More stories

The other day, Rachel asked for a spooky story but then decided halfway through that she wanted it to have "a cheerful ending." So here goes:

Once upon a time there were two little girls named Valerie and Rachel, who went to summer camp together. Summer camp is where you do fun things like swim in a lake, learn how to paddle a canoe and row a boat, and sleep in cots in tents. They went together and had a great time learning how to do all those things. The counselors -- those are like teachers in preschool, but at camp they're called counselors -- warned them to stay out of the woods unless they went there with adults. The other kids in the camp told stories about those woods, how they were filled with monsters and terrible creatures. One kid, in fact, had disappeared from the camp years ago after a walk in the woods. His name was Billy, and the other kids said that sometimes you could still hear the trees whisper his name when the leaves rustled: "Billy! Billy!"

Well, Valerie and Rachel stayed out of the woods until one day Valerie decided it was time to go exploring there. Rachel didn't want to go, but Valerie talked her into it. They both took their flashlights and went deep into the woods...further and further...and Rachel got more and more scared because it got more and more dark...until they came to a cabin that was all lit up inside.

"What's a cabin?" Rachel asked.
"It's like a little house in the woods," I said. "When we go camping with PopPop and Auntie Amanda and Auntie Jenn this summer, we're going to stay in a cabin."

Rachel told Valerie to go and knock on the door, but Valerie was very reluctant. Rachel reminded her that it was her idea to go exploring in the woods, so both girls grabbed their flashlights again and went to the door and knocked. A nice old lady answered and said, "Why hello, girls! My name is Mrs. Posting. What's yours?"

"Umm...Valerie," Valerie said, her voice shaking. "R-R-Rachel," Rachel answered, her voice shaking too.

Mrs. Posting told the girls that she actually owned the summer camp where they were staying. The girls got more comfortable and told Mrs. Posting about the legend of Billy, the boy who disappeared years ago.

Mrs. Posting laughed. "Billy didn't disappear," she said. "He's my son, and he was a counselor at the camp. Then he went away to college and he never returned to the camp. So everyone thought he disappeared, but he really didn't; he's still alive!"

Valerie and Rachel didn't believe her, so Mrs. Posting pointed out a tall man in the living room. "That's Billy right there!" she said. "He's home for a visit."

A tall, 26-year-old man stood up. "I'm Billy," he said in a deep voice. "I didn't disappear. I'm here visiting my mom."

The girls were very relieved, and then Mrs. Posting said, "But you can't tell all the kids the real story about Billy because if you do, then they won't be afraid of going into the woods. The kids need to be worried about monsters and other things so they won't go into the woods without a grownup. Because if they go in the woods alone, even though there aren't any monsters, they might get hurt or get lost. So promise me you won't tell the real story of Billy."

The girls promised, and then Mrs. Posting asked if they wanted some cookies and milk. They all sat down and had a nice snack before the girls went back to camp. And they never told anyone the real story of Billy.