Dog Gone Read Free

couldn’t get back to sleep. Besides, I couldn’t wait to try out Grandpa’s rod.
    So I left in the dark.
    Climbing over grouchy old Nelly Arnott’s back fence was always the tricky bit. She’d told Gran that if she caught either one of her ratbag grandchildren or their dog on her property she’d – well, Gran never actually told us what she’d threatened to do and I didn’t like to think about it. There was a rumour going around about Nelly Arnott, that she once locked two kids in her garden shed when she caught them cutting through her place to get down to the river. The kids were said to have seen a human skull in there. I don’t know how much truth was in the rumour.
    Since it was still so dark, Lucky and I snuck down the side of her house and were over the fence to the cemetery in no time.
    The sky looked like my sister’s doona cover – black, dotted with stars and a misty moon in the middle. The tops of the gum trees cast scary shadows on the tombstones. It was like watching giant grey ghosts creep out of their graves, one by one.
    Selview Cemetery is surrounded by ghost gums. I bet whoever thought of a name like that for a tree was standing in a graveyard when they got the idea. And I reckon anyone who plants ghost gums in a cemetery must have a seriously sick sense of humour.
    I’d forgotten to go to the toilet before leaving Gran’s. I was busting, and the sound of the river just down past the pine trees didn’t help. I was in the middle of the cemetery and thinking about filling up one of the vases of flowers that looked a little low on water when it happened.
    I suddenly had the feeling that Lucky and I weren’t alone. My feet felt as if they were stuck in toffee. I wanted them to move but they wouldn’t. I didn’t know if I was shivering from cold or from being so scared.
    The moonlight made a tumble-down tombstone near the path ahead look like a giant hand rising out of the mist.
    Lucky’s teeth were actually chattering and his tail was so far between his legs that you couldn’t see it. If I hadn’t been so scared it would have been funny.
    Then he started growling at something.
    Or someone .
    I could hear whispering. Lots of whispering.
    Then Grandpa’s fishing rod started to shake in my hand. It shook so violently I could have sworn the rod had come to life. It jumped about all over the place and I could hardly hold it. Freaky as.
    That’s when Lucky went into a sort of trance. He was mesmerised by whatever was behind me. His neck-fur went vertical and his eyes turned glassy.
    It was the middle of winter, but I suddenly felt hot. Like a dragon was breathing down my neck. My skin went all clammy. I could hardly breathe. I had this massive urge to turn around – and to pee, actually – but then I’d see whatever it was.
    I wanted to run through the cemetery and out the back gate, down to the safety of the river. Lucky was whimpering.
    I tried to run but I couldn’t. That’s when I turned around and saw it.

Chapter 4

    Standing on the path , next to a tombstone that had a big crack down the middle, was the shape of a man, white and swirling. The mist that was hanging over the graves nearby seemed to have been sucked into its mouth.
    I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. There was no mistaking it.
    It was a ghost.
    Lucky squeezed between my legs for protection and I could feel him trembling. The fishing rod, by now, was swishing backwards and forwards all over the place.
    The whispering sound suddenly became louder and the ghost reached his hand out to me.
    That’s all I remember. After that I felt like I was in a time warp. I don’t remember much about the rest of the morning at all. I have no idea how I unglued my feet. I must’ve gone fishing, although I don’t even remember the river. If it wasn’t for the fish in my bucket when I got back, I wouldn’t have believed