The Smoky Corridor

34

“Dinner will be a little late tonight,” Judy said when she came up to Zack’s room around six o’clock. She was carrying a brown envelope and a folded-over copy of the North Chester weekly newspaper.

“Everything okay?” Zack asked.

Zipper, who had been sleeping on his back against the baseboard, his legs sticking up in the air, rolled over to pay attention.

“Your dad’s just running late at the office. I could heat something up if you’re starving.…”

“Nah, that’s okay.”

“So, what’re you working on?” Judy asked.

“Homework.”

“On the first day of school?”

“Yeah. I’m almost done.”

Judy opened up the newspaper. “Zack, there’s a death notice in the obituaries I wanted you to see.…”

“Is it about Mr. Willoughby? Because he died a couple days ago.”

“Yes. But how did you know?”

“He came to see me today.”

“What?”

“At school. Davy sent him.”

“Our Davy?”

“Yeah, I saw him today, too.”

“At school?”

“Yeah. That place has a ton of ghosts—guess most schools do.” And he hadn’t even mentioned Bartholomew Buckingham.

Judy looked concerned. “Is everything okay, Zack?”

He wanted to tell her all about the zombie that Davy had warned him about. But Davy had also warned him not to tell Judy. Can’t bring no adults into this zombie situation, he’d said. Willoughby had said basically the same thing: Not a word of this to your parents. It’s for their own protection.

“Yeah. Everything’s cool. Mr. Willoughby just wanted to say so long and Davy just wanted to say howdy. I have the same locker he had when he went to school at Pettimore.”

“Well, if anything seriously spooky starts happening …”

“You’ll be the first person I tell.”

Unless Davy, Mr. Willoughby, Bartholomew Buckingham, and every other ghost I bump into at that place tells me I can’t!

“You promise?”

“Yeah.” Zack had never lied to Judy before. It didn’t feel great. So he changed the subject.

“What’s in the envelope?”

“Ah! My homework assignment.” She opened the envelope clasp. “The Donnelly brothers belonged to a youth group called the Sons of Daniel Boone, started by Daniel Carter Beard in 1905. The sons were organized into forts.”

A lightbulb went on over Zack’s head (or it would’ve if he were a cartoon): “That’s why they said the school was their fort!”

“Exactly. And the officers of the fort took on the names of famous frontiersmen, like Daniel Boone, Johnny Appleseed …”

“And Kit Carson!”

Judy nodded. “The sons did all sorts of activities. They’d have treasure hunts, study nature, go camping.…”

Judy’s voice trailed off.

“What?”

“Well, Zack, for some strange reason, the Donnelly brothers decided to build an indoor campfire in that back corridor where you saw them.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Nope. If I were you, I’d steer clear of Seth and Joseph Donnelly. I think they’re, you know, troublemakers.”

“Davy kind of said the same thing. He told me they still liked to play with fire.”

Zack, on the other hand, never wanted to mess with it again!