Hi there! Yes, it's Darcy. Because of the time of year I thought I'd share a short Hallowe'en tale with you as it affected my family. Other than my eldest daughter Una, I haven't discussed my children in any detail but this tale concerns my son Daniel.
It was around the time we were chatting about this year's Beastie Hunt. At this time of year it is still the main seasonal event in Mellowdene. Like many children, Daniel and Helen are caught up with the tradition of dressing as wild beasts and visiting houses in search of a mythical Dreamstone, being given tasty treats when they fail in their quest.
Over the past few years, newcomers to the village have led to some Hallowe'en activities becoming popular. The most prominent of these are parties where one can bob for apples, eat parkin or ginger cake with cheese, wear spooky outfits and share ghost stories. This year, the Beastie Hunt coincided with a particular party held by our friends the Maces.
"I can't go to both," said Daniel, "and I like the Beastie Hunt best."
"The party is later," said Helen. "Of course you can go to both. I'll be going directly after I've dropped of my treats."
Daniel shook his head. "I like to wear my grizzly suit when Beastie hunting. I don't think that's spooky enough. We'd be out of place."
It was Helen's turn to shook her head except she was indicating her despair. "No, Danny. I'm not missing out this year. I listened to you last year and I missed the ghost story event with Mrs Robinson and Mr Furbanks*. By all accounts it was really good."
(*See the October 2022 post "A Ghost Story")
Something didn't sound right to me. There hadn't been any scheduling conflict with the Beastie Hunt last year. Why did my son convince Helen to avoid what proved to be a truly successful event with a recognised author? I decided to intervene.
"Dan. You never really explained. What stopped you and your sister going to Fliss Robinson's readings last year?"
I could see my son squirming. "It just wasn't my thing, dad."
Helen huffed. "Tell him, Danny. Or I will."
Daniel glared at her. Briefly. Then he sighed. "I don't like ghosts, demons and stuff."
Before I could delve further, Helen prompted him. "Tell daddy why."
He wouldn't meet my gaze but he did quietly respond. "It's 'cause I saw one."
o 0 O 0 o
I extracted the details. Two years ago Daniel, together with Endeavour Norwood and Otto Hazelnut, decided to visit an unoccupied house that - according to rumours circulated by schoolchildren - was haunted. The house was Riverview Point.
Riverview Point is a large house situated on a rocky promontory overlooking the river - which explains its name. It was comparatively isolated until the development of Cherry Blossom Avenue, the only access being via a road that followed the river coastline for some distance. It is now more accessible but in many minds the house still stands apart from the village. Before it became unoccupied, the residents were the DePembrokes. Their departure to become better integrated with the community further fueled the childrens' imaginings - that there was something supernatural about the place. Fiction of course. These days it is the part-time home of Lionel Grand, occupied by his housekeepers Ogden and Viola Splashy. Daniel's experience was in-between the occupancies of the DePembrokes and Lionel Grand.
Having been pressed to tell his story, Daniel almost seemed relieved to share his tale. He sat back in an armchair.
"It was Hallowe'en and we were talking about spooky things," said Daniel, "and Devvy mentioned the big house - how it was supposed to be haunted..."
"But isn't," commented Helen, examining her paw. "Endeavour got it wrong.'
"He only said that people thought it was. Anyway, we got to talking and Otto said that we could go and look. With Hallowe'en being a spooky time, we might see something."
"And you said 'yes, let's go ghost hunting' I suppose."
"No. I didn't believe in ghosts but I thought it might be fun to go there. We would dress up and pretend to be a spooky monster or something. It was supposed to be good atmosphere."
"Right," I said. "Putting aside the fact you went to play at an abandoned house and this is the first I'm hearing about it after two years... what happened?"
"Well, we cut down the side of the Ivory house, making sure we didn't disturb Maynard Chestnut. Even though we knew he was going to be moving out soon as the Ivory family were due to return to the village, he was still lodging there. It took us to the ridge and we didn't have far from there to get to the stone steps that led to Riverview Point."
"And then?"
"We were playing. Otto was waving his arms pretending to be a bat. Devvy was holding his arms out in front of him whilst he made groaning noises. He said he was a monster returned from the dead. I forget what I was doing."
"You said you were a mouse-eating hairy monster thing," said Helen, trying to help.
"Yes I was. Thanks. I didn't think I was wearing my Beastie were-grizzly suit. Anyway, we were lurching around the house pretending that the house had spawned us. Is that the right word? Devvy said it was 'scorned' but I corrected him."
He paused, probably expecting validation. I nodded and he continued.
"I was looking at Otto as he was jumping up and down, flapping his arms, and I caught something in the corner of my eye. I turned to look at thehouse window. I thought it was just movement of a curtain but then I saw a shadow and it moved. It looked like it had horns and it turned towards us. It made a terrible hawking noise and..."
Daniel's eyes were wide with the memory.
"And?"
"And I fell over. I didn't expect to see a demon and I backed up and tripped."
"You didn't hurt yourself?"
"No. Well, I think I got a bruise when I looked later, but back then all I wanted was to get away. I still couldn't forget the sort of moaning cough the creature was making. I grabbed Devvy when I got to my feet and told him and Otto to run. They didn't know what was going on. Maybe they thought it was part of the game."
"They didn't see it?"
"No. They thought I was pranking them so I went along with it. But I wasn't, dad. I did see a demon."
Helen looked at me. "He believes it."
"I've told you before, Helen," said Daniel, "it was an empty house. But I saw a dark, horned demon in there."
I tried not to smile but my son noticed. "You're laughing at me?"
I put my paw on his shoulder, saying, "No, lad. I'm smiling at the situation. You think the house was empty but it wasn't."
"That's what I'm saying. There was a demon."
"There was a caretaker."
Daniel's mouth dropped open. "What?"
"With the house empty, arrangements had been made for someone to call in from time to time. Check all was okay. Light the occasional fire in the grate to keep the house aired. Dust a little. I suspect I know exactly who you saw."
Helen was laughing. "Who did he see, daddy?"
"Mookie Dappledawn."
"But the horns..." Daniel protested.
"His ear muffs."
"The noise he made?"
"You say it was a sort of coughing? The curtains you saw could have been dusty. Or maybe there was a little smoke blowing back from the grate."
"Maybe." He sighed. "Not a demon then."
Helen poked her brother. "Mookie Demondawn."
Daniel shook his head. "I don't believe this. All this time..."
"... you've been scared of Spookie Dappledawn," Helen said, poking him again. "But now you know the truth. Which leaves only one question."
"What?"
"Will you be coming with me the the Maces' ghost party?"
Daniel was silent. He broke this with a wide smile, following this by extending his arms and growling the words, "Gurrr! A mouse-eating hairy monster might like to celebrate Hallowe'en!"
o 0 O 0 o
So the house wasn't haunted with a ghostly demon. Well, presuming it really was Mookie Dappledawn...
o 0 O 0 o