“I’m walking as fast as I can,” Morag the cat replied. “I just hope we’re going in the right direction.” Morag was a large white kitty with one green eye and one blue, and she was dressed up for the Halloween party as a witch. Looking very scary in a tall pointed black hat and an old black gown.
“I think we may have taken a wrong turn,” Wolstencroft said. “We”ll have to look for a street sign to find out.” Wolstencroft was a very handsome bear, and a wise one too. He had silvery grey fur and honey-colored ears, nose and feet. His clothes were always smart, and tonight he was dressed as a pirate. He had tied a bandana around his head, and wore a striped sweater and an eye patch.
“You look really dashing,” Morag had said when she first saw him. “I’m sure you’ll win the prize.” For there was to be a contest for the best costume, and the winner would be announced at midnight.
“No, I’m going to win,” said Morag’s kitten, Spice. He was a little striped cat with yellow eyes and a white nose, and he was dressed up as a ghost. Morag had taken an old sheet, and cut holes in it for his eyes and mouth. Now Spice was worried that they’d be late for the party, or that they might not get there at all.
“Now everyone just stay calm,” Wolstencroft said. “There’s a street lamp over there and a sign underneath it. We’ll soon see exactly where we are.”
“Pennywell Street,” Morag said, straining up on tiptoes to read the sign. “I’ve never heard of it before. Have you?”
“Yes, I have,: Wolstencroft said. “And I think it’s just one street over from where we want to go.” So they headed off down a lane that was very dark and surrounded by tall trees.
“This is creepy,” Spice said and clung onto Morag’s paw.
“It won’t be far now,” Wolstencroft told him. “Piper Road should be just up here.” But when they got there they couldn’t find a sign. “We’ll have to ask someone,” Wolstencroft said. But the problem was there was no one around.
“Over here Uncle Woolly,” Spice suddenly cried. He always called him Woolly for short, because Wolstencroft was too long for him to say. In fact, it was too long for most people to say. “There’s a house. I’m going to ask there.” And before they could stop him he had ran down the path and disappeared from view in the fog.
Wolstencroft and Morag followed as quickly as they could. Picking their way carefully over a rough path that was broken in places.
“It looks spooky,” Spice said when they caught up with him. “I bet a witch lives here and it’s haunted.” And it was a grim looking old house, tall and slightly crooked with peeling paint and cobwebs hanging round the door.
“Don’t talk so silly,” Morag scolded. “There is no such thing as witches, or ghosts. Except at Halloween that is.”
And Wolstencroft agreed. “You’ll scare yourself silly with talk like that,” he warned. Then decided, as they were already there, they might as well knock on the door. “Perhaps the owner will be able to give us directions,” he said. But although they knocked and knocked until their knuckles were sore, nobody answered.
“It’s not locked,” Morag suddenly exclaimed, as she tried the handle. And before Wolstencroft could stop her she’d opened it and gone inside. “Hello, hello, is anyone there?” she called out.
Spice darted in behind her, and Wolstencroft had no choice but to follow them. He had to get them out of this house. What they were doing was called trespassing. And that was a very serious matter indeed. You couldn’t just walk into somebody else’s house like that. It was private property.
It was very dark inside the old house, and he could barely make out Morag before she disappeared down the end of the hallway. “Darn,” Wolstencroft said, taking off his eye patch so he could see better, and staying close to the wall as he went after her, for he didn’t know what lay in his path. And it was just as he reached the end of the long corridor that the front door, which he had left slightly open, slammed shut. He immediately retraced his footsteps. Which meant, he went back the way he came and desperately tried to open the door. But it would not budge. “Good golly, we’re locked in,” he exclaimed.
“Woolly, what was that loud noise?” Morag asked, looking worried. And when she realized that it had been the door closing and that it was now firmly locked, her alarm increased. “But how did it close?: she wanted to know. “It’s not windy.”
“Well I certainly didn’t touch it, if that’s what you think,” Wolstencroft replied. “Now we’re in a fine pickle. We’re going to have to try and find another way out of here.”
“If you didn’t close it, then someone else must have done,” Morag decided. And there was fear in her voice. “Woolly, do you suppose Spice was right about this place being haunted?”
“And talking of Spice, where is he?” Wolstencroft asked. Deliberately ignoring her remark about the house being haunted. Because they had to stay calm in order to figure a way out of this. They couldn’t allow themselves to get scared. “We better start looking for him right away,” he said. For Wolstencroft knew that keeping busy and working towards a solution was the answer to most problems. “But first of all, we’ll try and find a light switch.”
“Spice where are you? Come here at once,” Morag called out crossly. And just as Wolstencroft turned on the light the kitten appeared.
