
    The stranger nodded. Slowly he took off his broad-brimmed hat, his long coat, his boots and his trousers, till he was standing in his long white shirt.
    Then, at last, he spoke. The words came out slowly, as if talking was something he’d learned to do long ago and he was having a hard time remembering the trick of it. ‘Now you’ve got to help me,’ he said.
    â€˜ Help you?’ said Jacob.
    â€˜Take out the pins at the back.’
    â€˜What pins?’
    â€˜The shroud pins.’
    Finally, Jacob knew why the donkey had been so spooked when she saw the stranger standing in the road and why she’d been so reluctant to pull the cart with him on it. This was no living man. This was a duppy, risen from the grave!
    Seeing the look on Jacob’s face, the duppy grinned. Then it began to laugh. A deep down belly laugh, it was. The duppy laughed and laughed, till it was shaking all over, the way things seem to shake when you look through a heat haze on a summer’s day.
    Gradually, Jacob realised he was actually looking through it. The duppy was slowly fading. Fading clean away, along with the sound of its laughter. Last to go was the grin.
    That grin of the duppy’s is something Jacob will never forget. It’s the reason he always makes sure these days to be home by nightfall. Even then, he can’t be sure it’s not going to come back and haunt him in his dreams.

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