Hard Hat by Bonnie Bryant Read Free Book Online Page A

old house. There was no turning Regina back, though. She considered her plan a done deal. Stevie was beginning to see it as her job to keep Regina from doing something really ridiculous, like breaking into the locked storage closet.
    “We’re out of here. G’night, Mom,” said Regina, giving her mother a quick peck on the cheek.
    “At ten o’clock sharp I want you to come in and tellme you’re home safe and sound, even if you have to wake me up. Understand, Regina?”
    “I understand, Mom. Of course I will. I promise.”
    “Have fun, girls,” said Stevie’s mother.
    “We will,” said Stevie.
    With that, the two of them went out the garden door. Mrs. Evans turned on the garden light for them, and it would stay on until they got home and turned it off themselves. Both Mrs. Evans’s room and the room where Stevie’s mother was staying were on the front side of the house. They would not be bothered by the light in the backyard.
    The girls climbed up onto the fence and then looked back to wave to their mothers, but the two women had already left the kitchen, presumably headed for their hot baths.
    “This way!” Regina said, leading Stevie along the brick wall.
    When they got to the old house, Peter was just ahead of them at the basement window.
    “Good evening, ladies,” he said, greeting them as if he were a doorman. He held the boards to the side while they lowered themselves in, then he followed and replaced the boards. The dim ceiling lightwas turned on, so they knew someone else was already there.
    “Hello!” Regina called, just above a whisper.
    Gordon appeared from the other side of the closet.
    “We were just checking this out,” said Gordon. “There’s no way in at all. We couldn’t even see through the cracks with a flashlight.” He held up a flashlight as if to show that they’d tried.
    “We’ll work on it later,” said Regina. “First we need to tell some good ghost stories. Where’s the best place for that?”
    “We could stay here,” Stevie suggested, comforted by the idea that as long as they were in the basement, they were only a few short steps from escape.
    “Too dirty,” said Peter.
    “Too ugly,” said Ann.
    “Okay, where?” Regina asked again.
    “I like the parlor floor,” Peter said. “I like the tall ceilings and the big marble fireplace. Maybe we could even light a fire in it.”
    “I’m sure it’s been closed off for years,” Regina said.
    “Well, then maybe we could put some candles in it and pretend we’ve got a fire. You brought candles, didn’t you?”
    “Of course I did,” Regina said. “And Stevie packed some marshmallows that we can cook over them.”
    “Cool!” said Gordon. “Just like camp!”
    “All we need are graham crackers and chocolate bars,” Peter said.
    “I brought raisins,” said Ann.
    “Where’s Liza?” Peter asked.
    “Beats me,” said Regina.
    “She was kind of freaked this afternoon,” Ann told the group. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she doesn’t come tonight. She said something about having to go somewhere with her mother, but I don’t know if that’s true.”
    “That’s okay,” said Regina. “It’s no fun if someone’s really scared. She’ll be back with us another time.”
    Two thoughts entered Stevie’s head. The first was that it was nice of Regina to respect the fact that Liza was nervous, and that she didn’t seem to think less of her for it. The second was that she wished she’d told Regina how freaked she was so that
she
could have stayed home! Well, it was too late for that now.
    “Do you know really scary stories?” Gordon asked Stevie.
    “The scariest,” Regina answered for her. “Even her mother says so.”
    “Let’s go, then,” Peter said, heading for the stairs.
    The house looked very different at night. There was no light at all coming through the cracks in the boards over the windows. As the flashlight beams crisscrossed on the stairs and in the hallway, Stevie found herself