“He looks as if he’s been eating candy,” Wolstencroft remarked, “ Because the little white ghost costume was stained with chocolate.”
“Why you naughty boy,: Morag scolded. “Where did you get the candy?”
“From a bowl on the kitchen table“, Spice admitted sheepishly. Because he knew that he wasn’t supposed to take anything that didn’t belong to him.
“Did you notice if there was a back door in the kitchen?” Wolstencroft asked. As houses usually have more than one way out.
But Spice shook his head. “I don’t think so,” he said.
The house was as gloomy inside as it was on the outside. The floors were uneven, and so were the walls. “Whoever lives here must be really poor,” Morag said. “There’s not much furniture.”
“No, just a few old chairs and a table,” Wolstencroft agreed.
They prowled through the rooms but could find no other doors, or windows that would open. “I wonder who lives here?” Morag pondered. “And why they closed us in?”
“Let’s try the upstairs now?” Wolstencroft suggested.
There were two bedrooms upstairs; both as sparsely furnished as the downstairs, and a bathroom. None of the windows will open, Morag gasped as she threw her weight against one. “Darn, what are we going to do now?”
“If we don’t get out of here before the witch comes back she’ll boil us in a pot,” Spice cried. “That’s why she locked us in. So she could eat us for her supper.”
“Stop that now,” Morag snapped. Because what Spice was saying was scaring the wits out of her. Maybe, she thought to herself in terror, it was true.
“We haven’t tried the cellar yet,” Wolstencroft said. For he knew that even if there wasn’t a way out down there, at least it would keep them occupied looking.
“I don’t want to go down there Uncle Woolly,” Spice protested. “It’s full of ghoulies and goblins.”
“Then wait at the top of the stairs,” Wolstencroft told him. “But don’t go wandering off anywhere.”
The cellar steps were as steep as a ladder and there was no light switch. “Golly, maybe this isn’t such a good idea,: Morag said fearfully. Lifting her long black dress so she wouldn’t trip.
“I’ll go down first,” Wolstencroft offered gallantly. Which meant that he had good manners. “So if you fall Morag, I’ll be there to catch you.” They picked their way carefully down the steps and Wolstencroft had just reached over to try and find a light switch when a large shape suddenly lunged towards them from out of the darkness.
Morag screamed and dug her claws into Wolstencroft in fright. “Ouch,” he yelled and rubbed his shoulder.
“What is it?” she cried. “It’s huge and hairy.”
“Hello there, we’re sorry for trespassing but we’re just looking for a way out,” Wolstencroft said to whatever it was. And he went on to explain how they had got lost in the fog while on their way to a Halloween party. “We thought someone here might be able to direct us, and the door was unlocked.” This was met with silence broken only by the sound of panting.
“Maybe it doesn’t understand,” Morag whispered. “It sounds as if it’s getting ready to devour us.”
But then just when Wolstencroft was beginning to believe that she was right, a voice suddenly spoke from close beside them. “Wow you gave me quite a scare,” it said. “I was having a nap.” Then whatever it was switched on the light. It was the biggest dog that they had ever seen. He was truly a giant, with a rough harsh coat and a kindly expression. “My name’s Dillon,” he said, introducing himself. “I’m an Irish Wolfhound.”
“And I’m Wolstencroft, Woolly for short, and this is my friend Morag.” They all shook paws, and Wolstencroft asked if he lived there alone.
“No, I live with an old lady called Bessie,” He told them. “She’s very deaf and she wouldn’t have heard you knocking on the door or coming into the house.”
“But where is she now? And who locked the door?” Morag asked.
“Bessie always goes out about this time to shop for our supper,” Dillon explained. “She didn’t mean to lock you in.”
“Can you let us out?” Wolstencroft asked hopefully. “We’re already late for the party.”
“Of course,” Dillon replied. “Just follow me.”
So Morag fetched Spice who was making his way very cautiously down the stairs, wondering what all the excitement was about, and they all trooped across the cellar floor. “There’s a door right over here,” Dillon said, and as he opened it, he told them how to get to Piper Road. “It’s the next one over,” he explained, then added. “I just love your costumes.”
“Come with us,” Wolstencroft invited on impulse, for he had taken to Dillon at once.
“Yes, why don’t you?” Morag agreed, for she also liked the gentle friendliness of the large dog.
“But I don’t have a costume,” Dillon protested. “I don’t think you can go to a Halloween party without one.”
“Oh don’t worry about that,” Wolstencroft assured him. “Just come as you are, you don’t have to dress up.”
“You can be my pony,” Spice piped up, and everybody laughed.
“Okay then, it’s a deal,” Dillon agreed. “But first I have to leave Bessie a note so she won’t worry about me.”
And then with that done, and Spice on his back, they all set out for the party.