Nighty-Nightmare by James Howe Read Free Book Online Page B

Oh, master, we must leave at once.’
    â€œWith a sense of
déjà vu
, Diabolicus ran to get Bella and Boris, while hurrying the boys and Erda to the carriage behind the house. ‘Once it is daylight and we are asleep in our boxes of dirt,’ he said, ‘the horses will know where to carry us.’
    â€œTheir escape plan seemed perfect. But just as they were about to depart, Boris leaped from his master’s arms and scampered back to the house. Diabolicus ran after him.
    â€œ ‘Where are you going, Papa?’ cried Fritz. ‘We can’t leave without you.’”
    â€œStill a wimp,” Dawg commented.
    â€œ ‘I shall return,’ Diabolicus called out. He chased Boris through an open door and was gone from sight.
    â€œNow, whether Diabolicus ever reached Boris we will never know, for no sooner had he set foot in the house than it erupted in flames.
    â€œThe innkeeper from Kasha-Varnishkes wipeda tear from his eye, convinced that his sons were now lost to him forever. And, of course, they were . . . just not in the way he thought. Had he turned away from the blazing carnage, he would have seen a black carriage disappearing into the forest. Two boys, one clutching a tiny rabbit, were taking a last look at their home, their England. They were headed for a new life, a new land. They were headed for America.”



“America?” I said. “How’d they get to America?
    â€œWell, it just so happened,’ said Chester, “that Diabolicus had prepared for an emergency such as this one. He had booked passage under an assumed name on the
Q.E. II
, thus enabling Erda, Fritz, and Hans to board the ship one November night and never look back.
    â€œThey settled in their new country, keeping to themselves, always apart from the others. They saved wisely, invested in the stock market, and, in time, their cash flow was sufficient to allow them to construct a duplicate of their original home, anAmerican House of Dr.E.A.D. They lived a quiet life. And then one day their quiet life was destroyed.
    â€œBella and her baby rabbit escaped through an open window. We don’t know what happened to Bella, but we know of course what became of the little one without a name.”
    â€œHe came to live with a family called the Monroes,” I said. “And they named him Bunnicula.”
    â€œRight.”
    â€œAnd The House of Dr.E.A.D.?” I asked.
    Chester turned his head toward the house in the clearing. Three sets of eyes followed his. “You’re looking at it,” he said. “Fritz and Hans live there still, under other names, no doubt. Erda, though she is no longer called that, is their housekeeper. And somewhere, high in a tower room, there is a laboratory, the mirror image of one in Kasha-Varnishkes. The Transylvania twins will one day continue the experiments begun by their adopted father. They are waiting, waiting for Bunnicula.”
    The night was still. No one spoke for the longesttime. Then, Howie said, “A hare-raising tale, Pop.”
    Dawg started to chuckle, but his chuckle turned quickly to a snort, and the snort into a snore. He was sound asleep. Moments later, Howie was sleeping too.
    â€œNow’s our chance,” Chester said. “If we’re not too late, we may still be able to save the Monroes.”
    And those were the last words I heard.

[ EIGHT ]

Dawg Gone! (And That’s Not All)
    H OW WE MANAGED to sleep that night I will never know. It may have been from sheer exhaustion, or perhaps it was the terror instilled in us by Chester’s words, but no sooner had he finished his story than sleep moved in quickly and efficiently, like a thief in the night, to rob us of our wakefulness. Even Chester slept, althoughhe confessed to me when he woke that he had not slept easily.

    I knew what he meant. I have never had such nightmares.
    In one, I was lost in a woods. From all around me, I heard rustling, scampering,