Free Sleepy Hollow Sleepover by Ron Roy Page A

to cry. “That’s a scary man!” he said.
    The boy’s father scooped him up. “It’s not real, Simon,” the man said. “It’s just a big action figure. That man is only a stuffed doll.”
    “He’s scary and I hate him!” Simon howled. “And I want ice cream now!”
    The man laughed, then carried the little boy into the ice cream shop.

    “We’re looking at our own private piñata,” a quiet voice said from behind Dink. Dink glanced at the window and saw a reflection of two men. They wore dark glasses and baseball caps.
    “Yeah, and tomorrow Bonnie will fill it with green candy!” the man’s buddy said.
    After a few minutes, the mechanical horse began to slow down. Finally, it stopped moving altogether. The crowd of people drifted away.
    “That was so cool,” Ruth Rose said.
    “He’s scary and I hate him!” Josh whined, sounding just like little Simon. “And I want ice cream now!”
    Dink laughed.
    As the three kids backed away from the window, Dink stepped on someone’s toes. “Sorry,” he said.
    He turned to the two men he hadoverheard talking about a piñata.
    “No problem, kid,” one of the men said. He pointed to his feet. He was wearing cowboy boots with silver toes. “Nothing can hurt these.”
    The man’s friend pulled on his arm. “Come on, Ace, we have work to do.”
    Ace and his friend walked away.
    “Come on,” Josh said, mimicking the man’s gruff voice. “We have ice cream to do!” He pulled Dink and Ruth Rose into the ice cream shop.

CHAPTER 2
    Licking their ice cream cones, the kids walked to the edge of town. They took a footpath that led into a forest. The tall trees blocked out the October sun.
    “How’s the new flavor?” Ruth Rose asked Josh. She had chosen strawberry, her favorite. Dink’s cone was maple walnut.
    “My brain thinks it’s okay,” Josh said. “But my tongue keeps expecting to taste pistachio.”
    Dink poked Josh. “What brain?”
    Josh poked him back. “The brain that’s going to whip you in Monopoly tonight,” he said.
    “We won’t have time to finish a whole game,” Ruth Rose said. She glanced at her watch. “It’s almost five o’clock, and the hayride is at seven.”
    Josh pushed out his chest. “The way I play, I’ll be rich by six-thirty!” he boasted.
    They were staying with Dink’s father in a small cabin in the forest. A few other families had rented cabins, too. Each cabin was named after something creepy. Dink’s dad had chosen one called Haunted House. The name was painted on a sign on the front porch railing.
    When they reached the cabin, Dink’s father was sitting in a rocking chair on the porch. An open book was in his lap.
    “Hey, kids,” he said as they approached. “How was town?”
    “A lot of other kids are here for the hayride,” Ruth Rose told him.
    “And we saw a headless horseman, only it was fake,” Josh said.
    “What’re you reading, Dad?” Dink asked.
    His father held up the book. “It’s a history of Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow,” he said.
    “Is there really a headless horseman who rides around looking for his head?” Josh asked Mr. Duncan.
    “Why, I believe there is,” Dink’s father answered. He pointed to a map in his book. “This is the area we’re in right now. According to legend, this is where the original headless horseman scared Ichabod Crane out of town.”
    “Aw, Mr. Duncan, you’re messing with me, right?” Josh asked.
    Dink’s father grinned. “Would I tease you, Josh?” he asked.
    “Come on,” Dink said. “If we’re going to play Monopoly, we should get started.”
    “You kids hungry?” Dink’s father asked. “Oh, never mind. I see ice cream on your lips.”
    “Yeah, Josh whined until we bought him some,” Dink said.
    Inside the cabin, Dink went toward a small chest under a window. Painted on its side was the word GAMES . He opened the chest, and a skeleton popped up.
    “Oh my gosh!” Dink yelled, jumping back.

    Josh and Ruth Rose laughed. They ran