“Must be Milly,” she thought and forgot about it. But she probably shouldn’t have.
Katherine and Sarah had decided to dress like rock stars, and Benjamin was going as a ghost. Around seven o’clock, Sarah’s mom couldn’t hold them back any longer and released the three kids to the street. They rushed down to the sidewalk, barely waving goodbye over their shoulders.
Their neighbourhood, being downtown with lots of houses and people, was the place to be! Almost every house had a pumpkin, and the candy was the best you could get. Chocolate bars, twizzlers, fat lollipops, chip bags, gum. No creepy caramels or cheap rockets in this neighbourhood!
The threesome set off down the street, jostling among the crowds of happy trick-or-treaters, grabbing their soon-to-be-bulging sacks at their sides.
Everything was ready to go at Katherine’s house. Her mom and dad always set up lawn chairs on the front porch, turned on creepy music inside the house, and opened the front window so it would lure trick-or-treaters up their street.
You should probably know that her parents also dressed up and sat perfectly still in the lawn chairs until kids came up the porch stairs. They usually waited until someone was reaching into the candy bowl on the table in front of them before they spoke, which of course usually got a scream or at the very least, a jump.
In fact, most kids in the neighbourhood grew up knowing that the Newberrys were sitting together behind the candy bowl and that the scarecrows or witches, or whatever was sitting there, were really them ready to pounce. Indeed, for most kids, it just wouldn’t be Halloween without the Newberrys giving them a good scare.
This year her parents had dressed as witches. They were pretty convincing, too. And they were also very good at sitting completely still, looking like statues.
The first children were beginning to come up the street, and the littlest ones, the bunnies and bees and adorable three-year-old clowns, were always first. Katherine’s parents stood up to welcome the first of the youngest kids (not wanting to scare anyone so young). A young dad, mom and baby angel were just starting up their walkway with happy, expectant looks when the baby screamed. The parents looked horrified and rushed past their house, shooting angry backward glances at Katherine’s parents.
“What did we do, Hank?” her mother asked her dad.
“I don’t know. Maybe we’re just too scary this year?” he answered. “Let’s tone it down a little.”
So they decided that for the littlest kids, they would take off their scary witch masks. They sat without their ghoulish faces, smiling and waving at their neighbours, encouraging everyone to come and take some candy.
But it made no difference. Even with them sitting there, plainly not witches or scary people, not one single child would come to their door. In fact, quite the opposite. People would begin walking up their path then suddenly screech to a halt and bolt back on to the sidewalk, to disappear back up the street.
Katherine’s parents were at a loss.
“I don’t get it. What’s wrong Marie?” Hank Newberry finally asked his wife.
“I don’t know. We turned off the scary music. We got rid of the scary costumes. We look normal enough, don’t we?” his wife answered.
With that, Katherine’s dad walked off the porch and headed down to the street to look at his house from the sidewalk. “Maybe it’s the skeleton,” he was saying as he turned to look at his house from the street. But then he stopped dead in his tracks.
It wasn’t the skeleton. It was Gargoth.
He was perched on the roof of the porch like a small eagle, squatting right above the lawn chairs where Katherine’s parents were sitting, and out of their sight, but he was plain enough to those on the sidewalk. When he saw Katherine’s dad, he spread his wings and flapped them lightly like a large, black bird might to straighten its feathers.
Hank’s jaw fell open. He looked quickly up and down the street. Luckily it was empty for the moment.
“Gargoth! What are you doing up there? Get down!” he yelled.
Marie rushed off the porch to stand on the sidewalk beside her husband. She covered her gasp with her hand. Then she said as calmly as she could, “Gargoth, you are supposed to stay in the backyard, remember? It’s really not okay for you to be frightening our neighbours like this. Please come down.”
Sulkily, Gargoth looked at Marie and said, “No. I must protect your home from the creatures which besiege it. This is what gargoyles do.”
“Please, Gargoth. You can’t stay up there,” her father continued. Just at that moment, some trick-or-treaters swung into sight around the corner of the street, happily laughing and swinging their candy bags. When they saw Katherine’s parents out on the sidewalk, they ran towards them.
“Hey, Mr. Newberry!” said one of Katherine’s school friends. Katherine’s parents were frozen to the spot. They didn’t know what to say. Katherine’s mother shot a quick glance up at Gargoth, who was glowering down at the children standing around her.
“Uh, we just ran out of candy kids, sorry,” said her father, thinking quickly. The children moaned and headed off down the street. While they were talking, Gargoth stood up as high as he could, and flapped his wings hard, in a threatening gesture, like an angry goose. Luckily, the children didn’t notice him.
“Gargoth, please come down,” Marie started again. “We won’t hand out any more candy, or anything. We’ll all go into the backyard where we’ll be safe, okay?”
Slowly, Gargoth nodded. “Yes, I will come down, if I do not need to protect your house any longer.” He waddled to the side of the porch and climbed carefully down the ivy to the ground, where he waited quietly. Katherine’s parents were quickly closing up the front of the house so it wouldn’t attract any more trick-or-treaters. They took down the skeleton and picked up the leg-in-a-bag, removed the pumpkin and candy, and untied as much of the spider web thread as they could. Then they all traipsed into the backyard, the garden gate clicking behind them.
That was why her house was dark and empty-looking when Katherine arrived home with Sarah’s mother an hour later. Usually her house was the last one to run out of candy, and the last pumpkin to go out for another year.
As she walked in the door, Katherine heard her mother saying, “He was protecting us, Hank. That’s what gargoyles do. They ward off evil and danger. He was doing what he thought he was supposed to do.”
“We could do that with a dog, Marie,” her father answered sourly.
Katherine let the door click shut behind her.
Chapter Fifteen
What Gargoth Remembers
After his Halloween mishap, Gargoth became even more quiet and sullen. He thought he had been protecting this family from the ghosts and goblins of Halloween night, when instead he was just making them angry with him.
For several weeks he moped and did nothing but eat apples and lob the cores at the tree. It grew colder.
He didn’t understand this place very well at all. It was confusing and strange. He didn’t want to make his kind hosts angry with him again, so he pledged to himself that he wouldn’t move from the backyard, no matter what he saw in the street.
Even rooted to the backyard, he did help them when he could. One day he was able to do them a very kind service. A terrible dog had chased Milly off the street and into the yard. Instead of stopping at the gate, the dog jumped the gate in hot pursuit of Milly and chased her right to the back fence. Milly, who as you know is a very smart cat, skidded to a halt behind Gargoth and stood to face the dog, arching her back and spitting. The dog growled and was ready to attack when he got the surprise of his life.
Gargoth,