Why I'm Not Afraid of Ghosts Read Free Page A

tarantula and some dirty clothes, there wasn’t anything scary in Oliver’s room.
    â€œWoof! Woof woof woof!”
    At the sudden noise, Robbie shrieked and jumped two feet in the air.
    He whirled to see a huge black Doberman pinscher leap up from under a pile of dirty laundry.
    â€œRuff ruff ruff!” The dog stood, head forward It growled low and deep in its throat. Its teeth were huge and white, glistening with saliva.
    It stared straight at Robbie!
    If Robbie’s heart still worked, it would have been pounding.
    Before Robbie could even think to move, Spooky lunged right at him!

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    â€œN o!” Robbie shrieked. He shut his eyes in terror.
    Then the dog jumped right through Robbie, barking like crazy.
    Robbie yelled and clutched his stomach.
    â€œOhh! Oooch!” he groaned. Yuck! A lifer going through a ghost really made the ghost sick. The ghost’s energy got all churned up.
    â€œSpooky, cut it out!” Oliver yelled at the dog.
    But Spooky ignored him.
    â€œWoof! Ruff! Rrrrr!” The dog hit the hall running, his nails clicking on the wood floor.
    Still gasping, Robbie turned to watch the dog.
    â€œMeorrow!” A big fluffy orange-and-white cat tore down the hall Spooky charged after it.
    â€œThunder!” Nell wailed, popping out of her room. “Oliver, you better make Spooky stop!”
    â€œThunder?” Robbie murmured.
    Of course. The dog was after Nell’s cat. Not the ghosts.
    I’d get lost again quick if I were that cat, Robbie thought. As big as the cat was, the dog was huge! And fast.
    Robbie groaned. His stomach hurt so much, he wished he could just hurl and get it over with. If only ghosts could throw up.
    Dora hovered near the ceiling, smirking. She must have moved fast enough to get out of the way of the dog’s charge.
    â€œSmooth moves,” Dora taunted.
    â€œThe dog surprised me,” Robbie protested. Yeah. That was it. The dog surprised him.
    That wasn’t the same as scaring him.
    â€œLook out, Robbie!” Dora teased. “I’m coming down. I don’t want to surprise you!” She began laughing.
    Robbie glared at her as she drifted down from the ceiling to the floor. She was laughing so hard, tears came out of her eyes.
    â€œOh, you’re so good. You’re so scary!” she yelped. She laughed so hard, she drummed her feet on the floor. “Oh, you’re—you’re such a ghoul!” She floated out of Oliver’s room into the hallway, giggling the whole time.
    â€œShut up! Just shut up!” Robbie charged up the hall, so mad, he forgot his stomachache.
    He ran right through Dora! Which he immediately regretted. Their ghost energies got all stirred and snarled up.
    Dora lay on the floor and moaned.
    Oh, well.
    At least she wasn’t laughing anymore.
    * * *
    â€œHere’s what I’m going to do,” Robbie announced. They were back up in the attic and feeling better. “I’ll groan and howl after he’s asleep. He’ll wake up with nightmares!”
    â€œYou groan like a sick cow,” Dora commented.
    Robbie bristled. Of all ghost tricks, he was best at sound effects. “Oh, yeah? You sound like a dying cat.”
    â€œOh, yeah? We’ll just see who’s the best groaner.” Dora stood up straighter, took a huge breath, and let out a series of truly awful groans.
    It sounded to Robbie as if she were lying deep inside a dark, dank cave. She even got her groans to echo.
    Robbie had to admit, she was good.
    But he couldn’t let her know she had impressed him. She was bossy enough already!
    â€œThat’s nothing,” he said. He was determined to do a better groan. Then she would have to say something nice. “Listen to this!”
    He started with the low, terrified moan of a personwho’s going home after dark and sees a big shadow coming after him. Then he raised it to the shivery mid-moan of someone who can’t run any